American Film Market Dailies

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WINNER:

BEST FILM AT THE MAR DEL PLATA FILM FESTIVAL

Delve into the dark and mysterious recesses of Angelica's world. On the verge of turning 40, Angelica finds herself alone in her deceased mother's house, penniless and slowly succumbing to her demons. After she reluctantly agrees with her sister to have the decaying house sold and torn down, Angelica secretly retreats into the attic while the walls literally and figuratively crumble around her. Her vivid delusions, debilitating grief and haunting memories of old traumas contribute to a mental breakdown that she is able to hide from the few people she sees in the outside world. As she deteriorates into a shadow-like figure, dressed in her mother's clothes and armed with an old air rifle, she becomes determined to fight whomever tries to shatter her fragile reality.

The superb direction and the outstanding performances add to the mesmerizing effect this movie creates for its viewers.

Like Andrei Tarkovsky's subtle and penetrating masterworks, this unrelentingly creepy film will send you into a fascinating and uniquely disquieting world of its own.

Winner: Best Film, Mar Del Plata Film Festival

Psychological Thriller / 109 mins / Argentina / Spanish/ HD

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A DANGEROUS PRACTICE

PARANORMAL FEATURE BASED ON A TRUE STORY, A PARAMOUNT COPRODUCTION

An inspirational and thrilling story based on the incredible and controversial Zé Arigó, one of the most famous people in Brazilian history. Born into a modest and God-fearing, farm family Arigo grew up suffering from headaches and visions that tormented him throughout his life. In the 1950's, under the inspiration of one of these visions, Arigó discovers that he has been gifted miraculous healing skills and he begins to perform surgeries and treat the desperately ill around him. He and his family soon discover that his incredible abilities come at a dangerous cost. A skeptical Catholic Church and the local government torment him, eventually sending him to jail. But the power of his followers and his faith in performing the extraordinary give him the courage to fight back to continue his mission. Whether you believe in faith, miracles or only in science, this powerful film will move your heart and make you reconsider the power of hope.   * Arigó saved thousands of lives including the daughter of Brazilian president Kubitcheck. * He was studied by NASA scientists who failed to provide a conclusive theory about their observations. * Beautifully filmed on location in the Brazilian towns where the actual events took place.   Drama/Thriller / 108 mins. / Brazil / Portuguese / 4K

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KING PETAR THE FIRST

Qualified for the 2020 Academy Award ®

" a true spectacle" City Magazine   "A powerful film, a masterpiece..." The Standard

STORM RIDERS

An epic frontier western adventure in the tradition of "True Grit"

Based on a bestselling novel

Following the death of their mother and lead by their stoic, heartbroken father, Rachel and Jamie begin an arduous passage west through beautiful but dangerous prairies seeking fortune and a new life during the gold rush of the 1800's.

This epic but treacherous journey can only be made within a short window of time before brutal winter forces stop men and beasts alike. Fate deals the grieving, pioneer family a complicated hand when their ox wagon is damaged and they are taken in by a pious, farm family in the foothills of a mountain, far from their destination. As their father repairs their wagon, a fearsome storm approaches and Rachel and Jamie begin to pack, despite dire warnings from the farmer.  

Now, with a raging blizzard upon them, the two children find themselves lost in a frozen white-out in search of a missing pet calf. Rachel and Jamie must find shelter and survive the icy darkness while Rachel makes a brave decision that will change their destinies forever.

Western - Adventure / 106 min / 4K / in Afrikaans

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LONE WOLVES

(aka LOBOS SOLITARIOS)

Play the Game, Don't Let the Game Play You

This raw, unpredictable, enormously suspenseful and excellently crafted genre film is set in the menacing, high security prison  that is aptly known as hell.  Arnold Drexler decides to expose the organization behind his crimes  in order to reduce his 15 year sentence. What he, the other inmates, and many of the prison guards don't understand is how deeply corrupted and violently entangled are every character's interest. Arnold's lock-up triggers a brutal reaction from cell-mates Vic and Toni who likewise start an avalanche of merciless retribution. Like peeling layers of an onion, the film cleverly exposes each player's motivations and connections, simultaneously repelling you and drawing you in to a vicious culture both inside and outside the prison walls.

