Nightcap 11/20/16 The EMBERS soundtrack has been released, African Diaspora International Film Festival starts Friday, Monsterfest stars in Melbourne Thursday, Why I did not review LIGHTS OF ROME at DOC NYC plus Randi's links

Side of a building in Fort Green Brooklyn

The Embers Original Soundtrack by Kimberly Henninger and Shawn Parke was released November 11th by The Orchard and it was followed by "Kindling" a companion album of experimental material and outtakes from the score on November 18th. Its a super score  and I've been playing it over and over with head phones on.

EMBERS on iTunes
KINDLING on iTunes

I am not a music writer so my ability to discuss the score is limited, However I really like the score and if you like ambient/soundtrack style music give it a listen.

I also really love the film which is one of 2016's very best films. Its available streaming at Amazon and iTunes
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The African Diaspora International Film Festival starts Friday and runs to the 11 of  December. Its almost 3 weeks of films highlighting the diaspora of Africans across the globe. It’s such a masterful mix of fiction films, documentaries and panels that several people have been desperately trying to get me to cover over the years.

The problem with my coverage has been that I’m usually reminded in the middle of the festival when I’m in the middle of things already. This year that isn’t the problem and it looks like I should be getting to a couple of films in the middle of the festival. Reports are coming.

To whet your appetite here are a couple of reviews for films we’ve already seen.

Death By a Thousand Cuts
A New Color The Art of Being Edythe Boone

For more information and tickets go to the festival website.
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As Americans are sitting down to Thanksgiving those lucky enough to be in Australia are going to be treated to Monsterfest in Melbourne. Monsterfest is four days of thrills and chills of the best kind. If we at Unseen weren’t stuck at home doing family holiday things we’d have been on a plane to the fest.

For those of you who are able to go full details can be found here.

Those looking for word on the films screening here are links to reviews of the films we’ve seen:
Psychonauts
Autohead
Ghostwatch
Sympathy for the Devil

For more details and tickets go here
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I know I promised to post the winner at various recent festivals here but because the pieces ended up very long I did individual posts earlier in the week:
INDE MEMPHIS
ITHACA FANTASTIK
DOC NYC
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I need to thank all the filmmakers who I spoke with in person, on twitter or via email during DOC NYC. You are all wonderful. This is why DOC NYC is so great- there is no wall between anyone.
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I need to add one more film to the list of films I saw at DOC NYC- LIGHTS OF ROME about a soccer team from Abu Dabi going to the World Cup.

I did not review the film because in the state I saw it in, a work print, it was barely watchable.  I'm sure the subject is fine but the film was so badly edited I literally had no idea what I was seeing. While the run time of the screener was ten minutes shorter than the listed time for the festival cut the problems with the film were so much larger than that so I could not  review or mention the film during the festival and have lived with myself.
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My brother texted me on a weak horror called film ABBY GRACE: Evil Dead meets The Shining meets The Big Bang Theory with a splash of cliche. Should win the award for the world's dullest axe.Why can the ghost move and lift everything but the axe
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Randi's links

An interesting look at the Amanda Knox Case
North Korea's Subway
Paul Schrader the best bad director
DARKWING DUCK at 25
Beauty talks about Beauty and the Beast
Groucho, Steve Allen and Carl Reiner talk comedy
Flaming Beauty
Filmed at Lincoln Center
Shipwrecks are disappearing

AUSTRALIA’S MONSTER FEST ANNOUNCES FINAL WAVE OF THE 2016 FESTIVAL LINEUP

www.monsterfest.com.au

In a fitting complement to this most sinister season, Australia’s premier genre festival Monster Fest has unveiled its final wave of films for the 2016 festival, which is set to take place November 24-27 at the Lido Cinemas in Melbourne.

The team of features programmers – which includes festival director Kier-La Janisse, Monster Pictures co-founder Neil Foley, Boston Underground Film Festival Director of Programming Nicole McControversy and writer/programmer/punk legend Chris D. – vetted over 600 features in selecting the 2016 Monster Fest lineup, which includes new crime films DOG EAT DOG and THE HOLLOW POINT from Paul Schrader and Gonzalo López-Gallego respectively, gory slasher throwback THE WINDMILL MASSACRE, the hometown premiere of epic period western THE LEGEND OF BEN HALL with cast in person and acclaimed TIFF selections PREVENGE and INTERCHANGE alongside Fantastic Fest faves such as the Aussie-made yuletide thriller SAFE NEIGHBOURHOOD and the devastating – and polarizing – PLAYGROUND. Brief descriptions of all films in the final wave follow below.

