Dutch Productions on the San Francisco International Film Festival

SF Internaional Film Festival. Photo: Courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society

The 54th San Francisco International Film Festival returns April 21 - May 5 for two weeks of cinematic excellence, combining more than 100 unique programs of the finest independent, documentary and international film with a range of marquee premieres, spectacular live events and tributes to world-renowned talent. It brings the best in world cinema to the Bay Area and presents the following Dutch film:

A Cat in Paris is a movie for children of all ages, who will root for the undercats in this beautifully animated caper set against the cityscape of Paris. A sneaky feline, a mute girl, her police detective mom and a big-hearted cat burglar join forces to combat a gangster and his bumbling sidekicks. With short Specky Four Eyes (9 min). A Cat in Paris screenings:

Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 12:30 PM

Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - San Francisco, CA

For tickets

Sunday, May 1, 2011 at12:30 PM

New People - San Francisco, CA

For tickets

A Cat in Paris movie still. Photo: Courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society

In The Ligh Thief, a simple electrician affectionately known as Mr. Light finds himself in a difficult position when a politician embraces his dream of generating wind energy for his impoverished town. This stirring allegory of a man confronting injustice and tyranny dramatizes the challenges facing the developing economies of post-Soviet Central Asia. The Light Thief screenings:

Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 7:15 PM 

Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - San Francisco, CA

For tickets
Monday, April 25, 2011 at 9:15 PM

Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - San Francisco, CA

For tickets
Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 8:45 PM
Pacific Film Archive - Bekeley, CA
For tickets

The Light Thief movie still. Photo: Courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society

Position Among the Stars is winner of the IDFA 2010 Awards for Best Feature-length Documentary and Best Dutch Documentary.

In the latest chapter in Helmrich’s (Shape of the Moon, SFIFF 2005) artful portrait of a Jakarta family, the grandmother journeys from the countryside to motivate her university-bound granddaughter. The domestic drama takes place amid increasing materialism and traditional Islam, while Helmrich’s virtuoso style transforms the everyday into art. Position Among the Stars screenings:

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 8:50 PM
Pacific Film Archive - Bekeley, CA
For tickets
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 6:00 PM
Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - San Francisco, CA 
For tickets
Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 9:00 PM
Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - San Francisco, CA
For tickets

Position Among the Stars movie still. Photo: Courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society

My Joy is about a taciturn truck driver who hits the pitted asphalt road for a journey into rural Russia and encounters with peculiar folk—an old man still plagued by the Great War, a teenage prostitute who shuns kindness, a trio of tramps who wander the wasteland like an unholy trinity—in this surprising guignol about a republic in decline. My Joy screenings:

Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 5:45 PM

Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - San Francisco, CA

For tickets
Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at

Sundance Kabuki Cinemas - San Francisco, CA

For tickets

My Joy movie still. Photo: Courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society

Find the SF International also on Facebook and Twitter:

http://www.facebook.com/sfinternationalfilmfestival
http://twitter.com/SFIntlFilmFest

Carice van Houten awarded for Best Actress at the Tribeca Film Festival 2011

Carice van Houten in Black Butterflies (2011). Photo: courtesy of the artist

 

The award winners for the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival have been announced on the website...
Congratulations to Carice van Houten for her role in Black Butterflies!

The 10th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, and presented by founding sponsor American Express, announced the winners of its competition categories at a ceremony hosted at the  W Union Square in New York City.  

The world competition winners were chosen from 12 narrative and 12 documentary features from 21 countries, which includes the Netherlands. Carice van Houten won the award for Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film in Black Butterflies.
Best New Director prizes were awarded for both narrative and documentary films, selected from all feature films by a first-time director throughout the program. Awards were also given in four categories in the short film competition. This year’s Festival included 93 features and 60 short films from 40 countries.

The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival runs until May 1.

Joop van den Ende's Stage Entertainment on Broadway with Sister Act

Joop van den Ende and Pattina Miller. Photo: Peter James Zielinsk.

Producers Whoopi Goldberg and Stage Entertainment (Joop van den Ende productions) brought the new Broadway musical, Sister Act to the Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway) with the opening night, last night (April 20, 2011). 

Tickets for the show are available.

