Updated: Mike Batayeh, actor and comedian known for his role in “Breaking Bad” as the manager of Gus’s notorious laundromat, has died. He was 52.
Batayeh died on June 1 of a heart attack while asleep in his Michigan home, his family initially said in a statement.
However, the Washtenaw County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to the New York Post on June 13 that he had died by suicide.
“It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that my sisters and I announce the passing of our dear brother,” his family said. “He will be greatly missed by those who loved him and his great ability to bring laughter and joy to so many.”
Batayeh starred in three episodes of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” as Dennis Markowski, manager of Lavanderia Brillante laundromat, which doubled as a meth lab for Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.
Throughout his acting career, Batayeh made appearances...
Batayeh died on June 1 of a heart attack while asleep in his Michigan home, his family initially said in a statement.
However, the Washtenaw County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to the New York Post on June 13 that he had died by suicide.
“It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that my sisters and I announce the passing of our dear brother,” his family said. “He will be greatly missed by those who loved him and his great ability to bring laughter and joy to so many.”
Batayeh starred in three episodes of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” as Dennis Markowski, manager of Lavanderia Brillante laundromat, which doubled as a meth lab for Walter White and Jesse Pinkman.
Throughout his acting career, Batayeh made appearances...
- 6/9/2023
- by Sophia Scorziello
- Variety Film + TV
“We were getting great feedback, and we thought, ‘Okay, it’s just a couple weeks now until we sell the film! It’s going to sell any second!’” Rola Nashef’s reflection on the waiting period that followed the world premiere of Detroit Unleaded at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival is likely an all too familiar affair. For her feature debut, Nashef and her team thought they had hit the jackpot: acceptance to a prestigious festival, attended by buyers aplenty, and rapturous responses from sold-out audiences. However, the realities of selling the film, a romantic comedy with an Arab-American ensemble cast, set […]...
- 11/22/2013
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
“We were getting great feedback, and we thought, ‘Okay, it’s just a couple weeks now until we sell the film! It’s going to sell any second!’” Rola Nashef’s reflection on the waiting period that followed the world premiere of Detroit Unleaded at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival is likely an all too familiar affair. For her feature debut, Nashef and her team thought they had hit the jackpot: acceptance to a prestigious festival, attended by buyers aplenty, and rapturous responses from sold-out audiences. However, the realities of selling the film, a romantic comedy with an Arab-American ensemble cast, set […]...
- 11/22/2013
- by Sarah Salovaara
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
If a post-racial society is one in which we’ve passed all forms of bias, prejudice, and discrimination, what’s the opposite? You might call it “post-progressive”—when racial and ethnic groups are so diametrically opposed that any attempts at reconciliation or understanding have been permanently shelved, and all sides exist in a state somewhere between suspicion and outright animosity. Detroit Unleaded, Rola Nashef’s film about a young gas station owner and attendant who dreams of escape, presents us with that kind of post-progressive culture, and the sad thing is that it’s far more realistic than any post-racial dream. In the ghettos of...
- 11/22/2013
- Pastemagazine.com
A more romantic variation on Clerks, Detroit Unleaded charts the budding relationship between Lebanese-American gas station owner Sami (Ej Assi) and his beautiful cousin Naj (Nada Shouhayib).
After his father is killed in a robbery, Sami is compelled to take over the family's Detroit-slums business with his ambitious cousin Mike (Mike Batayeh). Naj and Sami's meet-cute takes place in "the cage," the area located behind the counter and bulletproof-glass partition, and that space provides a fitting metaphor for Sami's feelings of being trapped in a life he didn't choose.
Director Rola Nashef's visuals can be clunky, and her script's conversational dialogue is occasionally stilted. Nonetheless, she draws her characters in sharp lines, so that the gaggle of cu...
After his father is killed in a robbery, Sami is compelled to take over the family's Detroit-slums business with his ambitious cousin Mike (Mike Batayeh). Naj and Sami's meet-cute takes place in "the cage," the area located behind the counter and bulletproof-glass partition, and that space provides a fitting metaphor for Sami's feelings of being trapped in a life he didn't choose.
Director Rola Nashef's visuals can be clunky, and her script's conversational dialogue is occasionally stilted. Nonetheless, she draws her characters in sharp lines, so that the gaggle of cu...
- 11/20/2013
- Village Voice
This year’s Toronto was competing in my psyche with the recent loss of my mother. My focus was less on finding the greatest of films this year. I hear from others that the festival offered a good mix, if not the most outstanding, selection of films. Personally, I am discovering that a new community has opened its arms to me and the films that are standing out most for me are by women and about women. My community, those women who have lost their mothers, is sharing a unique and profound rite of passage whose meaning continuously unfolds.
In Toronto I was hyper aware of the women and their position in this corner of the world I inhabit. Canadian women, Helga Stephenson, Director Emerita of the Toronto Film Festival, predecessor to Piers Handling; Michele Maheux, Executive Director and COO of Tiff ever since I've known her which has been a long time; Linda Beath who headed United Artists when I was beginning my career and who has since moved to Europe where she teaches at Eave (European Audio Visual Entrepreneurs), Kay Armitrage, programmer of the festival for 24 years and professor at University of Toronto, are all women to helped me envisage myself as a professional in the film business, and they are still as vibrant and active as when we met more than 25 years ago. Carolle Brabant, Telefilm Canada’s Executive Director continues Canada’s female lineage as does Karen Thorne-Stone, the President and CEO of Ontario Media Development Corporation.
