Cambodian director Chhay Bora's Lost Loves
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Cambodia submits first film in 18 years to Oscars
Cambodia has entered writer-director Chhay Bora’s debut historical drama, Lost Loves, to the Academy Awards, its first submission in 18 years. Lost Loves tells the common Cambodian tale of death and suffering during the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. The film focuses on the story of Leave Sila, Bora’s mother-in-law, who is played by Bora’s wife Kauv Sotheary, and her experiences in surviving the regime. Bora and Sotheary are not only close to the narrative, but also invested 15 years of personal savings in the film. According to Variety, the Cambodia Oscar Selection Committee voted unanimously for the film’s submission.
Cinema Guild to distribute Leviathan
The distributors that brought us Neighboring Sounds and recently picked up Raúl Ruiz's Night Across the Street (NYFF '12) have added documentary Leviathan to their roster. Harvard filmmakers (and adventure seekers) Lucien Castaing-Taylor (Sweetgrass, also a Cinema Guild release) and Véréna Paravel have crafted an anthropological study that takes us deep into the belly of the commercial fishing beast in the North Atlantic. Cinema Guild announced the purchase of U.S. distribution rights for the documentary on Friday. The U.S. premiere of Leviathan will take place at the 50th New York Film Festival on October 13.
Pulitzer Prize nominee, Kevin McKiernan's Bringing King to China
Harlem International Film Festival, September 19-23
The 7th Harlem International Film Festival opens September 19 at the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center and continues for four more days at Maysles Cinema in upper Manhattan. The festival program includes: Theodore Collatos’ Move; Angad Bhalla’s Herman’s House; the world premiere of True Bromance from director Sebastian Doggart (of Project Runway), which follows Devin Ratray (Home Alone) as he pursues his true love, former secretary of state Condoleeza Rice; and Bringing King to China, the story of bringing Martin Luther King Jr.’s views to China by Pulitzer Prize-nominated reporter Kevin McKiernan and cinematographer Haskall Wexler (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest).
Worldview Entertainment to fund new David Gordon Green project starring Nicholas Cage
Director David Gordon Green’s (Pineapple Express, All the Real Girls) latest project, Joe, will be funded by Worldview Entertainment (Blood Ties, Handsome Harry) and begins shooting in November in Texas, according to Indiewire. If you’re reminded of William Friedkin’s Killer Joe, it’s probably because Worldview Entertainment also distributed the NC-17 crime thriller. Continuing in their love affair with family issues in Texas, Joe follows an ex-con (Nicholas Cage) who becomes a role model for 15-year-old Gary Jones, the oldest son of a drunk and abusive father. Written by Gary Hawkins and based on the Larry Brown novel, Joe builds on a classic southern literature character. Gordon Green said he was drawn to the project because of the main character and its roots in the south, echoing his own roots in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Richardson, Texas.