For fans of intelligent action films like RESERVOIR DOGS, DRIVE and HBO series OZ 

Action-Thriller / 80 mins / Spain / Spanish / 4k

28 Nominations and 2 Awards (Best movie and Best acting) -- US Hollywood Int Film Festival

Official Selection: Girona Film Festival -- Spain, SFTF Film Festival -- Bogotá Colombia

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MAMBO MAN

With the Buena Vista Stars, including Candido Fabre

WINNER OF 50 INTERNATIONAL PRIZES

Based on a true story and filmed in the exotic countryside outside Havana, this remarkable and engaging film will move both your spirit and your feet with its unforgettable passion and intoxicating music. The soundtrack and live performances in the film include some of the legendary Cuban artists who appeared in the box office smash, Buena Vista Social Club.

JC is a 'big fish in a small pond' who lives beyond his means. To make ends meet he juggles multiple small businesses with varying degrees of success. As a farmer, JC struggles with an arid growing season and broken machinery. As a local music promoter, he entertains visiting tourists with flair and extraordinarily talented musical friends. As a small-time hustler he jumps into a questionable opportunity that strains his marriage and puts everything he's earned at risk.

Underneath the charisma and wisecracking persona, JC is a considerate man who just wants to provide for his friends and family and maybe make a deal that could change his life for the better.  Fate and fortune rarely meet for the meek so when he decides to take a big risk, will this mysterious and nerve-racking new venture answer all his prayers?

MAMBO MAN is packed with musical contributions from Cuban legends including; Candido Fabre, Maria Ochoa, Alma Latina, David Alvarez, Arturo Jorge, Omara Portuondo,  Eliades Ochoa, Juan De Marcos Gonzalez and the Afro-Cuban All Stars.

82 mins/Thriller/Cuba/Spanish/4K

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150 MILLION MAGICAL SPARROWS aka "Jhalki"

A Sundance screenwriters' lab project, 

made with the support of the UK Film Council, London

In a twinkle of an eye, a life-altering disappearance of her 7-year old kid brother sets Jhalki off on a mission to find him at all costs. Armed with an intimate folk-tale of a tireless sparrow and her own charming presence of mind, Jhalki embarks on a relentless journey to find and free her brother. Unaware and ignorant of the deep-rooted corruption and cobwebs of the system, Jhalki takes on the monstrous and the conniving with a purity of pursuit that is at once uplifting and inspirational.

Is Jhalki's journey the start of a spiral that will change the lives of thousands for good? What price must she pay to get what she wants? Inspired by true events, with a backdrop of human-trafficking and child-labour, 

150 MILLION MAGICAL SPARROWS  becomes an atypical thriller of hope, courage, self-belief and perseverance in an inhuman world, seen through the eyes of a 9 year-old girl, who will not stop anywhere short of triumph.

This wonderfully crafted, feel good movie is the only one in film history that is actively backed by a Nobel laureate (Mr Kailash Satyarthi).

Won 13 awards and 24 Official Selections...and counting

Best Original Screenplay Award at BIFF (Boston International Film Festival) 

Best Cinematography Award at ASCFF (A Show for Change Film Festival) 

Platinum Winners at IIFA (International Independent Film Awards), Los Angeles, US, under 6 categories: Best Screenplay / Best Concept / Best Cinematography / Best Original Score / Best Original Song / Best Animated Visuals 

Best Social Cause Film Award at IIFFB (Indian International Film Festival of Boston)

Best Feature Film Award at IFFCINCY (Indian Film Festival of Cincinnati)

Best Director Award at DCSAFF (Washington DC South Asian Film Festival)

Platinum Award for International Feature Film at International Screen Awards 2019

