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*2008 Summer Recap

6/25 - THE YEAR MY PARENTS WENT ON VACATION



In 1970, Brazil and the world seem to have been turned upside-down, but 12 year-old Mauro's worries have nothing to do with the military regime which controls the country. His biggest dream is to see Brazil become three-time winner of the World Cup. Suddenly, he is torn from his parents and taken to live in a "strange" and fun-filled community called Bom Retiro, a district in Sao Paolo which is home to a large Jewish and Italian community, among other cultures.



Cast:
Michel Joelsas
Germano Haiut
Daniela Piepszyk
Simone Spoladore
Caio Blat Italo
Liliana Castro
Paulo Autran
Edgardo Moreira



Director
Cao Hamburger

Writers
Cao Hamburger Screenplay
Cluadio Galperin Screenplay
Braulio Mantovani Screenplay
Cao Hamburger Story By

Producers
Caio Gullane Executive Producer
Fabiano Gullane Executive Producer
Sonia Hamburger Executive Producer
Cao Hamburger Producer

GUEST: Clara Angelica Porto

Clara is a Brazilian journalist living in New York. She has worked for 20 years with television and newspaper in Brazil, and is presently the English writer for The Brasilians newspaper in New York. She is also a fundraiser for a big event, Brazilian Day in New York, the biggest Brazilian event outside of Brazil, promoted by The Brasilians. Clara Angelica has always kept a very close touch with the arts in general, promoting exhibits, producing shows and cinema is one of her biggest passions. She has worked with Brazilian filmmaker Nelson Pereira dos Santos and worked with Cao Hamburger, director of "The Year..." during the Tribeca Film Festival. That's when she fell in love with the film and introduced it to Sal Scamardo, of CityLights. Having interviewed and talked extensively about the film with Hamburger, and having been herself persecuted by the Brazilian dictatorship when she was in her late teens, she feels this film touches her in many different and deep ways.

CLARA'S COLUMN: Link

HOST - MARK EHRENKRANZ (Producer NY Film Critics Series) -

• Writer/Producer TURBULENT SOULS – a Full Length Feature Film based on The memoirs of Stephen J. Dubner (co-author of FREAKONOMICS - well over 100 weeks on NY Best Seller List).
• Creator/Marketing Director VideoLine / 1-800-VIDEO-411®. National, key account marketing and sales for INGRAM ENTERTAINMENT, INC., the nation's largest and leading home video/DVD/games distributor. Ingram is the number one distributor for Warner, Disney, Universal, Sony Paramount, Fox and all of the mini majors – Lions Gate, Miramax, Weinstein Co., Focus, etc.
• Creator, Producer - REALLY COOL JOBS™ an episodic show geared toward 14-35 year olds that will entertain, educate and inform young people about a virtually unknown world of immensely creative and productive jobs that are available to them if they work hard and stay focused.
• Freelance Video Director/Producer - Wrote, produced and directed comedy videos with theatrical NYC Comedians. These were original dramatic shorts adapted from stand-up material intended for broadcast. Produced "Peep Show", a comedy video variety show for Vestron. Wrote, produced and directed "Jewish Women in Jazz" for The Campus Network. Director -Directed segments for USA's Nightflight, "Radio 1990", "Lifestyles of the Rich and famous", "Entertainment Tonight" and CBS's "America".
• Assistant Supervising Director - Michael Nesmith's Prime Time NBC Series,"Television Parts". Alan Meyerson Director. Co-Directed by William Dear. Pacific Arts Corporation. Developed Comedy Videos for: Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Leno, Whoopi Goldberg and others.
• Golway Films Segment Producer - Created and coordinated the Rock Segment for "To Hear", a PBS Special Presentation hosted by Joel Grey.
• Pixie Productions, Assistant To Harvey Miller - Writer, Producer - Assistant to Harvey Miller (Private Benjamin, Protocol, Bad Medicine) while in pre-production and production of feature film "Bad Medicine" starring Alan Arkin, Steve Guttenberg and Julie Haggerty.
• Bakshi Films, Music Supervisor -Coordinated musical arrangement for "Fire and Ice", a Ralp Bakshi/Frank Frazetta Production in association with Twentieth Century Fox.
• Belson Productions -Assistant to Jerry Belson (Fun With Dick and Jane, Surrender). while in pre-production of Amblin Entertainment's feature "Always".

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6/18 - Frozen River

Filmed in sub-zero weather in upstate New York, March of 2007, Frozen River is Courtney Hunt’s directorial debut.