Select panels for the Swinburne University Media and Communication Monster Academy - Monster Fest’s two-day industry component running Nov 23 + 24 - have also been announced, including a panel with director Geoffrey Wright and producer Daniel Scharf about the making of Aussie cult sensation ROMPER STOMPER, a panel on the Golden Age of Ozploitation featuring producer Antony I. Ginnane (PATRICK, TURKEY SHOOT) and cinematographer Vincent Monton (ROAD GAMES, LONG WEEKEND), a case study panel on ‘The Westbury Faery’ as an example of international multi-platform storytelling, panels on festival strategy, the opportunities and obstacles facing women working in the genre space, and more to be added. The full lineup for Monster Academy will be announced in the coming weeks.

See the Final Wave of Monster Fest 2016 Films listed below:


​A DARK SONG
Director: Liam Gavin | Ireland 2016 | 100 mins | Australian Premiere

Driven by an all-consuming desire to make contact with her murdered child, Sophia hires an occultist named Solomon (Steve Oram) to conduct a black magic ritual that would grant her wish. As they delve deeper into the tedious, trying ritual, Sophia and Solomon find their bond of trust and sense of sanity pushed to the very limit as a sinister presence makes itself known.


AUTOHEAD
Director: Rohit Mittal | India 2016 | 97 mins | Australian Premiere

This Man Bites Dog take on a Mumbai Taxi Driver follows a documentary crew as they shadow an auto-rickshaw driver named Narayan. The slice of life angle soon skews into dodgy voyeuristic complicity as the film crew documents the unraveling of a man’s humanity, culminating in a chilling, bloody climax.

DOG EAT DOG
Paul Schrader | USA 2016 | 93 mins | Australian Premiere

Based on a 1995 novel by acclaimed crime writer and ex-con Edward Bunker, the latest from the writer of TAXI DRIVER and ROLLING THUNDER and director of MISHIMA, HARDCORE, CAT PEOPLE and so many other now-canonized films, is a pitch black, uncompromisingly brutal and at times highly theatrical crime thriller about three ex-cons (Nicholas Cage, Willem Dafoe and Christopher Matthew Cook) who team up for that fateful ‘one last job’ only to have everything go horribly - and hilariously - awry.

GUYANA: CULT OF THE DAMNED
Director: René Cardona Jr. | Mexico 1979 | 90mins

When over 900 Americans were made to commit mass suicide by drinking cyanide-laced Kool Aid in the middle of the steamy Guyana jungle, exploitation filmmakers couldn’t wait to cash-in on the tragedy, and Mexican filmmaker René Cardona Jr (TINTORERA: TIGER SHARK) was the first on the scene. Hypnotically sleazy and enjoyably lurid as only Cardona Jr. could make them. Co-presented by the Morbido Film Festival.


THE HOLLOW POINT
Director: Gonzalo López-Gallego | USA 2016 | 97 mins | Australian Premiere

Patrick Wilson stars as Wallace, the new sheriff of a small town in Gonzalo López-Gallego's full blooded take on the western genre. Building on the best of B-movie westerns and not skimping out on the gore, Gallego crafts a tale of one man investigating the aftermath of a drug cartel deal gone wrong - cleverly filling all the roles with terrific actors including Ian McShane, John Leguziamo, Jim Belushi and more.


INTERCHANGE
Dain Said | Malaysia 2016 | 102 minutes | Australian Premiere

In this Malaysian ritual thriller and TIFF Midnight Madness selection, a forensics photographer is lured into a world of shamans and mystic creatures while helping his detective friend investigate a series of macabre murders.

