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Balcony Releasing will open PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL, which tells the remarkable but little-known story of a small band of unarmed women who risked their lives to bring peace to Liberia, a nation in West Africa founded as a home for emancipated American slaves, on Friday, November 14 in an exclusive Los Angeles engagement at Laemmle’s Music Hall Theater in Beverly Hills. Produced by Abigail E. Disney and directed by Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Gini Reticker, who accessed archival footage, American newspaper coverage and the direct testimony of women, this incredible film earned awards at the 2008…

Flower children, crazy mystics, artists en tout genre, eccentrics and dissidents, strange healing rituals and prayers… you’re in for a beatnik treat.“Malibu Song” by Natalie Lettner and Werner Hanak, produced between 2002 and 2006 just had its US premiere at the Goethe Institute on October 30th 2008, as part of the Made in Austria series, presented in collaboration with the Austrian Consulate.It chronicles the eviction process of a tight community of artists living on the Rodeo Grounds in Lower Topanga, whose land is purchased by the California State Parks. It draws affectionate portraits of many different and unique characters going…

Legendary South Asian actress and activist Shabana Azmi, internationally considered the ‘Meryl Streep of India’, stars in the South Asian, English language comedy LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS, opening this Friday, Nov. 7th in the greater Los Angeles area, San Francisco, and San Diego. With an acclaimed film pedigree and an inspirational human rights activist, Ms. Azmi is a world acclaimed figure in the South Asian and international entertainment industry. In PUNJAB, with great finesse and comic timing, Ms. Azmi plays a scheming, Bollywood style – ‘American Idol’ contestant who is determined to bribe her way to stardom and success, always…

The 11th annual United Nations Association Film Festival (UNAFF) will be held from October 19 to October 26. By opening the Festival in a new downtown Palo Alto venue, festival organizers hope to broaden their audience and initiate a meaningful community dialogue. To facilitate this dialogue, this year, in addition to screening films, UNAFF offers four panel discussions in collaboration with Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, the Stanford Institute for Creativity and the Arts, and Stanford’s Ward W. and Priscilla B. Woods Institute for the Environment, during which renowned experts will elucidate topics such as global warming, the…

Eurodocs is running now at at the Aero Theatre, Santa Monica and will continue until October 22, 2008. Eleven films will be screened at the Eurodocs, this eclectic 11 film showcase featuring 10 Los Angeles premieres of new European produced documentaries is an opportunity to journey into unfamiliar cultures and subcultures and to meet some unique individuals as viewed through a contemporary European lens. At the core of these films, are the stories of citizens of the world making their way in the 21st century — following or breaking tradition in human experiences that by far supersede geographic borders.Thursday, October…

New York– Rooftop Films has announced the New York Premiere of Celia Maysles debut feature documentary, Wild Blue Yonder (http://www.corrafilms.com). The screening will be taking place Friday, October 24th, at 9:15 PM at the National Arts Club (15 Grammercy Park South) and there is no charge for admission with an RSVP. The event is presented by Corra Films, Cactus Three, The National Arts Club & Rooftop FilmsJust seven years old when her father David Maysles (Salesman, Grey Gardens, Gimme Shelter) died in 1987 from an unexpected stroke, Celia Maysles grew up having no idea her father and his brother Albert…

The London Film Festival, an underdog among global movie showcases, was opening Wednesday with the world premiere of “Frost/Nixon,” a film about a British contender taking on an American heavyweight. The Ron Howard-directed drama is based on Peter Morgan’s stage play about the 1977 TV interviews between talk show host David Frost and disgraced ex-President Richard M. Nixon. The event, in which 45 million Americans watched Nixon admit “I let the American people down,” made Frost’s career and ensured Nixon’s place in the political wilderness. The film features Michael Sheen (Prime Minister Tony Blair in “The Queen”) as Frost -…

New York, October 15, 2008 – Gospel Hill will open the 16th Annual African Diaspora Film Festival to be held in six venues in Manhattan from November 28 to December 14, 2008. The directorial debut of Giancarlo Esposito, this year’s ADFF Opening Night film will be one of 50 New York City premieres among 88 titles representing 41 countries.In this romantic drama with a stellar cast that includes Danny Glover, Angela Bassett, Samuel L. Jackson, Julia Stiles, Adam Baldwin, RZA and Giancarlo Esposito. Mr. Esposito narrates a story of greed, jealousy and adultery that explores the morals and temptations of…

Should we dare admit it to ourselves? We are not heroes, we have flaws, we are ugly in some ways, beautiful in others, we are sometimes weak, sometimes strong, and we may be complex but so common… only human. The Irish Film Festival brings us films that are unpretentious, that do not seek to glamorize human life, but rather show it the way it is, without make-up, without spotlights, without all the fads; plain and… not so simple. Whether it is Billy and Breda of “Eden” by Declan Recks going through a marriage crisis, confronting the issue of the lack…

Strand Releasing has announced the DVD release of the Fatih Akin film THE EDGE OF HEAVEN. Fatih Akin, the critically-acclaimed director of HEAD-ON, weaves overlapping tales of friendship and sexuality into a powerful narrative of universal love. Six characters are drawn together by circumstances-an old man and a prostitute forging a partnership, a young scholar reconciling his past, two young women falling in love, and a mother putting the shattered pieces of her life back together. Akin’s piercing sense of the human condition and contemporary world events charge these hyperlinked stories into a multi-cultural powder keg.Directed by Fatih Akin (Head-On,…