Author: CWB News Department

In the 1970s, The National Lampoon was America’s hippest, most outrageous magazine. It was the publication of choice for the counterculture, the intelligentsia, and so many “well-to-do nobodys,” as Marshall McLuhan put it.Douglas Tirola’s Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon takes a nostalgic but thoughtful look at the magazine’s unique trajectory through comedy history and its impact on entertainment today. Founded by Harvard graduates Doug Kenney, Henry Beard and Robert Hoffman in 1969, the Lampoon eventually grew into a production empire, featuring radio shows, record albums, live performances, and movies—most notably, Animal House and Vacation. Drunk…

The 16th edition of the annual Polish Film Festival, Los Angeles opens on October 13th and continues until October 22. Here is the complete program of the festival: OPENING NIGHT GALATuesday, October 13, 2015Egyptian Theatre6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA. 900286:00 PM RECEPTION (Catering by Turek; bar by Shakespeare Vodka)8:00 PM OPENING OF THE FESTIVAL– Zbigniew Banas (MC)HB Barnum LIFE Choir – Polish & American National AnthemsAward PresentationScreening of THE CITIZEN (Obywatel) by Jerzy Stuhr Laemmle’s NoHo7 Theatre, 5240 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601 (310-478-3836)Wednesday, October 14, 2015 (in person: Lukasz Simlat, Aleksander Gruz, Paul Kowalski, Karolina Wydra)7:00 p.m. CLOSE-UPS (Zblizenia)…

Sundance Selects will open PHOENIX, the stunning new feature from acclaimed director Christian Petzold (BARBARA, JERICHOW), on Friday, July 31 exclusively at Laemmle’s Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles. On August 7, the film’s run will expand to include Laemmle’s Playhouse in Pasadena and Laemmle’s Town Center in Encino, and is scheduled to include Orange County. A spellbinding mystery of identity, illusion and deception set against the turmoil of post-World War II Germany, the film reteams Petzold with his regular star, Nina Hoss, in their sixth collaboration. PHOENIX opens New York on July 24 and will continue to roll out…

Rialto Pictures is theatrically releasing five classic films by celebrated French director Claude Sautet, for the first time on DCP, July 24 – 30 in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Royal. Claude Sautet (1924-2000) began his filmmaking career in the early 1950s assisting such directors as Georges Franju (Eyes Without a Face) and Jacques Becker (Touchez Pas Au Grisbi), and first tasted success with the crime thriller Classe Tous Risques (1960), but was unfairly overlooked as the French New Wave directors dominated the French cinema. “Claude Sautet directed a number of popular films but has never enjoyed the same reverence…

UCLA Archive once again explores the diverse currents of Iranian cinema with its annual series highlighting recent and classic films from Iran and the Iranian diaspora. In the wake of Asghar Farhadi’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar win for A Separation in 2011, the depth and breadth of Iranian cinema today continues to amaze even as the challenges faced by its filmmakers remain of concern. While established masters continue to make their unique voices heard, including writer-director Rakhshan Banietemad, whose award-winning Tales (2014) opens this year’s series, newer filmmakers continue to captivate. Farhadi’s influence can be felt in a number…

Pouran Derakhshandeh, one of Iran’s leading filmmakers, will visit Northwestern’s Evanston campus from April 15 to April 21, as a guest of Weinberg College of Arts and Science’s Program in Middle East and North African Studies (MENA).Derakhshandeh will participate in several public events as part of a program entitled “Pouran Derakhshandeh: Women and the Making of the Iranian Social Cinema.” Her visit is supported by the Edith Kreeger Wolf Endowment, which brings scholars and public figures to campus with the goal of highlighting women’s successes in scholarship, the arts and public service.“MENA is thrilled to host Pouran Derakhshandeh on campus…

Known for identifying the very best emerging European filmmakers before they are household names, the Premiers Plans Festival of Angers, France lands in Austin May 1, 2015. Presented together with Austin Film Society, New French Cinema Weekend will premiere three of the French film festival’s best new films in Texas with its French filmmakers and programmers in attendance. Now in its 28th year, Premiers Plans has fostered the careers of globally-renowned auteurs such as Arnaud Desplechin, Abdellatif Kechiche, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Fatih Akin, all of whom were early discoveries of the festival and their lab program, “Les Ateliers d’Angers,”…

SundanceNow Doc Club, the advertising-free boutique subscription VOD service dedicated solely to documentaries, announced today that “Susan Sarandon Favorites,” a program guest curated by Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon, is now available on Doc Club. Included in the program are eight documentaries, two of which – STORIED STREETS and WAITING FOR MAMU – were executive produced by Sarandon and have never before been released on SVOD. Of the program, Sarandon said: “I appreciate a doc when it encourages you to be the protagonist in your own life or when it makes you itch to solve a problem, fight for justice.…

The 68th Festival de Cannes (13-24 May 2015) has chosen to pay tribute to Ingrid Bergman with this year’s poster, following on from Marcello Mastroianni in 2014. Hollywood star Ingrid Bergman was a modern icon, an emancipated woman, an intrepid actress, and a figurehead for the new realism. She changed roles and adoptive countries as the mood took her, but never lost sight of her quintessential grace and simplicity. This year’s poster captures the actress, who worked with Alfred Hitchcock, Roberto Rossellini and Ingmar Bergman, and starred opposite Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart and Gregory Peck, in all her beauty, her…

Sun Valley, ID….The 4th annual Sun Valley Film Festival (SVFF), presented by Zions Bank, wrapped up a successful, fun-packed festival with an intimate Saturday night dinner for SVFF Lifetime Vision Award recipient Clint Eastwood, and a lively awards party hosted by comic Seth Herzog. Music by The Weeks entertained the crowd as the winners, filmmakers and movie lovers celebrated into the night. The Festival concluded Sunday with encore screenings of some of the Festival’s most popular films. “We couldn’t be happier with this year’s festival,” said SVFF executive director Teddy Grennan. “We seem to be on a great trajectory with this…