Category Archives: Film

LRFF 2013 – Day 1

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Slide-523x350The 2013 Little Rock Film Festival kicks off tonight and runs through Sunday, May 19.

Tonight’s opening movie, Short Term 12, plays twice. It starts at 6:30pm at the Argenta Community Theatre and 7:30pm at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre.  Following each showing, members of the cast and crew will be present.

Short Term 12 is told through the eyes of Grace (Brie Larson), a twenty-something supervisor at a foster-care facility for at-risk teenagers. Passionate and tough, Grace is a formidable caretaker of the kids in her charge – and in love with her long-term boyfriend and co-worker, Mason (Tony Award winner John Gallagher Jr). But Grace’s own difficult past – and the surprising future that suddenly presents itself – throw her into unforeseen confusion, made all the sharper with the arrival of a new intake at the facility: a gifted but troubled teenage girl with whom Grace has a charged connection. While the subject matter is complex, this lovingly realized film finds truth – and humor – in unexpected places.

The film is directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. It is in contention for the Golden Rock Narrative Award, which will be presented the final evening.

Following the film, at 9:30pm, the Kick Off party will commence in the lobby of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre.  In addition to an opportunity to mingle with filmmakers and other film patrons, the evening features music by Little Rock’s own world-wide acclaimed Bonnie Montgomery.  Food is provided by The Fold Botanas Bar. This event is open to Gold, Silver, Sponsor and Filmmaker Badges, as well as Ticket holders for Short Term 12.

 

2013 LR Film Fest Panels Announced

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lrff_mp_hdr_logoThe Little Rock Film Festival brings together award winning filmmakers, writers, film critics, producers and distributors for the 2013 LRFFTalks program. LRFFTalks aim to nurture conversations and create a platform for discussions, providing audiences the opportunity to gain an insight into both the creative and the business world of filmmaking.

AMPI Producers Forum

Friday, May 17 at 1pm at 610 Main Street

Arkansas Motion Picture Institute Director and film producer Courtney Pledger hosts a panel discussion with noted producers Brad Simpson (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Boys Don’t Cry, upcoming World War Z and Electric Slide) and Jocelyn Hayes (Lola Versus, The East) reveal lessons learned from nearly two decades of developing and producing films. From their start at New York-based Killer Films with indie producing legend Christine Vachon to working in the Hollywood Studio System, Simpson and Hayes, who also happen to be husband and wife, bring insider insights to the producing process that range from dealing with the change from movie business to media business, working as an independent vs.harnessing the power of a major studio, adapting best-selling books to the screen, staying in love with movies….to figuring out how to stay married when making a movie together.

 

Cinematic NonFiction: The New Documentary 

Saturday, May 18 at 12:45pm at Filmmaker Lounge inside the Arkansas Repertory Theatre

Moderated by award winning filmmaker and writer Robert Greene; panelists include Rick Rowley (Dirty Wars) Bill Ross (Tchoupitoulas) Lauren Wissot (Filmmaker Magazine) Philip Martin (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)

In the past decade we have experienced a renaissance in nonfiction filmmaking. With access to cheap cameras and a collective education in cinematic storytelling, documentary filmmakers are pushing the boundaries and creating some of the most exciting films out there. Meanwhile, most established film critics seem to have completely missed the boat, writing about documentaries in terms of “subject” or “issue,” instead of basing their criticism around an advanced discussion of documentary form, including the collapsing walls between fiction and nonfiction. Jumping off from his essay in Hammer to Nail, filmmaker/writer Robert Greene will lead a discussion with a a panel of filmmakers and critics about the state of documentary storytelling today and the role critics are playing for better or worse.