Based on the smash-hit film, Sister Act features an original score by 8-time Oscar and 10-time Grammy Award winner Alan Menken (Little Shop of Horrors, The Little Mermaid, Enchanted) and direction by 4-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks (La Cage aux Folles, A Funny Thing…, Guys and Dolls.)

Disco diva Deloris Van Cartier (Olivier Award nominee Patina Miller) has dreams of hitting the big time. But when she walks in on a "hit" of a different kind, the cops hide her in the last place anyone would think to look - a convent! At first, Deloris - disguised as "Sister Mary Clarence" - has trouble adjusting to life under the strict rule of Mother Superior (Tony Award winner Victoria Clark). But when she transforms the convent's choir into the most glorious new musical act in town, Deloris forms a lasting bond with her newfound friends… and the gang that's chasing her finds itself up against an unstoppable team of soulful sisters!

Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy Coming to Broadway!

The record-breaking production has been seen by over a million people and was nominated for four Olivier Awards, including Best Musical, as well as seven Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers Choice Awards, winning two. The show's Original Cast Recording is also a big favorite with fans, recently reaching Number 1 on the iTunes Soundtrack chart. A German production will open in Hamburg in December 2010, followed by productions in Australia, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Italy, France and Spain soon after.

US Premiere: REIGEN ad lib by Dood Paard

Dood Paard, REIGEN ad lib. Photo: Sanne Peper

Thursday, April 28 and 29, 2011 at 8:00 PM
Peter B. Lewis Theater, Solomon R. Guggenheim - New York, NY
For tickets on April 28 / April 29
Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 3:00 PM and 8:00 PM
Peter B. Lewis Theater, Solomon R. Guggenheim - New York, NY
For tickets at 3:00 PM / 8:00 PM

For article by Nicole Estvanik Taylor in the American Theatre (March 2011)

Dood Paard, an Amsterdam-based theater collective without a director or set designer, performs REIGEN ad lib, a verbatim and uniquely contemporary staging of playwright Arthur Schnitzler’s Reigen (Full Circle, 1897). Scandalous during its time, Reigen was banned for more than 20 years, with only one unauthorized performance in Budapest in 1912. Performing on vintage mattresses, Dood Paard members are costumed in underwear and gaudy attire while sexual acts are intimated through stroboscopic projections of artist Marco Brambilla’s video Sync from Destricted (2006), a collection of short erotic films by various artists. This program is supported in part by public funds from the Netherlands Cultural Services.

Dood Paard presents REIGEN ad lib - GUGGENHEIM New York

PEN World Voices Festival

Monday, April 25, 2011 at 5:30 PM
The Public Interllectual (ft. Linda Polman)

For tickets
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 at 7:30 PM 

Revolutionaries in the Arab World (ft. Abdelkader Benali)

For tickets

Thursday, April 28, 2011

9:30 AM - Working Day: Keynote Addressses

(ft. Frank Westerman e.g.)

Admission: RSVP to jessica@pen.org by April 22 

6:30 PM - A Literary Safari: A Unique Experience 

(ft. Abdelkader Benali e.g.)

Admission: $10 / $12 

7:00 PM - China in Two Acts 

(ft. Ian Buruma and Linda Polman e.g.)

For tickets 

7:00 PM - Diaspora Capitals 

(ft. Arnon Grunberg e.g.)

For tickets 

9:15 PM - WikiLeaks 

(ft. Ian Buruma and Geert Lovink e.g.)

For tickets
Friday, April 29, 2011

8:45 PM - Best Translated Book Awards

(Nominated: Eline Vere by Louis Couperus, translated from the Dutch by Ina Rilke)

Admission: free
Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 4:00 PM
Kara Bogaz - The Black Mouth 
Introduction by Frank Westerman and book presentation of Engineers of the Soul
Admission: $5

PEN World Voices: The New York Festival of International Literature was launched in 2005. PEN World Voices is a week-long literary festival in New York City. The Festival was launched by PEN President Salman Rushdie. The Festival was composed of programs, readings, conversations, and debates that showcase international literature and new writers. The Festival is produced by PEN American Center, a nonprofit organization that works to advance literature, promote free expression, and foster international literary fellowship.