18 films currently are in a large part attributable to Omdc; they include Nisha Pahuja’s doc The World Before Her (contact Cinetic) (Best Doc Feature of 2012 Tribeca Ff), Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz (Isa: TF1), Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children (Isa: FilmNation), Anita Doron’s The Lesser Blessed, (Isa: EOne) Ruba Nadda’s Inescapable (Isa: Myriad), Alison Rose’s doc, Following the Wise Men.
Tiff’s new program for year-round support of mid-level Canadian filmmakers, Studio, under the directorship of Hayet Benkara is bringing industry mentorship to 16 filmmakers with experience, shorts in the festival circuit, features in development. Exactly half of these filmmakers are women. This was a conscious move on Hayet’s part. She said there is always such a predominance of males without thinking about it that she decided to bring balance.
Then a look at some more of the Canadian talent here brings me to the Birks Diamonds celebration of seven Canadian women: Anais Barbeau-Lavalette, Manon Briand, Anita Doron, Deepa Mehta (Midnight’s Children), Kate Melville, and Ruba Nadda which honored each with a Birks diamond pendant in a reception hosted by Shangri-La Hotel and Telefilm Canada where 300 guests mingled and caught up with each other. The pre-eminence of women was again made so apparent to me.
Talking to publicist Jim Dobson at Indie PR at the reception of Jordanian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir whose film When I Saw You was so evocative of the 60s, a time of worldwide freedom and even optimism among the fedayeem in Jordan looking to resist the Expulsion of the Palestinians from Palestine; he said that all five of his clients here are women directors, “I had When I Saw You, (Isa: The Match Factory), Satellite Boy (Isa: Celluloid Dreams/ Nightmare), Hannah Arendt (The Match Factory), Inch'allah (Isa: eOne), English Vinglish (Isa: Eros Int')."
Of the 289 features here at Tiff, Melissa Silverstein at Women and Hollywood is trying to zero in on the women directors, so watch her blogs More Women-Directed Films Nab Deals out of Tiff, Tiff Preview: Women Directors to Watch and Tiff Preview: The Female Directing Masters Playing at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival.
Add to this the upcoming Sundance initiative on women directors that Keri Putnam is heading up (more on that later!) and I am feeling heartened by the consciousness of women, directors and otherwise, out there. That is saying a lot since last season in Cannes with the pathetic number of women directors showing up in the festival and sidebars this past spring.
Here is the Female Factor for Tiff 12 which scores an A in my book:
Gala Presentations - 6 out of 20 = c. 30% which is way above the usual 13% which has been the average up until Cannes upended that with its paltry 2%..2 of these were opening night films.
Mira Nair The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Also showed in Venice. Isa: K5. Picked up for U.S. and Canada by IFC. Shola Lynch Free Angela & All Political Prisoners. Isa: Elle Driver Deepa Mehta Midnight’s Children. Isa: FilmNation already sold to Roadshow for Australia/ N.Z., Unikorea for So. Korea, DeaPlaneta for Spain. Ruba Nadda Inescapable. Isa: Myriad. Canada: Alliance. Liz Garbus Love, Marilyn. Isa: StudioCanal. HBO picked up No. American TV rights. Madman has Australia. Gauri Shinde English Vinglish. Isa: Eros International.
Masters – 0 – Could we say that women directors have not been around that long or shown such longevity as the men? Lina Wertmiller was a long time ago. I don’t even know if she is still alive. Ida Lupino was an anomaly. Who else was there in those early days? Alice Guy-Blaché ?