 

Distributor Spotlight: Oscilloscope Laboratories

Saturday, May 18 at 1:45pm at Filmmaker Lounge inside the Arkansas Repertory Theatre

Panelists include: Joshua Fu, Director of Marketing, Oscilloscope Laboratories; Lofty Nathan – dir 120’Clock Boys, These Birds Walk – Omar Mullick; After Tiller – Martha Shane and Lana Wilson

Founded by former Beastie Boy, the late Adam Yauch, Oscilloscope Laboratories is one of the most exciting and innovative players in independent film distributor. Joshua Fu, head of Marketing at Oscilloscope will discuss his company’s mission and direction and sit down with directors of some of Ocilloscope’s newest acquisitions including LRFF2013 Official Selections 12’0 Clock Boys, These Birds Walk, and After Tiller.

 

The Making of Beasts of the Southern Wild 

Saturday, May 18 at 4:15pm at Cornerstone Pub

Bill Ross a New Orleans filmmaker behind LRFF2012 Official Selection Tchoupitoulas –will present two behind-the-scenes films he made on the making of the Oscar nominated film and LRFF2012 Golden Rock Winner Beasts of the Southern Wild. The first short covers pre-production for the film shot entirely in the Louisiana Bayou with many first time actors. The second short focuses on the first day of production. This special screening and talk will be moderated by award winning filmmaker/writer Robert Greene.

LR Film Fest announces Golden Rock competitors

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The Llrff_mp_hdr_logoittle Rock Film Festival is pleased to announce the following films as Official Selections for the 2013 Golden Rock Narrative Competition lineup.

The Narrative Feature film lineup this year brings to Little Rock an impressive list of award winning filmmakers including David Riker, Justin Schwarz, Sean Gallagher, Destin Daniel Cretton, Brad Simpson and Adam Rifkin among others and a cast lineup that includes noted actors Griffin Dunne, Abbie Cornish, Brie Larson, Stuart Margolin and stars from the hit HBO TV Series “Girls” – Christopher Abbott and Alex Karpovsky.  LRFF2012 alumni Destin Daniel Cretton returns to open LRFF2013 with his film Short Term 12.

Each of the following films will compete for the LRFF2013 Golden Rock Narrative for Best Feature title.

Some will be also eligible for the Oxford American Best Southern Film Award and the Heifer International Humanitarian Award.

  • Burma, directed by Carlos Puga (82min).
  • Coldwater, directed by Vincent Grashaw (104 min)
  • Good Night, directed by Sean Gallagher (85 min)
  • Hide Your Smiling Faces, directed by Daniel Patrick Carbone (81 min)
  • Junk, directed by Kevin Hamedani (104 min)
  • Reality Show, directed by Adam Rifkin (92 min)
  • Short Term 12, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton (96 min)
  • The Discoverers, directed by Justin Schwarz (104 min)
  • The Girl, directed by David Riker (90 min)
  • This is Where We Live, directed by Josh Barrett and Marc Menchaca (92 min)
  • Wajma-An Afghan Love Story, directed by  Barmak Akram (115 min)
  • Zero Charisma, directed by Katie Graham & Andrew Matthews (87 min)

All screenings for the LRFF2013 (May 15th – May 19th, 2013) will be held in downtown Little Rock/NLR this year.

UALR to honor film actor Julie Adams this week

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Hollywood actor Julie Adams, a 1946 graduate of Little Rock Junior College, will be honored Friday, May 10, with UALR’s Distinguished Alumni Award, the highest honor given by the Alumni Association.

Julie Adams with Andy Griffith in 1962

Adams with Andy Griffith in 1962

The red carpet will be rolled out for Adams and other award recipients at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library. The annual awards luncheon, hosted by the UALR Foundation Fund Board and the Alumni Association, will begin at 11:30 a.m.

Admission is free. However, guests are encouraged to donate a minimum of $50 to the UALR Alumni Association’s scholarship fund. Limited public seating will be available. Please RSVP by calling the alumni office at 501-683-2694.

Adams, born Betty May Adams, attended Little Rock Junior College from 1944 to 46 and was heavily involved in the drama department and a member of the Trojan Theater Guild.