THE LEGEND OF BEN HALL
Matthew Holmes | Australia 2016 | 134 mins | Victorian Premiere

In this epic period western based on the true story of one of Australia’s most famous outlaws, Ben Hall is drawn back into bushranging by the reappearance of his old friend John Gilbert. Reforming the gang, they soon become the most wanted men in Australian history.
MAXIE DIABLO AND THE FUNKY FUNKY SEX MURDERS: A LIVE RADIO PLAY BY MYSTERY RADIO THEATRE

From the makers of Man Bites God and the Theatre of the World podcast, Mystery Radio Theatre is a comedy/murder mystery performed in the style of old-timey radio theatre. There will be sound effects. There will be silly voices. There will be live ad-reads. There will be a special musical guest. And there will be blood.

MY FATHER DIE
Sean Brosnan | USA 2016 | 102 minutes | Australian Premiere

The debut feature from Sean Brosnan (son of Pierce) about the vengeful path of a man left mute since childhood following a family tragedy straddles the border of nihilistic revenge tale and brutalist Southern Gothic redemption with a poetic, even romantic sensibility, recalling at times sleeper hits WINTER’S BONE and COLD IN JULY.


PLAYGROUND
Bartosz M. Kowalski | Poland 2016 | 81 mins | Australian Premiere

Certain to be the most controversial film of the festival, acclaimed documentary director Bartosz Kowalski issues his first narrative feature, the stark tale of two pre-teen budding sociopaths and what they do on the last day of school. A devastating film in the vein of NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN and THE TRIBE.

PREVENGE
Alice Lowe | UK 2016 | 88 mins. | Australian Premiere

This brilliant first feature from actress/director/writer Alice Lowe (SIGHTSEERS, GARTH MARENGHI’S DARKPLACE) channels Lowe’s comedy background to create a completely unique horror comedy about a woman who is seven months pregnant and full of homicidal fury.

PSYCHONAUTS, THE FORGOTTEN CHILDREN
Director: Alberto Vázquez, Pedro Rivero | Spain 2015 | 80 mins | Victorian Premiere

Based on the graphic novel of the same name, PSYCHONAUTS is a gorgeous, haunting animated allegory that follows rebellious teen Dinky and the silent, drug-addicted outcast Birdboy as they attempt to escape life as they know it from an island ravaged by an industrial accident.
SAFE NEIGHBOURHOOD
Chris Peckover | Australia/USA 2016 | 85 mins | Australian Premiere
On a quiet suburban street tucked within a 'safe neighborhood', a babysitter must defend a twelve-year-old boy from strangers breaking into the house, only to discover that this is far from a normal home invasion. A great new yuletide terror film from the director of UNDOCUMENTED (2010).

THE WINDMILL MASSACRE
Nick Jongerius | Netherlands 2016 | 85 mins | Australian Premiere
Windmills, they’re those things you see in storybooks surrounded by daffodils right? Think again! THE WINDMILL MASSACRE is a freakishly ferocious slasher reboot about unsuspecting tourists who awaken a mysterious evil in the Dutch countryside after their tour bus breaks down, stranding them at an abandoned barn beside a sinister windmill where a miller used to grind the bones of locals.

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For the full 2016 lineup, including all previously-announced films, go direct to our 2016 Festival Site at www.monsterfest.com.au/2016

All-access Passes, Day Passes and tickets to Monster Fest 2016 are on sale now here: https://www.lidocinemas.com.au/Promotion/Monster-Fest-2016-At-Lido

All-access passes for Monster Academy are now on sale here: https://www.trybooking.com/Booking/BookingEventSummary.aspx?eid=241013

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About Monster Fest:
Founded in 2011, Monster Fest is a mix of Premieres, international festival favourites, challenging new discoveries and curated repertory sidebars alongside industry-focused events such as panels and masterclasses with renowned international guests, and a special emphasis on supporting emerging Australian genre film talent through the festival and beyond. Monster Fest is mounted with the support of Screen Australia and Film Victoria.

Australia's Monster Fest Announces First Wave of Feature Film Titles!

Australia’s premier genre film festival Monster Fest returns to Melbourne for its 6th edition Nov 24-27, 2016 – and they’ve just rolled out their first slate of official selections.