Courtney’s feature-length script is set in a real-life smuggling zone on a Native American reservation between New York State and Quebec where the lure of fast money presents a daily challenge to single moms who would otherwise be making minimum wage. Strapped for money and having been deserted by her husband, working class Ray (Melissa Leo), reluctantly teams up with Lila (Misty Upham), a widowed Mohawk Indian, to smuggle illegal immigrants across the frozen St. Lawrence River from Canada to the U.S. in the trunk of a Dodge Spirit. Both women swear each trip will be their last, but one final run across the river leads to a showdown with the law on all sides.

Cast:
Melissa Chessington Leo,
Misty Upham,
Charlie McDermott,
Mark Boone Jr.

Director:
Courtney Hunt

Writer: Courtney Hunt

Guest: Melissa Chessington Leo



Frozen River - (2008) - Actor
Black Irish - (2007 ) - Actor
Stephanie Daley - (2007) - Actor
Hollywood Dreams - (2007) - Actor
21 Grams - (2003) - Actor
Homicide - The Movie - (2000) - Actor
Code of Ethics - (1997) - Actor
Last Summer in the Hamptons - (1995) - Actor
Scarlett - (1994) - Featured
Carolina Skeletons - (1992) - Actor
Venice, Venice - (1992) - Actor
A Time of Destiny - (1988) - Actor
Deadtime Stories - (1986) - Actor
Silent Witness - (1985) - Actor
Streetwalkin' - (1985) - Actor

Host: Thelma Adams


Ms. Adams reviews films for Us Weekly. From 1993 until early 2000, the past Chair of the New York Film Critics Circle was the New York Post film critic, where she continues to write about family TV. She writes regularly for Interview Magazine, as well as The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Cosmopolitan International, Glamour, Glamour en Espaniol, The Christian Science Monitor, Indie Magazine, American Bookseller Magazine and The Independent.

She has appeared as a guest on: CNN, CNBC, Access Hollywood, USA Live, PBS's Cinema, MSNBC, MSG Metro Learning, Fox News Channel, Drudge, Geraldo, NBC's America's Talking Network and the Rolanda Show. She is a frequent commentator on BBC Arts World Service "On Screen."

Official Site: Link

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Critic David Edelstein (New York Magazine /NPR’s Fresh Air/ CBS Sunday Mornings) chats with Vera Farmiga (THE DEPARTED, DOWN TO THE BONE, RUNNING SCARED) & Producer Jason Kliot (REDACTED, BROKEN ENGLISH, THE WAR WITHIN, ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM, THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON, CHUCK & BUCK) about their new film QUID PRO QUO -6/11/2008


Critic David Edelstein chats with Vera Farmiga -6/11/2008


Vera Farmiga -6/11/2008

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6/11 - QUID PRO QUO

QUID PRO QUO - Public Radio investigative reporter Isaac Knott just happens to be confined to a wheel chair. In the course of doing a story about disability wanna-be's, Isaac traverses a surreal world of fetishism and transgressive eroticism that recalls the unique perspectives of Luis Bunuel and Alfred Hitchcock. In the course of Isaac's investigation, he finds Fiona--or she finds him--and she offers him a window into a dark place that exists somewhere between reality and dreams. Her life's aspiration is to be crippled, or at least perceived as such.



Cast:
Vera Farmiga
Nick Stahl
Aimee Mullins
James Frain
Kate Burton
Dylan Bruno
Jacob Pitts



Director:
Carlos Brooks

Writer:
Carlos Brooks

Producers
Jason Kliot -Executive Producer
Joana Vicente -Executive Producer
Mark Cuban -Executive Producer
Todd Wagner -Executive Producer




Host: David Edelstein - New York Magazine, NPR's Fresh Air and CBS Sunday Mornings



Guest: VERA FARMIGA



Farmiga appeared in several high profile films in the early 2000s, including Autumn in New York and 15 Minutes. She also appeared in the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate. Her lead performance in the 2005 film Down to the Bone received a "Best Actress" award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. In 2006 she appeared in Running Scared, and as a police psychiatrist in Martin Scorsese's The Departed. Info

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Summer Series Opener - 6/4 - FINDING AMANDA



FINDING AMANDA - "Taylor Peters (Matthew Broderick) can't catch a lucky break.A low-level writer on a lame half-hour sitcom, he's blown most of the money he's ever earned in his life on drugs, alcohol and betting on the horses. When his wife (Maura Tierney) discovers he's been gambling after he promised her he wouldn't anymore, he becomes desperate to win her back. To do so, he plans to go to Las Vegas to find his young niece Amanda (Brittany Snow), who has become a prostitute, and rescue her from a life of degeneracy."

Cast:
Matthew Broderick,
Maura Tierney,
Brittany Snow,
Bill Fagerbakke,
Peter Facinelli

Directed by: Peter Tolan
Produced by:
Wayne Rice,
Mark Benton Johnson

Guest: TOM HOUGHTON - Director of Photography

Official Site: Link