Tag: Catfish

The Academy’s Contemporary Docs Return with EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP And CATFISH

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will kick off Part Two of its 30th annual “Contemporary Documentaries” screening series with the 2010 Oscar®-nominated feature “Exit through the Gift Shop” and “Catfish” on Wednesday, March 21, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission to all screenings in the series is free.

“Exit through the Gift Shop” follows a videographer named Thierry Guetta, who attempts to document the work of some of the world’s best-known guerrilla street artists. When the artist known only as Banksy questions Guetta’s intentions, however, and seizes control of the film, the roles of filmmaker and subject are reversed. Directed by Banksy and produced by Jaimie D’Cruz, “Exit through the Gift Shop” earned an Academy Award® nomination for Documentary Feature.

In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost began to film the life of Ariel’s brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project, “Catfish,” would lead to a labyrinth of online intrigue and the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. Schulman and Joost also produced the film with Andrew Jarecki and Marc Smerling.

The 30th annual “Contemporary Documentaries” series is a showcase for feature-length and short documentaries drawn from the 2010 Academy Award nominations, including the winners, as well as other important and innovative films considered by the Academy that year.

The screening schedule for Part Two, which runs through May 30, is as follows:

Wednesday, March 21
“Exit through the Gift Shop”
Directed by Banksy
Produced by Jaimie D’Cruz
Academy Award nominee: Documentary Feature
“Catfish”
Directed by Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost
Produced by Andrew Jarecki, Marc Smerling, Joost, Schulman

Wednesday, April 4
“Poster Girl”
Directed by Sara Nesson
Produced by Mitchell W. Block, Nesson
Academy Award nominee: Documentary Short Subject

“Killing in the Name”
Directed by Jed Rothstein
Produced by Liz Garbus, Rory Kennedy, Rothstein
Academy Award nominee: Documentary Short Subject

“Quest for Honor”
Directed by Mary Ann Smothers Bruni
Produced by Bruni, Lawrence Taub

Wednesday, April 18
“Living for 32”
Directed by Kevin Breslin
Produced by Maria Cuomo Cole

“One Thousand Pictures: RFK’s Last Journey”
Directed and produced by Jennifer Stoddart

“This Way of Life”
Directed by Thomas Burstyn
Produced by Barbara Sumner Burstyn

Wednesday, May 2
“The Warriors of Qiugang”
Directed by Ruby Yang
Produced by Thomas Lennon, Yang
Academy Award nominee: Documentary Short Subject

“Gasland”
Directed by Josh Fox
Produced by Trish Adlesic, Fox, Molly Gandour
Academy Award nominee: Documentary Feature

Wednesday, May 16
“Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould”
Directed by Michèle Hozer, Peter Raymont
Produced by Raymont

“William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe”
Directed by Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler
Produced by E. Kunstler, S. Kunstler, Jesse Moss, Susan Korda

Wednesday, May 30
“Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer”
Directed by Alex Gibney
Produced by Gibney, Jedd Wider, Todd Wider, Maiken Baird

“Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work”
Directed by Ricki Stern
Co-directed by Annie Sundberg
Produced by Stern, Seth Keal, Sundberg

All films will screen at the Linwood Dunn Theater at the Academy’s Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. All seating is unreserved. The filmmakers will be present at screenings whenever possible.

The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at 1313 Vine Street in Hollywood. Free parking is available through the entrance on Homewood Avenue (one block north of Fountain Avenue). For additional information, visit www.oscars.org or call (310) 247-3600.

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Review: CATFISH

CATFISH is a challenging film to review. Not because of it’s quality, because the movie is excellent. It’s a challenge because so much of the film’s success relies on not knowing anything, going into the experience with a clean slate. The audience will benefit the most from this movies by simply going for the ride, devoid of any and all expectations, thrilled by where the story leads.