Following on announcements that the official Opening Film will be Julia Ducournau’s controversial RAW, with Jim Hosking’s THE GREASY STRANGLER as Closing Film and keynote speaker Ted Kotcheff presenting retrospective screenings of his films WAKE IN FRIGHT, FIRST BLOOD, WEEKEND AT BERNIE’S and a new HD master of cult TV rarity SPLIT IMAGE, Monster Fest is pleased to announce its first wave of new feature film titles, including FREE FIRE, the latest from visionary director Ben Wheatley; TROLL HUNTER director André Øvredal’s long-awaited English language debut THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE; the new digital restoration of Andrzej Żuławski’s sci-fi epic ON THE SILVER GLOBE; Jesse Moss’ (THE OVERNIGHTERS) newest acclaimed documentary THE BANDIT - about the legendary friendship between Burt Reynolds and stuntman-turned-director Hal Needham - and much more. Brief descriptions of each film follow below.
“Monster Fest has come a long way since its inception in 2011,” says Festival Director Kier-La Janisse. “Originally conceived as a platform for showcasing Monster Pictures’ own titles, it has since evolved into its own beast, and continues to grow each year into the kind of diverse and inclusive genre festival that we see as key to fueling support for genre film production and exhibition in this country. It’s a place for us to come together with both independent filmmakers and our colleagues in the distribution landscape to share the most exciting, challenging and acclaimed genre titles emerging each year - ranging from horror and sci-fi to documentary, animation, crime and even westerns. We wanted to create an event that could be the Australian equivalent of major genre fests like Fantasia, Sitges and Fantastic Fest – and I think we’ve made huge strides in that direction.”

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MONSTER FEST 2016 FIRST WAVE:

ALWAYS SHINE – Australian Premiere
Director: Sophia Takal | USA 2016
When two competitive actresses go on a vacation to a cabin in the woods to try to rekindle their damaged friendship, tensions rise and facades crumble, causing an inevitable violent confrontation.

ANTIBIRTH – Victorian Premiere
Director: Danny Perez | Canada/USA 2016
Natasha Lyonne and Chloe Sevigny star in this psychedelic Sundance midnighter about a hard-partying gal who finds herself pregnant with a rapidly growing and increasingly hostile presence after a drug-fueled blackout.

THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE – Australian Premiere
Director: André Øvredal | USA 2016
Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch star as father-son coroners who find themselves enveloped by dark forces when they are called upon to do an urgent forensic analysis of a mysterious corpse. One of the most terrifying films of the year and winner of the Best Horror Feature Award at this year’s Fantastic Fest. (Tickets for this show on sale now at www.lidocinemas.com.au)


​THE BANDIT – Australian Premiere
Director: Jesse Moss | USA 2016
Jesse Moss’ (THE OVERNIGHTERS) latest acclaimed documentary about the legendary friendship between Burt Reynolds and stuntman-turned director Hal Needham and the making of their unlikely box-office smash SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT.

DEAREST SISTER – Australian Premiere
Director: Mattie Do | Laos 2016
Leaving Australian audiences haunted with her 2013 feature debut CHANTHALY, Lao filmmaker Mattie Do returns with another penetrating supernatural tale about families, illness and fracturing identities.

DEAD HANDS DIG DEEP – Victorian Premiere
Director: Jai Love | Australia 2016
19-year old Sydney filmmaker Jai Love’s debut feature is the heartfelt and often grim documentary portrait of the reclusive Edwin Borsheim - notorious onstage mutilator, former backyard wrestler and frontman for extreme metal band Kettle Cadaver.


​FREE FIRE – Australian Premiere
Director: Ben Wheatley | USA 2016
In his most accessible, action-packed film to date, British visionary Ben Wheatley (KILL LIST, HIGH RISE) places us in the center of a shootout of absurd proportions when an international arms deal goes horribly wrong in a 1978 Boston warehouse. Starring Cillian Murphy, Brie Larsen, Sharlto Copley and Noah Taylor. (Tickets for this show on sale now at www.lidocinemas.com.au)

ON THE SILVER GLOBE – New Digital Restoration
Director: Andrzej Żuławski | Poland 1988
An inexhaustibly inventive and absorbing film maudit that quite literally creates a new cinematic world, Andrzej Żuławski’s sci-fi epic ON THE SILVER GLOBE is perhaps the grandest expression of his visionary artistry. This rarely screened film returns in a gorgeous new digital restoration that was approved by Żuławski – best known to Monster fans as the director of POSSESSION - only days before passing away earlier this year.