Special Presentations - 13 out of 70 = 19%
Everybody Has A Plan - Argentina/ Germany/ Spain - Ana Piterbarg - Isa: Twentieth Century Fox International - U.S.: Ld Entertainment, U.K.: Metrodome Lines Of Wellington - Also in Venice, San Sebastian Ff - Portugal - Valeria Sarmiento - Isa: Alfama Films. Germany: Ksm Cloud Atlas--Germany - Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski - Isa: Focus Int'l. - U.S. and Canada: Warner Bros. , Brazil - Imagem, Finland - Future Film, Eastern Europe - Eeap, Germany X Verleih, Greece - Odeon, Iceland - Sensa, India - PVR, So. Korea - Bloomage, Benelux - Benelux Film Distributors, Inspire, Slovenia - Cenemania, Sweden - Noble, Switzerland - Ascot Elite, Taiwan - Long Shong, Turkey - Chantier Inch'allah – Canada - Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette - Isa and Canada: Entertainment One Films Hannah Arendt – Germany – Margarethe von Trotta – Isa: The Match Factory Imogine – U.S. – Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini - Isa: Voltage. U.S.: Lionsgate/ Roadside Attractions acquired from UTA, Netherlands: Independent Ginger and Rosa – U.K. – Sally Potter – Isa: The Match Factory. U.S. contact Cinetic Love is All You Need – Also played in Venice) Denmark – Susanne Bier – Isa: TrustNordisk - U.S. : Sony Pictures Classics, Canada: Mongrel, Australia - Madman, Brazil - Art Films, Bulgaria - Pro Films, Colombia - Babilla Cine, Czech Republic - Aerofilms, Finland - Matila Rohr Nordisk, Germany - Prokino, Hungary - Cirko, Italy - Teodora, Japan - Longride, Poland - Gutek, Portugal - Pepperview Lore – Australia/ Germany/ U.K. – Cate Shortland – Isa: Memento. U.S.: Music Box, France: Memento, Germany - Piffl, Hong Hong - Encore Inlight, So. Korea - Line Tree, Benelux - ABC/ Cinemien, U.K., Artificial Eye Dreams for Sale – Japan – Miwa Nishkawa – Isa: Asmik Ace Stories We Tell – Canada – Sarah Polley - Isa: Nfb. U.K.: Artificial Eye Liverpool – Canada – Marion Briand - Isa: Max Films. Canada: Remstar Venus and Serena – U.S./ U.K. – Michelle Major, Maikin Baird. Producer's Rep: Cinetic
Mavericks - 3 out of 7 “Conversations With” were with women (43%)
Discovery 11 out of 27 = 40% which includes The-Hottest-Public Ticket for the Israeli Film directly below (a Major Buzz Film Among its Public)
Fill the Void by Rama Burshtein, a first-time-ever Hasidic woman director Kate Melville’s Picture Day Alice Winocour Augustine - Isa: Kinology 7 Cajas by Tana Schembori from Paraguay - Isa: Shoreline Gabriela Pichler’s Eat Sleep Die from Sweden, Serbia and Croatia - Isa: Yellow Affair Oy Rola Nashef’s Detroit Unleaded France’s Sylive Michel’s Our Little Differences Contact producer Pallas Film Russian censored film Clip from Serbia by Maja Milos - Isa: Wide sold to Kmbo for France, Maywin for Sweden, Artspoitation for U.S. Satellite Boy by Australian Catriona McKenzie - Isa: Celluloid Dreams/ Nightmares Ramaa Mosley’s The Brass Teapot - Isa: TF1 sold to Magnolia for U.S., Intercontinental for Hong Kong, Cien for Mexico, Vendetta for New Zealand Veteran Korean-American Grace Lee’s Janeane from Des Moines.
Tiff Docs 7 out of 29 = 24% - Women traditionally have directed a greater portion of docs
Christine Cynn (codirector ) The Act of Killing - Isa: Cinephil Janet Tobias No Place on Earth - Isa: Global Screen Sarah Burns (codirector) The Central Park Five Isa: PBS sold to Sundance Select for U.S. Treva Wurmfeld Shepard & Dark - Contact Tangerine Entertainment Nina Davenport First Comes Love - Contact producer Marina Zenovich Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out - Isa: Films Distribution Halla Alabdalla As If We Were Catching a Cobra (Comme si nous attraptions un cobra) about the art of caricature in Egypt and Syria! Halla is Syrian herself, studied science and sociology in Syria and Paris - Isa: Wide
Contemporary World Cinema 11 out of 61 = 18%
Children of Sarajevo by Aida Begic, Sarajevo - Isa: Pyramide Baby Blues by Katarzyna Rostaniec, Poland. Contact producer The Cowards Who Looked to the Sky by Yuki Tanada, Japan - Isa: Toei Comrade Kim Goes Flying by Anja Daelemans (co-director), Belgium/ No. Korea. The first western financed film out of No. Korea Three Worlds by Catherine Corsini, France - Isa: Pyramide sold to Lumiere for Benelux, Pathe for Switzerland Middle of Nowhere by Ava DuVernay, U.S. - Contact Paradigm Talent Agency The Lesser Blessed by Anita Doron, Canada - Isa: eOne Watchtower by Pelin Esmer, Turkey/ France/ Germany- Isa: Visit Films Jackie by Antoinette Beumer, Netherlands - Isa: Media Luna When I Saw You by Annemarie Jacir, Palestine,/ Jordan/ Greece All that Matters is Past by Sara Johnsen, Norway- Isa: TrustNordisk
Tiff Kids 0 out of 5. Any meaning to this???
City To City – Mumbai 0 Out Of 10 Any meaning to this???
Vanguard 2 out of 15 = 13% (the average for most festivals)
90 Minutes– Norway – Eva Sorhaug - Isa: Level K Peaches Does Herself – Germany - Peaches. Contact producer. See Indiewire review.
Midnight Madness 0 out of 9 which is fine with me, thank you. This is a boy's genre or a date-night genre for girls and boys with a plan for the night.
In Toronto I was hyper aware of the women and their position in this corner of the world I inhabit. Canadian women, Helga Stephenson, Director Emerita of the Toronto Film Festival, predecessor to Piers Handling; Michele Maheux, Executive Director and COO of Tiff ever since I've known her which has been a long time; Linda Beath who headed United Artists when I was beginning my career and who has since moved to Europe where she teaches at Eave (European Audio Visual Entrepreneurs), Kay Armitrage, programmer of the festival for 24 years and professor at University of Toronto, are all women to helped me envisage myself as a professional in the film business, and they are still as vibrant and active as when we met more than 25 years ago. Carolle Brabant, Telefilm Canada’s Executive Director continues Canada’s female lineage as does Karen Thorne-Stone, the President and CEO of Ontario Media Development Corporation.
