Independent producer and International Film Festival Programmer Helen duToit began her career in Vancouver, Canada in the early nineties, working in the art departments of numerous feature films and as production manager on the first 100% 3D computer animated TV series in the world: the groundbreaking ReBoot! In the mid-90’s Helen relocated to Toronto to serve as Programmer for the Perspective Canada section of the Toronto International Film Festival. During this three year tenure, she also produced six short films, including the Genie Award nominated short film Sshhh….by Scott Smith. In 2000 she left her post at TIFF to produce…
Author: Bijan Tehrani
I’ve Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t’aime) is the story of two sisters Léa (Elsa Zylberstein) and Juliette (Kristin Scott Thomas). The film begins with Léa, the younger sister by fifteen years, picking Juliette up at the airport. We soon realize that the two sisters are almost complete strangers to each other. Juliette has just been released from prison after serving a long sentence. Léa was still a teenager when Juliette, a doctor, was convicted of the murder of her six-year-old son. Léa contacted Juliette when she was released and suggested that Juliette come to…
Pray the Devil Back to Hell is the gripping account of a group of brave and visionary women who demanded peace for Liberia, a nation torn to shreds by a decades old civil war. The women’s historic, yet unsung achievement finds voice in a narrative that intersperses contemporary interviews, archival images, and scenes of present-day Liberia together to recount the experiences and memories of the women who were instrumental in bringing lasting peace to their country.Gini Reticker (Director) is an Emmy-winning, Academy Award-nominated documentary director and producer. She produced the Academy Award nominated short Asylum and the Emmy nominated A…
A Christmas Tale is story of Junon (Catherine Deneuve) and Abel (Jean-Paul Roussillon) the parents of three grown children: Elizabeth (Anne Consigny), a melancholic playwright with a mathematician husband (Hippolyte Girardot) and a tortured teenage son, Paul (Emile Berling); Henri (Mathieu Amalric), the self-destructive black sheep, banished from family events by Elizabeth five years prior; youngest Ivan (Melvil Poupaud), the peacemaker, is married to the beautiful Sylvia (Chiara Mastroianni) and has two eccentric little boys; while a fourth – Joseph, the eldest – died from leukemia as a boy. When the disease reappears again in the family, all are tested…
In Antarctica, we follow the miserable Omer; he’s about to turn 30 and he hasn’t found love or his true purpose in life. However, he’s not looking very hard. He prefers to lose himself among the stacks of books at the local library and immerse himself in a series of delicious one night stands. He becomes intrigued by Danny, a young dancer, who energizes his libido but not his ambition. He resists the attentions of Ronen, a handsome journalist, who understands him and sparks his imagination. So, who do you choose? Omer is just starting to get a handle on…
John Peccatiello’s career started as a guitar player back in Chicago in the late 80’s early 90’s. After a 3 year break John then moved to California in 1998 to attend audio school at The Los Angeles Recording Workshop. After graduation John was asked to be a teacher. While working at the school, he met current Alice Cooper bass player Chuck Garric. At the time Chuck was the bass player for LA GUNS and the band needed a guitar tech for an upcoming tour. Taking this job allowed John to tour the country for over three years and enabled him…
LOINS OF PUNJAB PRESENTS tells the story of a ruthless philanthropist, a bhangra rapper, an over-protected prodigy, a reckless actress, a lovelorn businessman, an entrepreneurial yogi and a Loin King. All of these characters enter a roller-coaster world of seven strangers whose lives collide during a singing contest in a small New Jersey town.Over three days in a small New Jersey town, five Indian-Americans and one Jewish Indophile participate in the first DESI IDOL, a Bollywood-style singing contest sponsored by a pork industrialist millionaire. These six people are pitted against each other in a singing and dancing extravaganza presided over…
Rose Kuo is serving in her second year as Artistic Director of AFI FEST. During her first year, Kuo introduced “Showcases” to highlight global trends in cinema and created the “Milestones” section to honor filmmakers who had passed away. Kuo has a wealth of experience in film festival programming as well as production. In addition to serving as a programming consultant specializing in Asian cinema, Kuo has worked for San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Mill Valley Festivals.Kuo also possesses an extensive background as a filmmaker, working for Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker and on the camera crew of famed cinematographer Haskel…
From New York City’s sensational Russo-disco scene to a non-stop touring marathon with his band Gogol Bordello, Eugene Hütz takes us deep into his artistic life and influences. The story unfolds over five years, beginning in 2001, and follows Eugene and Gogol Bordello’s progress from underground legend to international phenomenon.Ranging in age from 25 to 50 years old, and hailing from five different countries, Gogol Bordello’s members share their tales of immigration, of how they became part of the band, and how they quit their day jobs to go on tour. Taking pride in his Roma (or Gypsy) background, Hütz…
Angels Die in the Soil is the story of an Iraqi-Kurdish girl who earns a living for her ill father by selling the bones of Iranian soldiers martyred during the Iran-Iraq war. One day she stumbles on a terrorist incident involving an American soldier on her way back home, and she decides to try to help him.Babak Amini , director of the Angels Die in the Soil, was born in 1978 in the Kurdestan province of Iran. He went to school in Tehran and graduated with a degree in philosophy. Babak worked for 10 years as assistant to director Bahman…