Author: CWB News Department

BERLIN, Germany — Serious filmmakers and film collectors who find themselves inundated by the oceans of media flooding the internet will be happy to wash ashore onto the website Reframe (http://www.reframecollection.org). An adventurous new program from the Tribeca Film Institute, Reframe offers a simple solution to help them locate, purchase and otherwise wade through some of the world’s finest films and videos: listen to the recommendation of the world’s best film connoisseurs, and you’ll stay high and dry. Backed by a non-exclusive partnership with Amazon as well as various major foundations, and headed by the Tribeca Film Institute’s CEO Brian…

Ramin Niami’s blues documentary film, “Babe’s and Ricky’s Inn” has been selected as the Centerpiece Highlight of the Pan-African Film Festival in Los Angeles (the nation’s largest and most prestigious Black film festival, showing over 150 films), where it will be screened on Valentine’s Day, Thursday February 14, 2013 at the RAVE Crenshaw Cinemas in South Central with a celebrity red carpet, after party and blues concert. Buy Ticket $35 here. The film tells the story of the last days of an extraordinary gem of a blues club in South Central, Los Angeles, run by an 89 year-old woman “Mama Laura”…

On Wednesday, February 6, 2013 at 7:30 PM. the Ballet “Caravaggio” will be pereformed inLACMA’s Bing Theater. In conjunction with Bodies and Shadows: Caravaggio and His Legacy, LACMA’s Art & Music concert series presents a musical-and-ballet celebration of the great Italian master. The evening begins with a performance by Baroque instrumentalists in the exhibition galleries, followed by the U.S. premiere of Caravaggio, a ballet composed by Giovanni Sollima, choreographed by Matteo Levaggi, and performed by members of the Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company. Tickets are available for $25 general admission; $18 LACMA members and seniors; $5 students with ID – To…

ShortsHD is bringing the Oscar shorts to theaters in the US, Canada, and Europe beginning February 1st. Along with the live action and documentary short films, ShortsHD will be presenting the much beloved animations, including the five nominees and three highly commended works: Dripped, Abiogenesis, and The Gruffalo’s Child. This year’s finalists—The Longest Daycare, Adam and Dog, Paperman, Fresh Guacamole, and Head Over Heels—showcase a diverse array of techniques and concepts. But they do all have one thing in common—no dialogue. Instead, these animators do what animators do best—visual storytelling.The Longest Daycare, directed by David Silverman (The Simpsons Movie), features…

Carlo Sansonetti is the President of CGCircuit LLC and one of the founders. His career extends from Character TD and Rigging to Instructor and Graphic Designer. Born and raised in Italy, at a young age Carlo developed a dream to work in Hollywood. Pursuing his dream, Carlo moved to the USA to finish his studies. He graduated with honors at the Art Institute of California Los Angeles, wrote and directed the award winning short The Auction and worked in the field of Film, Video Games and TV Animation. He lead a team of riggers at Lucas film Animation for the…

The Taliban’s assassination attempt on 14-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai in October 2012 has brought discussions concerning girls’ education in Pakistan to the forefront. On Friday February 1st, director Hemal Trivedi will present her short documentary, Shabeena’s Quest, chronicling a principal’s struggle to educate young Pakistani girls marginalized by their male oppressors. The feature touches on themes of education, patriarchal culture and female liberation, and will be followed by a Q/A with Trivedi. Born and raised in an inner-city, or chawl (ghetto) of Mumbai, India, Hemal Trevedi has become a renowned documentary filmmaker and editor. Her work has been featured…

TABU, which at first appears to be a tedious exploration of unlikeable characters, turns out to be simply gorgeous. Part I, “A Paradise Lost” takes place in Lisbon. It follows three women—the aforementioned “unlikeable” characters. Pilar (Teresa Madruga) is a devout Catholic, a defender of social justice, a movie lover, and a bit of an enabler. She is especially concerned for her neighbor, Aurora (Laura Soveral). Aurora is in her eighties. She is eccentric, entitled, addicted to gambling, and rather paranoid—convinced that her maid and caretaker, Santa (Isabel Cardoso) is cursing her with voodoo. Santa, a stoic Cape-Verdean, minds her…

On Friday, February 1, 2013 at 7:30pm, Theatre Raymond Kabbaz will present Traverse, an inventive dance, live music and theatre mash-up from the French performance company Arcos. The physical and musical production takes one man’s boring daily household routine and explodes it into a magnificent spectacle of choreography and percussion, suitable for audiences of all ages. Traver se was created in 2011 by Thomas Guerry, a dancer and choreographer, in collaboration with Camille Rocailleux, a percussionist, pianist, and composer. All ages are welcome. Tickets cost $30 ($15 for students with ID) and are available at Vendini. The event is supported…

The Consul General of Belgium, Amb. and Rudi Veestraeten present the screening of MOBIL HOME as part of their monthly “GRIT AND WHIMSY: THE BEST OF RECENT BELGIAN CINEMA” series. This film will be screened on Wednesday, January 16th, 2013 at 7:30 pm at the Aero Theatre 1328 Montana Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90403. MOBIL HOME(2012, 97’, Dir. François Pirot)After having broken up with his girlfriend and left his job, Simon has come back to his small hometown in the countryside, where he meets up again with his old friend Julien. The two thirty-year-old, unemployed and idle men decide to…

The fourteenth annual Scandinavian Film Festival L.A. comes to the Writers Guild Theater, Beverly Hills over two weekends: January 12-13, 19-20, 2013. The yearly showcase of Nordic films and filmmakers, launched in 2000, screens the year’s Scandinavian films submitted to the Academy as nominees for Best Foreign-Language Film as well as other current feature, documentary, and short films.Saturday.January 1911:30 amCAPTAIN SANDHOLMDocumentary, Finland, 2012, 30 minutes, Johan KarrentoFREE with ticket to BALLROOM DANCER12:00 pm BALLROOM DANCERSlavik is a former World Champion in Latin American Dance. About to make his final comeback with his partner Anna, Slavik is addicted to the limelight…