18 films currently are in a large part attributable to Omdc; they include Nisha Pahuja’s doc The World Before Her (contact Cinetic) (Best Doc Feature of 2012 Tribeca Ff), Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz (Isa: TF1), Deepa Mehta’s Midnight’s Children (Isa: FilmNation), Anita Doron’s The Lesser Blessed, (Isa: EOne) Ruba Nadda’s Inescapable (Isa: Myriad), Alison Rose’s doc, Following the Wise Men.
Tiff’s new program for year-round support of mid-level Canadian filmmakers, Studio, under the directorship of Hayet Benkara is bringing industry mentorship to 16 filmmakers with experience, shorts in the festival circuit, features in development. Exactly half of these filmmakers are women. This was a conscious move on Hayet’s part. She said there is always such a predominance of males without thinking about it that she decided to bring balance.
Then a look at some more of the Canadian talent here brings me to the Birks Diamonds celebration of seven Canadian women: Anais Barbeau-Lavalette, Manon Briand, Anita Doron, Deepa Mehta (Midnight’s Children), Kate Melville, and Ruba Nadda which honored each with a Birks diamond pendant in a reception hosted by Shangri-La Hotel and Telefilm Canada where 300 guests mingled and caught up with each other. The pre-eminence of women was again made so apparent to me.
Talking to publicist Jim Dobson at Indie PR at the reception of Jordanian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir whose film When I Saw You was so evocative of the 60s, a time of worldwide freedom and even optimism among the fedayeem in Jordan looking to resist the Expulsion of the Palestinians from Palestine; he said that all five of his clients here are women directors, “I had When I Saw You, (Isa: The Match Factory), Satellite Boy (Isa: Celluloid Dreams/ Nightmare), Hannah Arendt (The Match Factory), Inch'allah (Isa: eOne), English Vinglish (Isa: Eros Int')."
Of the 289 features here at Tiff, Melissa Silverstein at Women and Hollywood is trying to zero in on the women directors, so watch her blogs More Women-Directed Films Nab Deals out of Tiff, Tiff Preview: Women Directors to Watch and Tiff Preview: The Female Directing Masters Playing at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival.
Add to this the upcoming Sundance initiative on women directors that Keri Putnam is heading up (more on that later!) and I am feeling heartened by the consciousness of women, directors and otherwise, out there. That is saying a lot since last season in Cannes with the pathetic number of women directors showing up in the festival and sidebars this past spring.
Here is the Female Factor for Tiff 12 which scores an A in my book:
Gala Presentations - 6 out of 20 = c. 30% which is way above the usual 13% which has been the average up until Cannes upended that with its paltry 2%..2 of these were opening night films.
Mira Nair The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Also showed in Venice. Isa: K5. Picked up for U.S. and Canada by IFC. Shola Lynch Free Angela & All Political Prisoners. Isa: Elle Driver Deepa Mehta Midnight’s Children. Isa: FilmNation already sold to Roadshow for Australia/ N.Z., Unikorea for So. Korea, DeaPlaneta for Spain. Ruba Nadda Inescapable. Isa: Myriad. Canada: Alliance. Liz Garbus Love, Marilyn. Isa: StudioCanal. HBO picked up No. American TV rights. Madman has Australia. Gauri Shinde English Vinglish. Isa: Eros International.
Masters – 0 – Could we say that women directors have not been around that long or shown such longevity as the men? Lina Wertmiller was a long time ago. I don’t even know if she is still alive. Ida Lupino was an anomaly. Who else was there in those early days? Alice Guy-Blaché ?