Nev Schulman is a photographer from New York. His brother Ariel Schulman is a filmmaker, so in 2007 he and fellow director Henry Joost decided to shoot a documentary about Nev and his online friendship with a talented 8-year old artist named Abby. The project seemed innocent enough at the time, but what the three would gradually discover is what makes this documentary so compelling.

Abby is a huge fan of Nev’s photography, so she paints pictures from his photographs. The two communicate via Facebook, Nev sends Abby photographs and Abby in turn sends Nev paintings of those photographs. The essence of the relationship is charming. Perhaps even too charming. Nev finds himself fascinated by Abby, her mother Angela and her big sister Megan.

Encouraged by his brother, Nev reluctantly agrees to continue being the subject of Ariel and Henry’s documentary, despite his growing discomfort with putting his life on display. The three ultimately set out on a road trip to meet this curious family, which is where the “truth is often stranger than fiction” element begins to run it’s course in CATFISH with shocking straight-forwardness.

Watching CATFISH is an experience unlike anything I can think of – certainly, many will draw comparisons to THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT or BORAT, although undeservedly so – this film is much more than any mockumentary you’ve seen before. CATFISH, intentionally or not, draws upon the viewer’s morbid curiosity, dwelling within that same region of the human mind responsible for rubbernecking as we pass by an accident. For all intents and purposes, I am 99.9% positive CATFISH is an honest-to-God “real” documentary, but I still found myself pondering its realism.

Easily, the most extraordinary revelation I had in viewing CATFISH is — regardless of whether its “real” or “fake” — the movie still falls somewhere between inspired creativity and brilliant commentary. Either way I interpret the film, I still return to this overwhelming sense of having witnessed a moving, somewhat shocking and all-too-honest and contemporary social self-portrait of an era of human relationships unique to our Internet generation of the virtually connected.

For the skeptics – and I’m sure there will be plenty – CATFISH may present itself as being too unbelievable to be true, but I return to my earlier reference of the “truth is stranger than fiction” phrase. Nothing about the “performances” feel fake, forced or fabricated. The honesty and authenticity of the characters’ emotions, reactions and interactions with each other is strikingly sincere. More over, to have pulled this film off as it stands — and if it would turn out to be fabricated — is as much a commendable feat as it would be for this three-person crew to have so brilliantly captured the potentially darker, yet innocently non-malicious nature of Nev’s discovery… of living in a society more comfortable in the cyber-surrogate world of online contact than the tangible, flesh and blood world.

CATFISH presents us with a carnival fun house mirror. On one side we see ourselves for who we are, unable to pretend without revealing that we’re pretending. On the other side, the mirror allows us to reinvent ourselves into what we want ourselves to be, even what others want to interpret us as, hiding the reality from each other. I recommend this film to everyone, especially anyone with a Facebook profile. CATFISH is entertaining, yes… but, it’s also quite possibly one of the most culturally significant documentaries this year, if not of the decade.

Overall rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

UNIVERSAL’S Fall/Holiday 2010 Films

UNIVERSAL has released a list of their films due out for the 2010 Fall and Holiday Season.

DEVIL (Horror) Friday, September 17:

Devil is a supernatural thriller with M. Night Shyamalan’s signature touch. A group of people stuck in a claustrophobic elevator discover that one of them is the devil. DEVIL stars Chris Messina, Geoffrey Arend, Logan Marshall-Green, Bojana Novakovic, Jenny O’Hara, Bokeem Woodbine, & Jacob Vargas and is from directors and brothers John Erick Dowdle and Drew Dowdle (QUARANTINE), with the story by M. Night Shyamalan and screenplay from Brian Nelson (HARD CANDY, 30 DAYS OF NIGHT).

Visit the film’s official website, like it on Facebook and follow it on Twitter.

DEVIL has been rated PG-13 for “violence and disturbing images, thematic material and some language including sexual references.”

 

CATFISH (Thriller/Documentary) limited – Friday, September 17 and expansion – Friday, September 24:

In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel’s brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, CATFISH is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue.