Golden Emerging International Feature Film Award at International Screen Awards 2019

Family/Adventure/ Thriller 102 min. Hindi 4K

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ALONE WITH HER DREAMS

OLIVER STONE calls it a new Italian Classic from the heart

GOLDEN GLOBE WINNING BEST FIRST FILM

Filmed on the rugged and stunningly beautiful Mediterranean (Sicilian) coast, ALONE WITH HER DREAMS explores the universally timely themes of family separation because of emigration, generational conflicts and feminine repression, continuing the traditions of the Italian neorealist masters; Rossellini, Visconti, Olmi and De Sica.

Set in the late 1960's, the film explores the issues of of immigration, community values and family devotion through the eyes of a young girl, Lucia who is left behind with her grandmother, Maria while her parents emigrate to France to find work. Lucia pains to be with her family as she struggles to learn her role in the tiny, traditional village under the watchful guidance of her stern grandmother. As Lucia enters womanhood, her childhood innocence is lost to a hideous, family secret and her world of childhood fragility and heartbreaking nostalgia melts into adulthood's poignant understanding.

Dignity, strength and optimism become the traits that Lucia unknowingly inherits as she ultimately learns about her stoic grandmother's compassion and deep nurturing love.

Thriller / 95 min / Italian / 4K

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PERFECT ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY:

After her mother passes away, Jenny feels sad, angry, and alone in the middle of Los Angeles. To help her heal, Jenny's father decides that a visit with her grandmother in Thailand may be a step toward healing. But the local farming village that she moves to couldn't be more opposite from the life she knows in America. Fitting in here is not going be easy. What follows is a story of adventure and transformation as she builds a friendship with an outcast boy who faces huge challenges of his own. Together, they team up to face a group of bullies while he shares with her his love of animals and glimpses into the magic of nature. This incredible adventure has echoes of both "The Karate Kid" and "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and is a timeless story of the small and the voiceless battling against all odds. This extraordinarily beautiful movie will make you stand up and cheer and cry with joy!

Family /Adventure / 85 min. / English/ 4K

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DUSTWUN 

A powerful snapshot of what is happening in real time at the American border

Scheduled to premiere at the Arizona Int'l Film Festival, October 2020

Set on a remote but active immigrant crossing site just north of the Mexican border, DUSTWUN tells the powerful stories of a desperate Latina woman, Marta, attempting to save her child's life and two conflicted agents who are sworn to uphold an unforgiving policy in the face of their personal struggles. When Marta stumbles into an American veteran soldier, Kenny's makeshift camp, the two form a tenuous bond united by compassion, fear and duty. Repeated visits by the agents to Kenny's compound thwart Marta's attempts to reach her destination while Kenny builds his own personal wall under the orders of an imaginary commander. This engrossing film collapses real-time politics into fantasy and thrilling jeopardy while focusing on the human element at the core of it all....a story of hope for the moment we are living in.

Drama / Thriller / 90 mins / USA / English & Spanish / 4K

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PILATE

A 2021 Golden Globe Contender

Adapted from the novel by Magda Szabó, 

one of the most decorated and beloved Hungarian writers.

Reminiscent of Ingmar Bergman masterworks, PERSONA and AUTUMN SONATA.

Based on the bestselling novel, PILATE is a heartbreakingly beautiful portrait of a mother and daughter whose relationship is both intimately close, and tragically disconnected. When Anna, an elderly village woman is recently widowed, her daughter Iza, a highly acclaimed doctor, quickly whisks her from her life-long home to a cold, big-city apartment to live with her and care for her. The seemingly selfless act of affection soon reveals itself to be a stifling and almost torturous experience for Anna. The underlying tensions and baggage of a mother/daughter relationship are amplified by silent gestures and martyred acts that burden each of them to the breaking point. Feelings of love and nurturing wither into uselessness and pain while other family members helplessly look on, ultimately culminating in a crisis with profound consequence.