She hoped to join a summer stock theater in Connecticut following graduation and take her chances as a stage actress in New York City afterward, but the program was full. Instead, Adams moved to Los Angeles.

The rest, as they say, is movie history.

In 1949, Adams landed her first leading role as Polly Medford in the film, “The Dalton Gang,” and continued to appear in numerous other western movies including a starring role in “Bend of the River,” alongside film icon James Stewart.

Adams became an even more recognizable star after being cast as a bathing suit bombshell in 1954’s “Creature from the Black Lagoon.” She was also featured in the musical “Tickle Me” starring Elvis Presley.

In addition to appearing in more than 50 films, Adams has had a range of roles in television, including several appearances as Janice Barton on the popular series “Perry Mason,” the only character among Mason’s clients to be convicted during the CBS show’s nine-year run.

Adams also appeared in “The Andy Griffith Show,” “General Hospital,” “The Jimmy Stewart Show,” “Beverly Hills 90210,” and “Melrose Place.” In 1987, she accepted a recurring role as Eve Simpson on CBS’s series, “Murder, She Wrote.” In the past decade, she has had roles in ABC’s popular series, “Lost,” as well as “CSI: New York.”

Adams, who still resides in Los Angeles, recently completed The Lucky Southern Star: Reflections From The Black Lagoon, an in-depth look at her rise to stardom.

MADE IN ARKANSAS lineup announced for 7th Annual Little Rock Film Festival

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Made-in-Arkansas-with-filmsThe 7th Annual Little Rock Film Festival recently announced its ‘Made in Arkansas‘ competition lineup.

The ‘Made in Arkansas’ category is a center piece of the Little Rock Film Festival created to showcase the very best film works being produced in the state.  All films in competition are Arkansas premieres.

LRFF2013 is proud to present the following 19 films in the ‘Made in Arkansas’ category that will each compete for the:

  • Charles B. Pierce Award for Best Film
  • Best Director
  • Best Actor/Actress

 

45RPM – directed by Juli Jackson, Category: Feature (97 min)
An artist struggling with the source of her inspiration finds help from an obsessive record collector in the search for her deceased father’s lost music.

Bad Water – directed by Amman Abbasi, Category: Shorts (13 min)
DB is a mentally handicapped man who lives in an isolated town, and struggles with health issues. Through his straightforward and unbiased narration, we soon realize that he is one of the key surviving members of a community that was devastated by water contamination. With a poetic and personal tone, Bad Water challenges the nature of man and his inability to do good for himself.

Blood Brothers – directed by Jason Miller and Seth Savoy, Category: Shorts (32 min)
A young man returns to his hometown in Arkansas to kidnap the kingpin of the drug operation that ran him and his brother out of town; however, his actions may not bode too well for his brother, who now leads a clean and successful life in Chicago.

Bump – directed by Joe York, Category: Shorts (13 min)

December 1982 – directed by Lyle Arnett, Category: Shorts (30 min)
In the early 1980s, Tim Edwards, a newly high school graduated, becomes friends and pen-pals with a young girl of the same age form Lebanon. When her world is thrown into chaos by war, Tim begins to understand what is really important in life.

Death of a Super Hero – directed by Brandon Bristol, Category: Shorts (10 min)
Death of a Superhero is the story of John Jameson, the alter ego of Metro City’s greatest superhero, Captain Amazing. One night after a devastating battle with his arch-nemesis, Doctor Disaster, John loses his powers. Now, John has to learn to cope with the loss of his identity, and weigh the part that has been left behind.

Foot Trackers – directed by Brandon Bogard, Category: Shorts (7 min)
Bigfoot hunters Sam and Matt have Bigfoot almost in their grasp. But when Matt blows their big chance at catching him, they return to camp and Bigfoot surprises them and destroys their camp and equipment. Barley making it out a live they must work together to find a way to catch the legendary Bigfoot.