SLASH – Australian Premiere
Director: Clay Liford | USA 2016
In Clay Liford’s painfully poignant Cosplay comedy, an introverted high school freshman lies about his age to post his erotic gay fan fiction in an exclusive online forum. But he finds himself at the centre of an emotional shootout when he is invited to a live-read at a nearby Comicon. Featuring an inappropriate Eddie Munster joke.

MONDO YAKUZA – World Premiere
Director: Addison Heath | Australia 2016
Presented in black and white with a grindhouse glaze, this latest from prolific Australian filmmaker Addison Heath comes on like CHOPPER mixed with a Seijun Suzuki crime film of the 60s. This screening also doubles as the book launch party for Aussie genre scribe Michael Helms’ FATAL VISIONS BOOK 2.

Previously announced:

BEYOND THE GATES – Australian Premiere
Director: Jackson Stewart | USA 2016
After their father goes missing, two brothers (Graham Skipper of ALMOST HUMAN and Chase Williamson of JOHN DIES AT THE END) meet at his video store to liquidate his assets. When they discover a VCR board game and the last video their father viewed, they find that it may actually open a door to a more sinister world. Co-starring genre fave Barbara Crampton.

EYE OF THE DEVIL – 50th Anniversary Screening
Director: J. Lee Thompson | UK 1966
The inspiration for this year’s Monster Fest trailer (which you can see HERE), this proto-WICKER MAN folk horror film stars David Niven as the heir to a mysterious vineyard and Deborah Kerr as his endangered spouse, who is being increasingly terrorized by local priest Donald Pleasence and creepy siblings David Hemmings and Sharon Tate (the latter in her film debut).

THE GREASY STRANGLER – Victorian Premiere
Director: Jim Hosking | UK/USA 2016
Monster Fest’s Official 2016 Closing Film is this Sundance WTF sensation in which a bizarre father-son duo compete for the affections of a seductive woman they meet on their Disco Walking Tour, while an oily maniac prowls the streets wringing necks. (Tickets for this show now on sale at www.lidocinemas.com.au)

MADE FOR TV MAYHEM – World Premiere
The world premiere book launch of ARE YOU IN THE HOUSE ALONE? A TV MOVIE COMPENDIUM 1964-1999 with a clip-and-tell panel featuring the book’s editor and authors, and a screening of Buzz Kulik’s 1974 tele-fright, BAD RONALD. Co-presented with Cinemaniacs Film Society.

RAW – Australian Premiere
Director: Julia Ducournau | France 2016
Monster Fest 2016’s official Opening Film is the controversial, stomach-churning tale of a young vegetarian who discovers a dark appetite after she is forced to participate in a carnivorous hazing ritual. (tickets for this show now on sale at www.lidocinemas.com.au)

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL: THE TRUE STORY OF THE PROCESS CHURCH OF THE FINAL JUDGEMENT – Australian Premiere
Director: Neil Edwards | UK 2015
UK Director Neil Edwards will join us in person for his mind-melting doc about the esoteric and oft-misunderstood Process Church, which rose to prominence in the 1960s as a dark counterpart to the era’s new wave of spiritual experimentation.

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Stay tuned for future announcements, including our second wave of feature film titles, our huge short film program (double the size of last year!) and our educational and industry component, The Swinburne University Media and Communication Monster Academy.

The full Monster Fest 2016 Program will be launched on October 31, 2016, both on our new festival website and in our collectible print guide, which will be unleashed at a program launch party and Halloween screening of Rob Zombie’s 31 at the Lido Cinema (Tickets for that event HERE: https://www.lidocinemas.com.au/Movie/31).

Monster Fest 2016 Announces Keynote Speaker Ted Kotcheff and Exciting Closing Night Film with Guests!

Monster Fest, Australia’s premier genre festival, returns to the Lido Cinema in Melbourne from Nov 24-27, 2016, for four days of premieres, special guests, repertory sidebars, short films, presentations and more.

In conjunction with the festival, Monster also announces the return of the Monster Academy - now dubbed The Swinburne University Media and Communication Monster Academy – a two-day industry conference that takes place Nov 23 and 24th, running up to the festival itself.

We are pleased to announce that veteran director Ted Kotcheff will appear in person to present the film that many critics regard as the greatest Australian film ever made, his 1971 outback classic WAKE IN FRIGHT, as well as screenings of FIRST BLOOD (1982), WEEKEND AT BERNIE’S (1989) and SPLIT IMAGE (1982), the latter as part of our previously announced all-night Cult of Monster marathon.