The sensitive directing results in outstanding performances while the perfection of the dialogue is rooted in first-class literary material. All that paired with stunning, award winning photography helps the material to reach a new level of meaning, transporting us into the universal.

Winner, Jury Award Best Cinematography - 2020 South East European Film Festival Los Angeles

Winner, Best Editing - 2019 Milano International Film Festival Awards

Winner, Best Film - 2019 Milano International Film Festival Awards

Winner, Best Director, Linda Dombrovszky - 2019 Milano International Film Festival Awards

Winner, Best Actress, Ildikó Hámori - 2019 Milano International Film Festival Awards

Winner, Best Cinematography, Dávid Hartung - 2019 Milano International Film Festival Awards

Drama / 75 mins / Hungary / Hungarian / HD

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FRANKENSTEIN

A Costas Zapas film

An adaptation of the original "Frankenstein" novel by Mary Shelley, and of Costas Zapas' novel "Frankenstein REC".

"FRANKENSTEIN" is a thriller, a graphic novel with gothic elements, animation and teenage protagonists. It is an enticing, refreshing take on the classic novel that re-introduces its iconic characters for an entirely new generation of viewers and adds an unexpected twist to a haunted fairytale.  The story revolves around a theatre troupe that comes to town to perform "Frankenstein". A young female reporter investigating the legend believes that the novel is not fiction but, in fact, the true story of a group of alchemists founded by the young doctor Victor Frankenstein. In 1817 they managed to defeat mortality and return from the dead! Interviewing the theatre troupe members, the reporter is confronted with the dark heroes of the novel who keep on appearing in the city...alive.  Her investigations lead her to a universe of monsters and finally to a revelation.This is a story that remains a mystery, even to the characters themselves. But one would not want to know the answer to this mystery. The best stories continue to unfold, repeating, turning back on themselves, on and on until they forge themselves into our heart and soul to remain forever.

With its perfect command of tone and mood, its hypnotic way of drawing us into its puzzle, with its austere visual beauty, Costas Zapas' Frankenstein is a modern masterpiece. It's an exciting new addition to the groundbreaking GREEK WEIRD WAVE CINEMA whose other auteurs include, Yorgos Lanthimos and Athina Rachel Tsangari.

Costas Zapas has been named by Cineuropa as "one of the most outstanding directors of contemporary auteur cinema" and by the Guardian as "one of the main protagonists of the burgeoning Greek new cinema wave". Zapas was discovered by Lars von Trier who financed and co-produced his feature film, "Minor Freedoms".

The script of  "FRANKENSTEIN"  has been selected among world's best in Toronto IFF (Toronto Producers Lab), the Network of Asian Fantastic Films, Busan IFF,  European Crossroads Co-Production Forum, Thessaloniki IFF, and the SIFF project, Shanghai IFF. The movie has just been completed and will be in competition at the leading festivals of the world.

Thriller with gothic elements | 86 min | in Greek | HD

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GAME-SET-MATCH!

Adapted from the novel "Smile Again, Jenny Lee." A mystery film for fans of Knives Out, Memento and I, Tonya and for the lovers of the sport of tennis.

Jenny, a rising tennis champion is approaching the peak of her career when an unknown assailant physically attacks her, seemingly putting an end to her promising stardom. Known for her quick temper and confrontational behavior, Jenny summons her indefatigable willpower and defies the doctors who tell her that playing tennis is beyond her grasp.

But the long road to recovery and a corrupt business agent have also drained her finances, leaving her desperate to find the financial support she needs to reclimb the tournament ladder. In a fateful move, Jenny decides to track down her missing father whose sketchy background and bizarre memory loss send her on a dangerous journey into her parents' past. While following mysterious clues, evading false leads and perilous dead-ends, what she finally uncovers in the shadowy corners of San Francisco leads to a stunning revelation and a life-changing discovery. This clever and tantalizing story will capture your imagination with its thrilling twists and shocking turns!