Lasting the After – directed by Blake Elder, Category: Shorts (21 min)
Three outcasts struggle with survival during the tribulation. Lasting The After is a drama thriller that tells the story of two siblings Mila & Gavin, outcasts, who find themselves hiding in an abandoned warehouse, in the middle of enemy territory, struggling to survive during the tribulation. After encountering a mysterious companion, and eluding the wrath of the Disciples, they begin to discover the only substantial way to survive is to flee to the mountains.

Last Summer – directed by Mark Thiedeman, Category: Feature (73 min)
Two high school sweethearts, Luke and Jonah, spend their final months together over the course of a long, quiet summer in the rural South–a world of baseball, bicycles, church and green bean casserole–contemplating their uncertain future and the uncertain future of America.

Last Shot Love – directed by Nolan Dean, Category: Shorts (14 min)
Meet love-struck Michael; a 30 year old who has been waiting ten years to express his love for Annie. When he persuades her that ‘they owe it to their friendship’ to go on one official date, he asks for the advice from Collin. Together they hatch a fool-proof plan to make Annie fall in love with Michael, and it all goes terribly wrong.

Mary – directed by Zach Turner, Category: Shorts (25 min)
Divorced and alone, Craig meets the ethereal Mary, who might be the girl of his dreams. Now he just needs to find out if he’s awake.

Sky Begins to Storm – directed by Ron Walter, Category: Shorts (19 min)
Sky Begins to Storm is a documentary that takes a look at the 2011 April and May tornado outbreaks and how they affected the towns of Vilonia, Arkansas and Joplin, Missouri. At its core though, the film is about revisiting communities after the destruction of a physical space and the efforts to preserve the memories attached to the remains of a town. Several interviewed citizens of both towns touch on the topics of moving with their lives, the deaths of friends and family members, and the conscious effort to begin putting a town back together. Sky Begins to Storm takes place in the somber space after the headlines and news vans have stopped paying attention to a crisis.

Soul Winner – directed by Jennifer Gerber, Category: Shorts (13 min)
A young door-to-door preacher learns that winning souls for Jesus truly is a matter of life and death. Set in the rural Bible belt of Arkansas, Jesse, a young door-to-door minister, wants to win his first soul for Jesus, but his lack of experience and volatile enthusiasm is getting in his way. Before heading home from another failed mission, Jesse decides to try to convert one last soul before giving up for good.

The Van – directed by Nathan Willis, Category: Shorts (7 min)
Aaron Reddin’s mission in life is to serve the unsheltered homeless in Arkansas and across the southeast. Everyday he drives ‘The Van’ to different homeless camps to bring food, water, and supplies to the men and women living there.

The Discontentment of Ed Telfair – directed by Daniel Campbell, Category: Shorts (18 min)

The Identity Theft of Mitch Mustain – directed by Matthew Wolfe, Category: Feature (90 min)
In 2005, Mitch Mustain was the most decorated high school football player in all of America.  Named the first ever consensus Gatorade, Parade, and USA Today Player of the Year, Mustain grabbed the spotlight from future NFL players such as Tim Tebow and Matthew Stafford.  At the age of seventeen, USA Today ordained Mustain as “Football’s Future”.  He was destined to become a game-changing college and pro quarterback.  Unfortunately, football was not the only thing Mitch saw in his future, and while the game came easy to Mitch, finding joy in the game eventually became a job.  The film, narrated by Nolan Richardson, follows Mitch’s present-day struggle to find balance between who he once was, and who he now wants to be.

TwinkleTown – directed by Scott McEntire, Category: Shorts (21 min)
Deep in the Arkansas delta, the Wallace family has been in charge for more than a hundred years. Not everybody in town is willing to accept the dead-end doldrums of life in a small town, and some will do anything to escape. Desperation leads to bad choices, and sympathy is one quality Eve Wallace doesn’t possess. When old money and new issues collide, it isn’t about who will win and who will lose. It’s about who survives and who escapes.