Kotcheff will also be the keynote speaker at the Swinburne University Media and Communication Monster Academy with a three-hour masterclass on Thursday Nov 24th. A limited number of tickets are now on sale for the masterclass HERE: >> https://www.trybooking.com/227339

We’re also excited to announce that Sundance WTF sensation THE GREASY STRANGLER will be our Closing Film followed by a GREASY GALA with the two stars of the film, special guests Sky Elobar (Big Brayden) and Michael St. Michaels (Big Ronnie – the Greasy Strangler himself) in person! The premiere of the film The Guardian called "a playful oasis of filth and depravity" and Empire called “one of the best movies of 2016” will be accompanied by a nationwide tour with the stars in attendance for special event screenings, “Greasy Disco”, themed drinks, “Hootie Tootie Disco Cutie” contests and various oily hijinx. Grease is the word!

Weekend passes to Monster Fest are on sale now for $199 AUD. This includes access to all screenings and events at Lido Cinemas from Nov 24-27, including the Opening and Closing Parties and the all-night Cult of Monster Marathon. Individual Day Passes are also available for $65 AUD. Passes are available now on the Lido website HERE: https://www.lidocinemas.com.au/Promotion/Monster-Fest-2016-At-Lido

Please note Monster Academy Passes and tickets are sold separately and will go on sale when the full Academy lineup is announced in the coming month.

Monster Fest 2016 unleashes a trailer

Australia’s premier genre film festival invites you to join their sinister congregation with the high concept trailer made for this year’s festival, which runs from November 22-24 in Melbourne, Australia.

Jointly directed by Monster Pictures co-founder Neil Foley and filmmaker Mark Bakaitis (CULT GIRLS), the trailer was inspired by J. Lee Thompson’s 1966 EYE OF THE DEVIL, a pre-WICKER MAN folk horror starring David Niven, Deborah Kerr, Donald Pleasence, David Hemmings and – in her first role – Sharon Tate.

“EYE OF THE DEVIL celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and our discussions around it became the backbone of this year’s theme of ‘ritual’” says Festival Director Kier-La Janisse, “so it seemed an obvious starting point for the concept trailer. Guillermo del Toro was recently quoted in an article about the Fantasia Film Festival likening genre festivals to a spiritual gathering, and to many of the core Monster Fest fans, it really is a unique environment in which their strange tastes and arcane knowledge are validated and celebrated.”

EYE OF THE DEVIL will form part of a special sidebar on “cult cinema” which will include the Australian premiere of Neil Edwards’ acclaimed documentary SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL: THE TRUE STORY OF THE PROCESS CHURCH OF THE FINAL JUDGEMENT, an all-night top secret repertory marathon of films featuring a diverse array of cults from folk horror to Jonestown, and a special lecture presented by Monster’s educational component ‘Monster Academy’ with research fellows Dean Brandum and Andrew Nette that is focused on a 1965 episode of the Australian crime show HOMICIDE that was partially shot at Montsalvat – the famed Australian artist colony which also became the stunning location for the Monster Fest 2016 trailer.

Monster Fest still has one final deadline for submissions approaching on August 12th. Full submission details available at www.monsterfest.com.au.

Stay tuned for additional programming announcements to be revealed in August 2016.

FULL TRAILER CREDITS:
Cast:
Catherine: Andrea Martin | Philippe: Glenn Maynard | Odile: Lola Ramone | Archer: Nathan Hill | Priest: Neil Foley
Crew:
Producer: Mark Bakaitis / Neil Foley / Grant Hardie | Director: Mark Bakaitis / Neil Foley | DOP: Trent Schneider | Editor: Mark Bakaitis | Sound Design: Gerard Mack | Visual Effects: Remo Camerota | Camera Assist: Evan Hughes | Sound: Hussein Khoder | Key Grip: Evan Hughes | Costume: Jaz Wickson | Art Dept: Amy Gregory / Nathan Hill | Make Up Artist: Steph Elkington | Location Manager: Grant Hardie | Animal Wrangler: Lily Moloney| Stills Photographer: Kim Taylor | Cultist 1: Jarret Gahan | Cultist 2: Grant Hardie | Cultist 3: Jaz Wickson | Cultist 4: Trent Scheider | Cultist 5: Nathan Hill