The festival is now in its seventh year, and this year brings many changes, including a new director and a new home. For the first time ever, the festival will take place on and around the High Line and at The Standard, New York, though we’ll be producing events at some favorite former festival venues, too.

Bunny at Tribeca Film Festival

Bunny (2010). Photo: screen shot by Rolf Dekens

Friday, April 22, 2011 at 9:30 PM

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 6 - New York, NY

Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 3:45 PM

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 8

Saturday, April 30, 2011 at 6:45 PM

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 8

Sunday, May 01, 2011 at 2:30 PM

Tribeca Cinemas Theater 2 

For tickets

The short film Bunny, who was shot by the Dutch cameraman Rolf Dekens has been selected for the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in New York. It is the first of four productions that Dekens has shot during the past two years in the US.

For the 10th Tribeca Film Festival, the short film program will be presented in eight thematic programs and a wide range of cultural perspectives. Drawn from 2,862 submissions, the program represents 21 countries, next to the Netherlands it includes Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Haiti, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Peru, Scotland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, and the United States. 

Black Butterflies at Tribeca Film Festival

Black Butterflies (2011). Photo: www.theaterguide.nl

Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 9:00 PM (world premier)

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 7 - New York, NY

Sunday, April 24, 2011 at 3:30 PM

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 6 - New York, NY

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 at 3:30 PM

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 6 - New York, NY

Friday, April 29, 2011 at 10:00 PM

Clearview Cinemas Chelsea 5 - New York, NY

For tickets
For an article on Carice van Houten reflecting on her latest role as a tragic poet in the Wall Street Journal by Elizabeth Fitzherbert (April 1, 2011).
For a review by Leslie-Stonebraker in the New York Press (April 22,2011).

A film, by Paula van der Oest, about poetry, politics, madness, and desire collide in the true story of the woman hailed as South Africa's Sylvia Plath. In 1960s Cape Town, as Apartheid steals the expressive rights of blacks and whites alike, young Ingrid Jonker (Carice van Houten, Black Book) finds her freedom scrawling verse while frittering through a series of stormy affairs. Amid escalating quarrels with her lovers and her government-censor father (Rutger Hauer), the poet witnesses an unconscionable event that will alter her life's course.

Black Butterflies is nominated for Tribeca Film Festival's world narrtive competition.    

Trailer Black Butterflies (2011)

In her native country The Netherlands, Carice van Houten (1976) has become one of the most beloved actresses. She won several awards, including four Golden Calves for best actress and was voted ‘Best Dutch Actress of All Time’ by the Dutch audience in 2008. Her stunning performance in Paul Verhoeven’s war epic Black Book marked the beginning of Carice’s international breakthrough. In the Tom Cruise/ Bryan Singer film Valkerie, she stars in the female lead as Nina Von Stauffenberg.

In 2006 Carice shines as Jewish singer Rachel Stein in Paul Verhoeven’s critically acclaimed Black Book. For her role in Black Book Carice receives her third Golden Calf for best actress. In The Netherlands the film is exclaimed the best Dutch film of all times. Her role in Black Book launches Carice’s international career.

 

Rutger Hauer was born in Breukelen, Netherlands, the town lending its name to NYC neighbourhood Brooklyn. It has been twenty years since Hauer took the American movie scene by storm. What most Americans don't know is that Rutger has had a very successful film career before he was ever known to American artists. His first turn at movies found him teamed up with Paul Verhoven (RoboCop, Starship Troopers) in the highly acclaimed Turkish Delight. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture and went on to become the most successful film in Dutch history.  From there, Rutger starred in many highly acclaimed roles including the Verhoven masterpiece Soldier of Orange.

Out of Hand ft. The Lunatics - ' Group Intelligence: a mass MP3 experience'

The Luncatics @ Oerol Terschelling (2006). Photo: Hans Speekenbrink

 

Previews:

Thursday, April 14 - Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 7:00 PM

Emory University - Atlanta, GA

Free admission

Premieres:
Thursday, April 21 - Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 7:00 PM
Woodruff Park - Atlanta, GA

Free admission

For review by David Lee Simmons in the Arts Critic ATL (April 25, 2011).

Group Intelligence: a mass MP3 experience is a spectacular outdoor event about the origins of life and water scarcity. It is a new, outdoor, science and public art experiment. The audience downloads an MP3 track in advance or borrows one from Out of Hand. They all press play at the same time and are guided through an hour-long experience around themes of water scarcity and origins of life chemistry.