Special Presentations - 13 out of 70 = 19%
Everybody Has A Plan - Argentina/ Germany/ Spain - Ana Piterbarg - Isa: Twentieth Century Fox International - U.S.: Ld Entertainment, U.K.: Metrodome Lines Of Wellington - Also in Venice, San Sebastian Ff - Portugal - Valeria Sarmiento - Isa: Alfama Films. Germany: Ksm Cloud Atlas--Germany - Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski - Isa: Focus Int'l. - U.S. and Canada: Warner Bros. , Brazil - Imagem, Finland - Future Film, Eastern Europe - Eeap, Germany X Verleih, Greece - Odeon, Iceland - Sensa, India - PVR, So. Korea - Bloomage, Benelux - Benelux Film Distributors, Inspire, Slovenia - Cenemania, Sweden - Noble, Switzerland - Ascot Elite, Taiwan - Long Shong, Turkey - Chantier Inch'allah – Canada - Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette - Isa and Canada: Entertainment One Films Hannah Arendt – Germany – Margarethe von Trotta – Isa: The Match Factory Imogine – U.S. – Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini - Isa: Voltage. U.S.: Lionsgate/ Roadside Attractions acquired from UTA, Netherlands: Independent Ginger and Rosa – U.K. – Sally Potter – Isa: The Match Factory. U.S. contact Cinetic Love is All You Need – Also played in Venice) Denmark – Susanne Bier – Isa: TrustNordisk - U.S. : Sony Pictures Classics, Canada: Mongrel, Australia - Madman, Brazil - Art Films, Bulgaria - Pro Films, Colombia - Babilla Cine, Czech Republic - Aerofilms, Finland - Matila Rohr Nordisk, Germany - Prokino, Hungary - Cirko, Italy - Teodora, Japan - Longride, Poland - Gutek, Portugal - Pepperview Lore – Australia/ Germany/ U.K. – Cate Shortland – Isa: Memento. U.S.: Music Box, France: Memento, Germany - Piffl, Hong Hong - Encore Inlight, So. Korea - Line Tree, Benelux - ABC/ Cinemien, U.K., Artificial Eye Dreams for Sale – Japan – Miwa Nishkawa – Isa: Asmik Ace Stories We Tell – Canada – Sarah Polley - Isa: Nfb. U.K.: Artificial Eye Liverpool – Canada – Marion Briand - Isa: Max Films. Canada: Remstar Venus and Serena – U.S./ U.K. – Michelle Major, Maikin Baird. Producer's Rep: Cinetic
Mavericks - 3 out of 7 “Conversations With” were with women (43%)
Discovery 11 out of 27 = 40% which includes The-Hottest-Public Ticket for the Israeli Film directly below (a Major Buzz Film Among its Public)
Fill the Void by Rama Burshtein, a first-time-ever Hasidic woman director Kate Melville’s Picture Day Alice Winocour Augustine - Isa: Kinology 7 Cajas by Tana Schembori from Paraguay - Isa: Shoreline Gabriela Pichler’s Eat Sleep Die from Sweden, Serbia and Croatia - Isa: Yellow Affair Oy Rola Nashef’s Detroit Unleaded France’s Sylive Michel’s Our Little Differences Contact producer Pallas Film Russian censored film Clip from Serbia by Maja Milos - Isa: Wide sold to Kmbo for France, Maywin for Sweden, Artspoitation for U.S. Satellite Boy by Australian Catriona McKenzie - Isa: Celluloid Dreams/ Nightmares Ramaa Mosley’s The Brass Teapot - Isa: TF1 sold to Magnolia for U.S., Intercontinental for Hong Kong, Cien for Mexico, Vendetta for New Zealand Veteran Korean-American Grace Lee’s Janeane from Des Moines.
Tiff Docs 7 out of 29 = 24% - Women traditionally have directed a greater portion of docs
Christine Cynn (codirector ) The Act of Killing - Isa: Cinephil Janet Tobias No Place on Earth - Isa: Global Screen Sarah Burns (codirector) The Central Park Five Isa: PBS sold to Sundance Select for U.S. Treva Wurmfeld Shepard & Dark - Contact Tangerine Entertainment Nina Davenport First Comes Love - Contact producer Marina Zenovich Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out - Isa: Films Distribution Halla Alabdalla As If We Were Catching a Cobra (Comme si nous attraptions un cobra) about the art of caricature in Egypt and Syria! Halla is Syrian herself, studied science and sociology in Syria and Paris - Isa: Wide
Contemporary World Cinema 11 out of 61 = 18%
Children of Sarajevo by Aida Begic, Sarajevo - Isa: Pyramide Baby Blues by Katarzyna Rostaniec, Poland. Contact producer The Cowards Who Looked to the Sky by Yuki Tanada, Japan - Isa: Toei Comrade Kim Goes Flying by Anja Daelemans (co-director), Belgium/ No. Korea. The first western financed film out of No. Korea Three Worlds by Catherine Corsini, France - Isa: Pyramide sold to Lumiere for Benelux, Pathe for Switzerland Middle of Nowhere by Ava DuVernay, U.S. - Contact Paradigm Talent Agency The Lesser Blessed by Anita Doron, Canada - Isa: eOne Watchtower by Pelin Esmer, Turkey/ France/ Germany- Isa: Visit Films Jackie by Antoinette Beumer, Netherlands - Isa: Media Luna When I Saw You by Annemarie Jacir, Palestine,/ Jordan/ Greece All that Matters is Past by Sara Johnsen, Norway- Isa: TrustNordisk
Tiff Kids 0 out of 5. Any meaning to this???
City To City – Mumbai 0 Out Of 10 Any meaning to this???
Vanguard 2 out of 15 = 13% (the average for most festivals)
90 Minutes– Norway – Eva Sorhaug - Isa: Level K Peaches Does Herself – Germany - Peaches. Contact producer. See Indiewire review.
Midnight Madness 0 out of 9 which is fine with me, thank you. This is a boy's genre or a date-night genre for girls and boys with a plan for the night.
- 9/21/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The past week and a half have been an absolutely fantastic ride at the Toronto International Film Festival, and as the final day nears its end, the winners of this year’s BlackBerry People’s Choice Awards have been announced.
Taking the lead with the People’s Choice Award is David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook, with a brilliant leading duo in Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, and an all-star supporting cast headed up by Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, and Julia Stiles.
The film went down a treat amongst critics and audiences alike, and after Russell’s acclaimed The Fighter took home two Oscars for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, it’s nice to see his follow-up premiering to such an excellent reception.