Visit film’s official website – iamrogue.com/catfish, like it on Facebook and follow it on Twitter.

CATFISH has been rated PG-13 for “some sexual references.”

MY SOUL TO TAKE (Science Fiction/Fantasy, Suspense/Horror and Thriller) Friday, October 8:

In the sleepy town of Riverton, legend tells of a serial killer who swore he would return to murder the seven children born the night he died. Now, 16 years later, people are disappearing again. Has the psychopath been reincarnated as one of the seven teens, or did he survive the night he was left for dead? Only one of the kids knows the answer.

Adam “Bug” Heller (Max Thieriot) was supposed to die on the bloody night his father went insane. Unaware of his dad’s terrifying crimes, he has been plagued by nightmares since he was a baby. But if Bug hopes to save his friends from the monster that’s returned, he must face an evil that won’t rest…until it finishes the job it began the day he was born.

MY SOUL TO TAKE is directed by Wes Craven and stars Max Thieriot, John Magaro, Emily Meade, Nick Lashaway, Denzel Whitaker, Shareeka Epps, Paulina Olszyinski, and Raúl Esparza.

Visit the film’s official website, follow Wes Craven on Twitter here and like the film on Facebook.

MY SOUL TO TAKE has been rated R for “strong bloody violence and pervasive language and including sexual references.”

SKYLINE (Sci-Fi/Thriller) Friday, November 12:

After a late night party, a group of friends are awoken in the dead of the night by an eerie light beaming through the window. Like moths to a flame, the light source is drawing people outside before they suddenly vanish into the air. They soon discover an otherwordly force is swallowing the entire human population off the face of the earth. Now our band of survivors must fight for their lives as the world unravels around them.

SKYLINE is directed and produced by the Brothers Strause (ALIEN vs. PREDATOR: REQUIEM), whose company Hydraulx has provided visual effects for AVATAR, IRON MAN 2, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON and 300.

Visit the film’s official website, like it on Facebook and follow it on Twitter

The movie is not yet rated.

LITTLE FOCKERS (Comedy/Sequel) Wednesday, December 22:

The test of wills between Jack Byrnes (Robert De Niro) and Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) escalates to new heights of comedy in the third installment of the blockbuster series – LITTLE FOCKERS. Laura Dern, Jessica Alba and Harvey Keitel join the returning all-star cast for a new chapter of the worldwide hit franchise. It has taken 10 years, two little Fockers with wife Pam (Polo) and countless hurdles for Greg to finally get “in” with his tightly wound father-in-law, Jack. After the cash-strapped dad takes a job moonlighting for a drug company, however, Jack’s suspicions about his favorite male nurse come roaring back. When Greg and Pam’s entire clan, including Pam’s lovelorn ex, Kevin (Owen Wilson), descends for the twins’ birthday party, Greg must prove to the skeptical Jack that he’s fully capable as the man of the house. But with all the misunderstandings, spying and covert missions, will Greg pass Jack’s final test and become the family’s next patriarch or will the circle of trust be broken for good?

LITTLE FOCKERS is directed by Paul Weitz and stars Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner, Teri Polo, Jessica Alba, Laura Dern, Harvey Keitel and Barbra Streisand.

Visit the film’s official website, like it on Facebook and Twitter.

The movie is not yet rated.

Source: Universal Pictures

Catch The New CATFISH Trailer and Website

CATFISH premiered as an Official Selection at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival where it became an instant hit and the Rogue Pictures film has since garnered rave reviews. Called by Variety “the twist-filled true story of a young man fooled by Facebook,” have a look at the new trailer for CATFISH.

Now that we’ve all been sufficiently creeped out fellow Facebook friends, here’s the film’s synopsis:

In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel’s brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, CATFISH is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue.

CATFISH will be in theaters on September 17, 2010.

Visit Nev’s world at the film’s official website – iamrogue.com/catfish. Become a fan on Facebook and follow it on Twitter.