During the experience, participants will walk, run, solve problems, laugh, play and build something extraordinary together. How hard the audience works is up to each individual, but the diversity of the group is key. Each performance is limited to 300 participants, but everyone is invited to watch the experiment unfold. Group Intelligence is suitable for ages 12 and up. Audiences are highly encouraged to wear close-toed, sensible shoes.

For almost 15 years, the Lunatics has been performing ingenious theatre in all kinds of places throughout the world. From soggy Dutch marshland to sweltering jungles, from bustling cities to barren deserts, the most absurd locations have served as the Lunatics* fairytale stage. Bizarre imagery transports the audience to an adventurous world that is wild, hilarious and moving at the same time. Realistic situations are connected with inexplicable, logic with mystery. Nothing seems what it is. Various light and sound effects, unique objects and idiosyncratic yet identifiable characters combine in The Lunatics' performances to activate the imaginations of thousands. The locations are critical, as they provide a constantly changing backdrop that inspires the imaginations of both actor and audience; each story has not one, but hundreds of versions.

Out of Hand Theater Company. Photo: www.outofhandtheater.com

Out Of Hand Theater makes new work for new audiences. We are a collection of writer/director/performers who make ravishing, athletic performances with and for our ever expanding, beloved community. Out Of Hand creates razor-sharp, delight-filled experiences by involving the audience in a new way every time, giving you a stake in the show; magnifying the places where we, artists and audience, share common ground, causing moments of mass intimacy, and embracing those who are unreached by conventional theater.

This is not the first time the two companies have been working together. The Lunatics and Out of Hand collaborated before for Hominid (2010), a story about depiction of the politics, intrigue and capacity for empathy we share with the other great apes. Science and Art collide in this international, location theatre collaboration.

'Bardsongs' by Sander Francken wins Signis Award

Bardsongs movie trailer

Dutch production Bardsongs by Sander Francken has received the Signis Award, as announced on the Filmfest website.

This year's Filmfest DC is their 25th anniversary. It took place at April 7-17, 2011 in Washington, DC. 

Merlijn Twaalfhoven receives Unesco award

Merlijn Twaalfhoven during the preperations for Carried by the Wind in the Palestinian refugee camp Jalazon. Photo: Adam Sèbire.

Dutch composer Merlijn Twaalfhoven is to receive a prestigious Unesco award. He will soon be able to call himself the 'Young Artist for intercultural dialogue between the Arab and Western worlds'.

Unesco has announced that Merlijn Twaalfhoven will receive the award for his efforts to transcend the boundaries between people and cultures and unite people through music. In the past few years the Dutch composer organised a number of projects in conflict areas such as the divided Cypriot capital Nicosia, a Slovak gypsy ghetto, the Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem. He was able to bridge vast cultural differences through innovative concerts.

Inter-cultural dialogue is also the focus of Merlijn Twaalfhoven’s latest project The Air we Breathe, a vocal performance featuring fragments of pop, jazz and classical music, performed by singers from the Arabian, Bulgarian and Swedish musical traditions.

Merlijn Twaalfhoven will receive his award on 13 April from the hands of Unesco Director General Irina Bokova at the organisation’s Paris headquarters.

For an overview of all twenty young artists recognized for promoting dialogue between Arab and Western countries.

Tiësto's 'Beautiful World' #1 on Miami Music Week 2011

Tiësto.Photo: facebook.com/tiesto

For article by Adam Steward for MTV Newsroom (April 13, 2011)

For video of Tiësto talking about collaboration with Mark Knight on Beautiful World. 

After 10 days of polling, and over 34,000 votes tallied from 108 countries, the masses have spoken in the quest to find the biggest track to come out of Miami Music Week 2011. One of our biggest DJ's Tijs Michiel Verwest aka DJ Tiësto, and collaborator Mark Knight came in with a landslide win in the final days with their number one Beatport smash, Beautiful World, featuring Dino.

The Miami Music Week isn't just a concert. It's a week-long electronic and alternative musical orgy featuring the world's best talent and over 150,000 fans. This year's festival took place at March 22-27.