In the documentary category, Bartholomew Cubbins’ Artifact takes home the People’s Choice Documentary Award, premiering on Friday night to standing ovations for...
Taking the lead with the People’s Choice Award is David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook, with a brilliant leading duo in Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, and an all-star supporting cast headed up by Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, and Julia Stiles.
The film went down a treat amongst critics and audiences alike, and after Russell’s acclaimed The Fighter took home two Oscars for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, it’s nice to see his follow-up premiering to such an excellent reception.
In the documentary category, Bartholomew Cubbins’ Artifact takes home the People’s Choice Documentary Award, premiering on Friday night to standing ovations for...
- 9/16/2012
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Above: Ernie Gehr's Auto-Collider Xv.
The vast bulk of Tiff's 2012 has been announced and listed here, below. We'll be updating the lineup with the previous films announced, as well as updating links to specific films for more information on them in the coming days. Of particular note is that the Wavelengths and Visions programs have been combined to create what is undoubtedly the most interesting section of the festival. Stay tuned, too, for our own on the ground coverage of Tiff.
Galas
A Royal Affair (Nikolai Arcel, Demark/Sweden/Czech Republic/Germany)
Argo (Ben Affleck, USA)
The Company You Keep (Robert Redford, USA)
Dangerous Liaisons (Hur Jin-ho, China)
Emperor (Peter Webber, Japan/USA)
English Vinglish (Gauri Shinde, India)
Free Angela & All Political Prisoners (Shola Lynch)
Great Expectations (Mike Newell, UK)
Hyde Park on Hudson (Roger Michell, UK)
Inescapable (Ruba Nadda, Canada)
Jayne Mansfield's Car (Billy Bob Thorton, USA/Russia)
Looper (Rian Johnson,...
The vast bulk of Tiff's 2012 has been announced and listed here, below. We'll be updating the lineup with the previous films announced, as well as updating links to specific films for more information on them in the coming days. Of particular note is that the Wavelengths and Visions programs have been combined to create what is undoubtedly the most interesting section of the festival. Stay tuned, too, for our own on the ground coverage of Tiff.
Galas
A Royal Affair (Nikolai Arcel, Demark/Sweden/Czech Republic/Germany)
Argo (Ben Affleck, USA)
The Company You Keep (Robert Redford, USA)
Dangerous Liaisons (Hur Jin-ho, China)
Emperor (Peter Webber, Japan/USA)
English Vinglish (Gauri Shinde, India)
Free Angela & All Political Prisoners (Shola Lynch)
Great Expectations (Mike Newell, UK)
Hyde Park on Hudson (Roger Michell, UK)
Inescapable (Ruba Nadda, Canada)
Jayne Mansfield's Car (Billy Bob Thorton, USA/Russia)
Looper (Rian Johnson,...
- 8/22/2012
- MUBI
After a string of announcements, it looks like the Toronto International Film Festival have locked down their line-up and it’s looking like a fantastic slate. Much of the additions today come in the form of previous Cannes premieres, including Michael Haneke‘s Amour (review), Cristian Mungiu‘s Beyond the Hills (review), Abbas Kiarostami‘s Like Someone in Love (review), Bernardo Bertolucci‘s Me and You (review), Hong Sang-soo‘s In Another Country and the Venice premiere Olivier Assayas‘ Something in the Air. Most notably missing is Leos Carax‘s Holy Motors, but we do get a new Michael Winterbottom film titled Everyday. Out of the Discovery section, the biggest film seems to be The Brass Teapot, and indie drama starring Juno Temple and Michael Angarano and one can check out all the additions below.
Masters
Amour Michael Haneke, Austria/France/Germany North American Premiere Screen legends Jean-Louis Trintignant and...
Masters
Amour Michael Haneke, Austria/France/Germany North American Premiere Screen legends Jean-Louis Trintignant and...
- 8/21/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
The 21st Gotham Awards ended with a hung jury: Mike Mills' “Beginners” and Terrence Malick's “The Tree of Life” are both crowned with Best Feature film beating out fellow noms “The Descendants”, “Meek’s Cutoff” and “Take Shelter”. Best Doc went to (a film which I don't even remember having had a theatrical release) in Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega's “Better This World”. It beat “Bill Cunningham New York” by Richard Press, “Hell and Back Again” by Danfung Dennis, “The Interrupters” by Steve James and “The Woodmans” by C Scott Willis. In the Best Ensemble Performance, it was Mike Mills' Beginners crew of Ewan McGregor, Mélanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox, Mary Page Keller, Keegan Boos and Christopher Plummer, the veteran actor who should get ready for Best Supporting Actor speeches for the Indie Spirits and Oscars. Beginners beat out several films that had stornger one,...