Nightcap: Spring Festival Season is about to take over the world-literally plus Randi's links

The Spring Film Festival season is getting ready to bloom. No matter where you are there are fests to delight you and tickets are going on sale…

The Dallas Film Festival runs April 14 to 24th and it has a super line up including Johnnie To's OFFICE and WEINER on the disgraced politician Online ticket sales will be available for Dallas Film Society members beginning Monday, March 21 at DallasFilm.org, and will open to the public on Thursday, March 24. The physical Prekindle Box Office at Mockingbird Station will open on Thursday, March 31
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Tasmania’s Stranger With My Face International Film Festival will return for its fourth edition from April 14-17, 2016.  All the information on this genre festival can be found here.
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New Directors New Films starts March 16th. This annual retrospective films from New Directors is the place to see what maybe the next big thing. I'll have a ton of coverage starting next weekend (I've seen about 15 films already). I just want to say tickets are on sale so go buy some tickets. Information can be found here.
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Tribeca has announced its first round of films and it looks great with new stuff from Sion Sono and Ben Wheatley among others. More is due to be announced Tuesday. There is no schedule announced but keep watching their site (and this one for more details). Individual tickets aren’t on sale yet but there are ticket packages.
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Kino is one of the best festivals in New York. It is also probably one of the most over looked. The over looked part is something even we at Unseen are guilty of despite covering it over the last three years.

Kino is quite simply the best place to see great films from Germany. Actually just great films period. I say that because I cannot I all honesty remember a single film that wasn’t good. That’s an amazing thing. The festival has bounced around the calendar the last couple of years but it seems to have landed right in April for good.

As of right now I’m not sure how much coverage we’re going to provide, it overlaps with the run up for Tribeca, but in all honesty you don’t need me to tell you what to see with Kino, it’s all good (No really sight unseen I’m telling you it is) so go see a film or six.

Tickets and more details are here.
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Lincoln Center is running every film that Sam Peckinpah ever directed.The series is called Bring me the Head of Sam Peckinpah Its all here from first to last. If you’re fan of the man who is best known for reinventing on screen violence with THE WILD BUNCH or if you don’ know the man’s work its time to go and see his films on the big screen. Actually this is the perfect time to cleanse your palate of the idea of Sam and violence. He had more going on than blood. Actually if you’ve never seen his smaller films (ie not WILD BUNCH or STRAW DOGS) see any or all of the others because the effect of seeing them will alter what you think of him.

The series runs the end of the month and early April and tickets can be had here.
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The annual look at documentary films that are something more than just documentaries, THE ART OF THE REAL is coming in April to Lincoln Center. They announced all the titles on Friday and all of the information is here. I have a long stack of films in the pile to watch so expect lots of coverage.
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For those in Australia MONSTER FEST is coming in November. Yes I know thats a long way off but we are looking to cover it. Right now submissions are being accepted. For details go here

Can't make the fests? Keep reading because with luck we'll make you feel like you are there even if you're not.
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And this week Rendez-Vous With French Cinema continues at Lincoln Center and we'll finally start dropping reviews
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I’ve been asked by a friend to mention that the  Cynthia Nixon headed JAMES WHITE is hitting DVD and home video on March 22

I have not seen the film but I’ve heard that Nixon’s performance makes the film a must see. Look for a review closer to time.
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As this posts I may have seen my last film for the New York International Children’s Film Festival. I have a ticket for LITTLE DOOR GODS for next weekend but conflicts are rising up so that may not happen. I hope to pick up more films the last weekend (the 19th and 20th) if my schedule remains clear, so there maybe more coming…

…But if not I have to say this has been the best year so far. They really kicked ass. –If you’re free the next two weeks go see something.
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And now Randi’s links

The most influential surf film ever
WHy doesn't Hollywood like Mexican films?
The Meaning of THE SCREAM
The quest to solve You Tubes strangest mysteries
Shackleton's reading list
Predator vs Marines 360
Deadpool marketing
on SPOTLIGHT
Pete Docter on INSIDE OUT
Lil Bub interviewed
21 JUMPSTREET meets MEN IN BLACK