A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon the festival's focus, can include international and domestic releases. Some film festivals focus on a specific filmmaker, genre of film, or subject matter. Several film festivals focus solely on presenting short films of a defined maximum length. Film festivals are typically annual events. Some film historians, including Jerry Beck, do not consider film festivals as official releases of the film.
Werner Herzog is a German filmmaker, actor, opera director, and author. Regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema, his films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unusual talents in obscure fields, or individuals in conflict with nature. His style involves avoiding storyboards, emphasizing improvisation, and placing his cast and crew into real situations mirroring those in the film they are working on.
Ramin Bahrani is an Iranian-American director and screenwriter. Film critic Roger Ebert ranked Bahrani's Chop Shop (2007) as the sixth-best film of the 2000s, calling him "the new director of the decade". Bahrani was the recipient of the 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship. Bahrani is a professor of film directing at his alma mater, the Columbia University School of the Arts.
Chop Shop is a 2007 American drama film co-written, edited, and directed by Ramin Bahrani. The film tells the story of a twelve-year-old street orphan living and working in Willets Point, an area in Queens, New York, filled with automobile repair shops, scrapyards and garbage dumps.
The 65th annual Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, was opened on 27 August 2008 by Burn After Reading, and closed on 6 September 2008. International competition jury, led by Wim Wenders, awarded Golden Lion to The Wrestler, directed by Darren Aronofsky.
Kirstin Marcon is a New Zealand screenwriter and film director.
Goodbye Solo is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Ramin Bahrani. It premiered as an official selection of the 2008 Venice Film Festival where it won the international film critic's FIPRESCI award for best film, and later had its North American premiere at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was distributed by Roadside Attractions. The film exhibits significant thematic and plot similarities to Abbas Kiarostami's 1997 film Taste of Cherry.
Cosmopolitan is a 2003 American independent film starring Roshan Seth and Carol Kane, and directed by Nisha Ganatra. The film, based on an acclaimed short story by Akhil Sharma and written by screenwriter Sabrina Dhawan, is a cross-cultural romance between a confused and lonely middle-aged Indian, who has lived in America for 20 years, and his exasperating, free-spirited blonde neighbour.
The 66th annual Venice International Film Festival, held in Venice, Italy, was held from 2 to 12 September 2009, with Maria Grazia Cucinotta serving as the festival's hostess. The opening film of the festival was Baarìa by Giuseppe Tornatore and the closing film was Chengdu, I Love You by Fruit Chan and Cui Jian.
Souléymane Sy Savané is an Ivorian actor. He is best known for his role in the drama film Goodbye Solo (2008).
Miguel Alejandro Reina Gómez Maganda is a Mexican filmmaker, screenwriter and film producer. Some of his works include Un aliado en el tiempo, Mi vida en frenesí, Trazos mágicos de Oaxaca and El hombre que detuvo el tiempo.
At Any Price is a 2012 American drama film directed by Ramin Bahrani and written by Ramin Bahrani and Hallie Newton. The film, starring Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron, was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 69th Venice International Film Festival, and later screened as an official selection at both the Telluride Film Festival and the 2012 Toronto Film Festival. Sony Pictures Classics purchased the film and it was released in the United States on April 24, 2013.
Life Itself is a 2014 American biographical documentary film about Chicago film critic Roger Ebert, directed by Steve James and produced by Zak Piper, James and Garrett Basch. The film is based on Ebert's 2011 memoir of the same name. It premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival and was an official selection at the 67th Cannes Film Festival. The 41st Telluride Film Festival hosted a special screening of the film on August 28, 2014. Magnolia Pictures released the film theatrically in the United States and simultaneously via video on demand platforms on July 4, 2014.
Lynn-Maree Milburn is an Australian writer, director, editor and film producer. Milburn directed the feature-length documentary In Bob We Trust and co-directed the feature-length documentary Autoluminescent,
99 Homes is a 2014 American drama film directed by Ramin Bahrani, written by Bahrani and Amir Naderi, and starring Andrew Garfield, Michael Shannon, Tim Guinee, and Laura Dern. Set in Florida, during the Great Recession, the film follows single father Dennis Nash (Garfield) and his family as they are evicted from their home by businessman Rick Carver (Shannon), leading to Nash choosing to help Carver in evicting people out of their homes in exchange for his family's home. Bahrani dedicated the film to the late film critic Roger Ebert.
Bleecker Street is an independent American film company that specializes in film distribution. The company is based in New York City and named after 65 Bleecker Street, the street address of founder Andrew Karpen's prior company Focus Features. Founded in 2014, the studio was established with the goal to distribute "smart house" films that combine the entertainment of studio blockbusters with the artistic indie allure.
Black Bear Pictures is a media company that develops, produces and finances original content for film and television. Black Bear is based in Santa Monica, California.
The Misunderstood Love is a 2013 Italian dramatic short film directed by Riccardo Di Gerlando.
The White Tiger is a 2021 Indian drama film written and directed by Ramin Bahrani. The film stars Adarsh Gourav, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Rajkummar Rao. The film was produced by Mukul Deora and Ramin Bahrani, and executive produced by Chopra Jonas, Prem Akkaraju, and Ava DuVernay. An adaptation of Aravind Adiga's 2008 novel of the same name, the story is about Balram, who comes from a poor Indian village and uses his wit and cunning to escape from poverty.
Sócrates is a 2018 Brazilian drama film directed by Alexandre Moratto and starring Christian Malheiros—both in their feature film debuts. The film traces the story of Sócrates, a black 15-year-old teenager from Santos, in the coast of São Paulo, as he has to overcome extreme poverty, the death of his mother, and homophobia.