- 11/29/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
Brad Pitt in Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life Alexander Payne, Terrence Malick In; Woody Allen Out: Gotham Awards 2011 Best Feature (tie) * Beginners Mike Mills, director; Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech, Miranda de Pencier, Jay Van Hoy, Lars Knudsen, producers (Focus Features) The Descendants Alexander Payne, director; Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures) Meek’s Cutoff Kelly Reichardt, director; Neil Kopp, Anish Savjani, Elizabeth Cuthrell, David Urrutia, producers (Oscilloscope Laboratories) Take Shelter Jeff Nichols, director; Tyler Davidson, Sophia Lin, producers (Sony Pictures Classics) * The Tree of Life Terrence Malick, director; Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Grant Hill, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures) Best Documentary * Better This World Katie Galloway and Kelly Duane de la Vega, directors; Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega, Mike Nicholson, producers (Loteria Films, Picturebox, Motto Pictures and Passion Pictures; Itvs in association with American Documentary | Pov) Bill Cunningham New York Richard Press,...
- 11/29/2011
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
Originally published in the Summer 2011 issue. Detroit Unleaded is nominated for Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers “Live the Dream” Grant.
When South Lebanon-born writer-director Rola Nashef started thinking about her film, Detroit Unleaded, there wasn’t much of a film scene in her home state of Michigan, independent or studio. Now, after several years of tax incentives and high-profile productions, she laughs, “I go to restaurants and hear people talking about their scripts.” But Nashef was inspired by Detroit long before the state’s recent production boom. The city didn’t just provide her debut feature’s location, but also its subject matter — specifically, the tales that come out of its Arab-American community. “Living within an Arab immigrant family, dating within the Arab-American community, the restrictions Arab youth face — these experiences have all made their way into the film,” she says. “And it’s not always about rebellion. It...
When South Lebanon-born writer-director Rola Nashef started thinking about her film, Detroit Unleaded, there wasn’t much of a film scene in her home state of Michigan, independent or studio. Now, after several years of tax incentives and high-profile productions, she laughs, “I go to restaurants and hear people talking about their scripts.” But Nashef was inspired by Detroit long before the state’s recent production boom. The city didn’t just provide her debut feature’s location, but also its subject matter — specifically, the tales that come out of its Arab-American community. “Living within an Arab immigrant family, dating within the Arab-American community, the restrictions Arab youth face — these experiences have all made their way into the film,” she says. “And it’s not always about rebellion. It...
- 11/17/2011
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
#17. Detroit Unleaded - Rola Nashef Based on the 2006 short film, helmer Rola Nashef has managed to find backers of all sorts for her feature version dating from the support 2007 Sundance Institute Screenwriters Lab in Jordan to a great 2011 with the Ifp Feature Narrative Lab Fellow, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Emerging Visions Fellow and being selected as one of Filmmaker Magazine "25 New Faces of Independent Film".) Politics aside, this immigrant experience drama is the type of film that Sundance will always program. Gist: After the death of his Father years before, Sami a young Lebanese American, runs a gas station with his cousin Mike, a charismatic hustler. More than just a pit stop for rolling papers and fake perfume, but a place where the uniqueness of this neighborhood is most visible. When Najlah, a beautiful young woman, walks into the station, Sami begins to see a life beyond the confines of bulletproof glass.
- 11/8/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
The 2011 Gotham Independent Filmmaker Awards were announced Thursday (Oct. 20). "Martha Marcy May Marlene" and "The Descendants" lead the way with three apiece. Notable individual nominations went to Elizabeth Olsen and Vera Farmiga. The awards will be handed out Monday, Nov. 28 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York.
Best Feature
"Beginners,"
"The Descendants"
"Meek's Cutoff"
"Take Shelter"
"The Tree of Life"
Best Documentary
"Better This World"
"Hell and Back Again"
"The Interrupters"
"The Woodmans"
Best Ensemble Performance
"Beginners"
"The Descendants"
"Margin Call"
"Martha Marcy May Marlene"
"Take Shelter"
Breakthrough Director
Mike Cahill for "Another Earth"
Sean Durkin for "Martha Marcy May Marlene"
Vera Farmiga for "Higher Ground"
Evan Glodell for "Bellflower"
Dee Rees for "Pariah"
Breakthrough Actor
Felicity Jones in "Like Crazy"
Elizabeth Olsen in "Martha Marcy May Marlene"
Harmony Santana in "Gun Hill Road"
Shailene Woodley in "The Descendants"
Jacob Wysocki in "Terri"
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater...
Best Feature
"Beginners,"
"The Descendants"
"Meek's Cutoff"
"Take Shelter"
"The Tree of Life"
Best Documentary
"Better This World"
"Hell and Back Again"
"The Interrupters"
"The Woodmans"
Best Ensemble Performance
"Beginners"
"The Descendants"
"Margin Call"
"Martha Marcy May Marlene"
"Take Shelter"
Breakthrough Director
Mike Cahill for "Another Earth"
Sean Durkin for "Martha Marcy May Marlene"
Vera Farmiga for "Higher Ground"
Evan Glodell for "Bellflower"
Dee Rees for "Pariah"
Breakthrough Actor
Felicity Jones in "Like Crazy"
Elizabeth Olsen in "Martha Marcy May Marlene"
Harmony Santana in "Gun Hill Road"
Shailene Woodley in "The Descendants"
Jacob Wysocki in "Terri"
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater...