Up Among the Hills – the story of Fayetteville – directed by Larry Foley, Category: Shorts (55 min)
This is a one-hour documentary on the history of Fayetteville, Arkansas, narrated by one of the city’s former residents, President Bill Clinton. Created by master story teller, Larry Foley, this film chronicles the history of the city as told through interesting characters that lived in Fayetteville and pushed it to prominence at the national level. Some of these residents included friend of Buffalo Bill and frontier scout Charles VonBerg, author Charles Finger and business owner and newspaper publisher Roberta Fulbright. The film premiered at the Fayetteville Library in October, 2012.

Unearthing the Dream – directed by Pamela Uzzell, Category: Shorts (53 min)
A small-town African American community, forced to accept second-class materials for its schools, refuses to accept a second-class education for its children, giving rise to Black schools that inspired and cultivated success and pride. The 1968 desegregation of the Malvern, AR schools planned to eliminate this separate and unequal system. But in the process it forced the very students it aimed to help to sacrifice their shared experience and identity. These formative years that most Americans recall with fond memories were stripped away, for the greater good of integration. Forty years have passed, and those boys and girls are men and women. Yet they continue to grapple with the memory of this decision made for them, a memory that still reverberates throughout their lives.

All screenings for the LRFF2013 (May 14th – May 19th, 2013) will be held in downtown Little Rock/NLR this year. The festival schedule will be announced soon. Stay connected with us onFacebook and Twitter for more updates as we close in on LRFF2013.

Book your passes to the LRFF2013 at the Box Office.

If you have any questions, please email us at info@littlerockfilmfestival.org

LR Film Fest Rooftop Screening of BLOODY MAMA

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lrff_mp_hdr_logoThe Little Rock Film Festival is hosting its first ever Rooftop Screening featuring ‘Bloody Mama’- a classic gangster film featuring Robert De Niro and Robert Walden. It will be tonight at 7pm atop the River Market Tower.

What better way to spend an evening under the stars than watching a movie with a star in the audience? Actor Robert Walden will join the audience on the rooftop for this special screening and will discuss his role in the film.

The event is free, but purchase of an 2013 LRFF pass is required to attend this screening.

Directed by Roger Corman, Bloody Mama was filmed in the Ozark mountains of Arkansas and tells the story of  machine gun totin’ Ma Barker, who lead her family gang (her sons) on a crime spree in the Depression era.Robert Walden plays Fred Barker in the film, who has just been released from prison, and Robert De Niro plays Lloyd Barker, a spaced-out drug addict who sniffs glue if nothing better is around.

During his long an successful career as a Hollywood actor, three time Emmy nominated actor Robert Walden has acted alongside many of the Hollywood greats including George C. Scott, Anthony Hopkins and Dusti Hoffman and has worked with director such as Woody Allen,, Martin Scorcese and Alan Pakula.

Walden currently stars in the new TV land sitcom, Happily Divorcedwith Fran Drescher and Rita Moreno. He will also star in the Arkansas Repertory Theater’s version of Death of a Salesman as Willy Loman, running April 24th to May 12th www.therep.org

 

Reel Classics with the Rep: DEATH OF A SALESMAN

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717deathLater this month, Robert Walden opens in Death of a Salesman at Arkansas Rep.  In conjunction with that, the Reel Classics with the Rep series returns for this month’s installment.

The monthly series showcases films which share connections with productions currently on stage at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre.

Tonight’s film is the 1985 version of Death of a Salesman.  This version was filmed for television and is adapted from the 1984 Tony winning revival.  It stars Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman.  Kate Reid, John Malkovich and Stephen Lang play other members of the Loman family. Other standouts in the cast include Charles Durning and Louis Zorich.

The program begins tonight at 6pm with a discussion of the Rep’s production led by members of the Rep’s staff.  Following that, at 6:30, the film will be screened.  It takes place at Laman Library.

The Rep’s production, directed by Robert Hupp, begins performances on April 24 and runs through May 12.  Opening night is April 26.