Mystery / Amnesia story / Sports movie / 96 mins / HD / English / US

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DESPERATE LOVE

Theatrical box office hit action thriller --

original title in South Africa: LOSING LERATO

DESPERATE LOVE is the story of a successful young black man, who takes matters into his own hands by kidnapping his daughter after life, the law and the woman he once loved come between them.He puts himself in harm's way when he decides to kidnap his own daughter from school, hoping to start a new life in a new city, but all hell breaks loose and he finds himself in a high stakes bus hostage situation and comes face to face with the law. As the crisis escalates, a shot rings out...

DESPERATE LOVE is a suspenseful, exciting, thought provoking, human interest story that speaks to global audiences who have experienced hardship, financial highs and lows, love, happiness or the loss of a child. The cast includes Black Panther's Connie Chiume.

Action/Thriller/96min/English & some local dialects from South Africa

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THE BEAST INSIDE

When Esther's fanatical father discovers her forbidden romance, he forcibly commits her to a conversion camp to straighten her out. What she faces there is nothing short of a torturous nightmare when she is tied to a bed and beaten by a sadistic preacher who is determined to exorcise the "demon" within. But this overzealous cleric has met his match when they both discover that she really does possess an evil force capable of dream-summoning local teens to her rescue. When Ester makes her escape, all hell breaks loose for the entire community as she handily transforms her victims into an army of murderous corpses. Can anybody halt this multiplying, grisly horde of blood-thirsty soldiers from their wicked mission? Tears flow, blood splatters, and gruesome carnage surges...maybe nobody is really safe...

Horror/Thriller / 88 mins. / South Africa / English / HD

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HENRI DAUMAN: LOOKING UP

Witness to History

He has been called one of the greatest photojournalists of the 20th century.  Marilyn Monroe, Brigitte Bardot, Jane Fonda, Liz Taylor, Miles Davis, Yves Saint Laurent, Andy Warhol, Elvis Presley, Jean-Luc Godard and some of the most famous historical figures of our times, including President Kennedy have all found a home inside his archive of one million negatives.  But for all his achievements, few know the details of Henri's remarkable origin story. Orphaned at thirteen in the midst of the Holocaust, he set out to rebuild his family at any cost. Through love, persistence and uncompromising vision he achieved something more: an artistic legacy for the generations. Exploring both the photographer's traumatic past and the contrasting vibrancy of the life and career he molded after, Henri Dauman's story is a testament to the resilience and perseverance of the human spirit.

Documentary film/ HD/ 86 min / English and French

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WORLD CUP HEROES

Paolo Rossi and the game's biggest superstars!

In backyards, dirt lots and even in the middle of city streets, children around the planet practice and dream about becoming the next Rossi, Pelé, Maradona or Falcao in the world's most popular sport.

Re-live the magical, heart-stopping moments of the game's incredible history in this loving tribute to Paolo Rossi and to a sport so many millions love across the globe.

Vintage championship footage and first-hand accounts by the greatest players themselves are beautifully woven into a touching and exciting story of Rossi's ups and downs in the context of shocking world events. As Football (soccer) has evolved into a billion-dollar business, this film powerfully reminds you that dreams can come true when you follow rule #1: never give up!

FIVE CONTINENTS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Winner: Best Documentary Feature Film, Best Team Cast, Best Lighting, Best Editing, Best Production

QUEEN PALM INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Winner of Gold as Best Feature - Sports/ Inspirational;

Honorable Mention as Best Director in the Documentary Feature Category

CINEMAFEST: Official Selection

Accolade Global Film Competition: Award of Merit - Documentary Feature

Queen Palm International Film Festival: Gold Winner

SFAAF (South Film and Arts Academy Festival): Official Selection 2019

World of Women Film Fair Middle East: Official Selection

The Monthly Film Festival: Winner Best Feature Film 2019

Documentary, 91 mins, Italy, Italian, English and Portuguese, HD

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