- 10/21/2011
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
Continuing with their policy of spreading the joy in across all categories, the Gotham independent film award nominations has Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene and Alexander Payne’s The Descendantsleading the pack with three noms each, but mysteriously it is Durkin's gem that is pushed aside in a Best Feature category that includes Payne's film and Tree of Life, the other best indie film of the year in Jeff Nichols's Take Shelter, and a pair of films that many of us associate to 2010 in Meek's Cutoff and Beginners. The 21st gala will take place in late November. It would be a huge surprise if Martha Marcy May Marlene doesn't take home Breakthrough Actor (Elizabeth Olsen) and Breakthrough Director (the category see Durkin measure himself up against four other Sundance Film Festival newbies - he claimed the Best Directing prize at the festival), but in the Best Ensemble...
- 10/20/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
The heavy awards onslaught is gearing up and it is a good year to be Fox Searchlight. The 21st Gotham Independent Film Award Nominations have been announced and two of the studio’s films happen to lead the pack. Alexander Payne‘s The Descendants picked up nominations for Best Feature, Best Ensemble Performance and Best Breakthrough Actor. Their Sundance hit (and one of my personal favorites of the year) Martha Marcy May Marlene picked up Ensemble, Breakthrough Actor and Breakthrough Director for Sean Durkin.
That latter award is a great pack including Mike Cahill for Another Earth, Vera Farmiga for Higher Ground, Evan Glodell for Bellflower and Dee Rees for Pariah. It is also great to see my frontrunner for #1 film of 2011, Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life get a Best Feature nomination. Check out the noms below via indieWIRE.
New York, NY (October 20, 2011) – The Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp...
That latter award is a great pack including Mike Cahill for Another Earth, Vera Farmiga for Higher Ground, Evan Glodell for Bellflower and Dee Rees for Pariah. It is also great to see my frontrunner for #1 film of 2011, Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life get a Best Feature nomination. Check out the noms below via indieWIRE.
New York, NY (October 20, 2011) – The Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp...
- 10/20/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
As one of roughly a dozen full time staffers at Ifp, I’ve been working the past six months to help launch the 33rd annual Independent Film Week. It’s our first year at Lincoln Center’s new Elinor Bunin Film Center, and more than a thousand indie filmmakers and industry professionals are in town for the festivities.
In commemoration, I’ve dug up my long neglected digital camera, and I’ll be sharing photo highlights from Ifw all week long. Here are some snapshots from Day 1:
The team behind the upcoming Detroit Unleaded (editor Nathanial Sherfield, director Rola Nashef, producers Marwan Nashef and Leon Toomey) explore the Lincoln Center area.
During the Filmmaker Conference, producers Ted Hope (Martha Marcy May Marlene) and Mynette Louie (Children of Invention) debate whether filmmaking is a career or a hobby. Hope argues that it’s nearly impossible to pursue a career in...
In commemoration, I’ve dug up my long neglected digital camera, and I’ll be sharing photo highlights from Ifw all week long. Here are some snapshots from Day 1:
The team behind the upcoming Detroit Unleaded (editor Nathanial Sherfield, director Rola Nashef, producers Marwan Nashef and Leon Toomey) explore the Lincoln Center area.
During the Filmmaker Conference, producers Ted Hope (Martha Marcy May Marlene) and Mynette Louie (Children of Invention) debate whether filmmaking is a career or a hobby. Hope argues that it’s nearly impossible to pursue a career in...
- 9/19/2011
- by Dan Schoenbrun
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
In a press release today Ifp announced the participants of the 2011 Narrative Independent Filmmaker Lab, which kicked off today and will go on in New York City until June 10.
The Narrative Lab Fellows and their features are Matt Ruskin (Booster), Rola Nashef (Detroit Unleaded), Nir Paniry (Extracted), Jenny Deller (Future Weather), Andrew Semans (Nancy, Please), Sara Blecher (Otelo Burning), Tim Sutton (Pavilion), Jaron Henrie-McCrea (Pervertigo), Ryan O’Nan (The Brooklyn Brothers Beat The Best), Mark Harris (The Lost Children) and Keith Miller (Welcome To Pine Hill).
This highly immersive, free mentorship program for first-time feature filmmakers is currently the only film program that supports diverse, low budget, independently produced filmmakers through the completion, marketing and distribution of their first feature film.
The Labs include an initial five days of workshops in June that assist filmmakers with the technical, creative and strategic advice needed to complete their films. In September, a...
The Narrative Lab Fellows and their features are Matt Ruskin (Booster), Rola Nashef (Detroit Unleaded), Nir Paniry (Extracted), Jenny Deller (Future Weather), Andrew Semans (Nancy, Please), Sara Blecher (Otelo Burning), Tim Sutton (Pavilion), Jaron Henrie-McCrea (Pervertigo), Ryan O’Nan (The Brooklyn Brothers Beat The Best), Mark Harris (The Lost Children) and Keith Miller (Welcome To Pine Hill).
This highly immersive, free mentorship program for first-time feature filmmakers is currently the only film program that supports diverse, low budget, independently produced filmmakers through the completion, marketing and distribution of their first feature film.
The Labs include an initial five days of workshops in June that assist filmmakers with the technical, creative and strategic advice needed to complete their films. In September, a...
- 6/6/2011
- by Jason Guerrasio
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
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