October 2019
JCC2019: CINEMA DU MONDE PRESS CONFERENCE
CARTHAGE, TUNISIA. – As part of the promotional activities surrounding the screenings of the Cinema Du Monde official selection of the 53rd Carthage Film Festival – Journees Cinematographiques Du Cartage, being Arthur Balder’s AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY part of it, the industry platform Carthage Pro organized a press conference for members of the industry.
In attendance were, among others: German producer Christoph Thorke, Best Documentary Academy Award Nominee “Last Men In Aleppo” producer Søren Steen Jespersen, “American Mirror” director and producer Arthur Balder, CANAL + INTERNATIONAL head of acquisitions Sicouri Laurent, Berlinale Panorama head of programming Michael Stuetz, Berlinale European Film Market’s marketing director Jana Wolff, director general of JCC Lamia Guigia, Locarno head of programming Charlotte Corchète, lead programmer of TIFF section World Cinema Kiva Reardon.
The platform has been a total success: powerhouse DA VINCI FILMS has secured more festivals for its productions in 2020 (AMERICAN MIRROR among others), plus paving the way for its entrance in European markets via Berlinale’s EFM in February 2020.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: UK FILM FESTIVAL 2019
LONDON, UK. – Arthur Balder’s AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY will be screening as part of the 2019 competitive Official Selection of the UK Film Festival, the most prestigious event of its class in London, to be held November 19-23.
The UK Film Festival aims to champion great films. Screening in the heart of London, they celebrate the cultural diversity of films made in the UK and welcome outstanding films from all over the world.
UKFF has established a tradition of promoting films that later have gone onto to be Oscar nominees and winners. They have also connected new filmmakers to industry including television exposure by leading British broadcaster, Channel 4.
LUX AWARD
Throughout November the UK Film Festival in association with Film Bath Festival and Leeds International Film Festival is presenting a selection of feature films as part of the European Parliament Lux Prize in Bath and in Leeds.
JOKER, AMERICAN MIRROR, SORRY WE MISSED YOU, THE 3 ENGLISH-SPOKEN FILMS AT 53RD CARTHAGE FILM FESTIVAL ‘CINEMA DU MONDE’ OFFICIAL SELECTION
CARTHAGE, TUNISIA. – The category ‘Cinéma du Monde’ of the 53rd Carthage Film Festival includes a total of 13 films, the majority of which are French spoken. Only three are English spoken: Ken Loach’s SORRY WE MISSED YOU, Phip Todd’s JOKER, and Arthur Balder’s AMERICAN MIRROR.
FROM CANNES TO CARTHAGE
Of the 13 films selected several comes from Cannes Film Festival 2019: Ken Loachs’ SORRY WE MISSED YOU, and Joon Ho’s PARASITE, which won the Palm D’Or Cannes 2019.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: ‘CINEMA DU MONDE’ AT 53RD CARTHAGE FILM FESTIVAL
CARTHAGE, TUNISIA. – Da Vinci Films has been presented with the Official Selection laurels for Arthur Balder’s AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY as part of the 53rd Carthage Film Festival – Journees Cinematographiques Du Cartage, Tunisia. The festival, which is among the thirty film festivals around the globe whose selections are Oscar-qualifying, will take place between October 25th and November 3rd.
The category ‘Cinéma du Monde’ includes a total of 13 films, the majority of which are French spoken. Only three are English spoken: Ken Loachs’ SORRY WE MISSED YOU, Phip Todd’s JOKER, and Arthur Balder’s AMERICAN MIRROR.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 25TH CAMINHOS DO CINEMA, PORTUGAL
COIMBRA, PORTUGAL. – Da Vinci Films is proud to announce that the selection committee of the 25th Caminhos Do Cinema, to be held in November 2019 in Coimbra, Portugal, has selected Arthur Balder’s AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY has part of its Official Selection.
This is particularly great news since Caminhos Do Cinema is one of the most important documentary-only oriented, cinematic events in Portugal, and its 25 years of dedication avail its great reputation in the festival circuit.
Caminhos Do Cinema has been, since 1988, one of the main references in the cinematographic panorama of Portugal. Presenting itself as the only festival dedicated to Portuguese cinema in all its areas (final projects of schools of cinema, animation, documentary, short film and motion picture), it is the ultimate showcase of the cinematographic works produced every year in Portugal, but it also selects and promotes those projects from around the world that its selection committee considers of high interest and relevance.
This event is the opportunity to gather creators and audiences in a single space of artistic interaction, a place where one can accompany firsthand the evolution of the cinematographic industry in Portugal.
The event is open to Juniors, Juveniles, and Seniors, of the Schools of Cinema and even students and onlookers, inviting all the Portuguese population to know the most recent cinematographic production of Portugal, providing a space of union of the arts for Cinema, which is celebrated in each one of our editions.
WINNER: ART IN FOCUS AWARD COMPETITIVE CATEGORY AT ORLANDO FILM FESTIVAL
ORLANDO, FL. – Thank you Daniel E. Springen, Holley Morgan, and all the great team of Orlando Film Festival for the incredible, huge work you do for independent films and filmmakers. It is mostly the people who are behind the scenes (and behind the cameras) who make movies possible, and often go without the recognition they deserve, and that isn’t happening thanks to independent, reliable juries across the world. DA VINCI FILMS LLC is proud to announce that Arthur Balder’s AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY has won the competitive category ART IN FOCUS AWARD 2019 as part of the official selection of the 14th Orlando Film Festival awards ceremony (more than 300 films from all over the world). Orlando Film Festival is the leading cinematic event of its namesake Florida city. The announcement was made via the festival’s social media sites.
This is an award that has a special significance since it highlights the ability of Arthur Balder’s cinematic vision to approach art uniquely art as a subject of cinema. Less known but not least are two other art-oriented films, which were produced and directed by Arthur Balder, which were premiered at the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art of New York) in 2013 and 2015 respectively. This is a wonderful, well-deserved recognition coming from one of the most vibrant art communities in the country, that of the great city of Orlando and its Downtown Arts District.
MAKING-OF: 24th MILANO FILM FESTIVAL
MILAN, ITALY. – 24th Milan Film Festival has been a great success for Arthur Balder’s AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY being part of its Official Selection 2019 as part of The Outsiders: best indie films of the world selection!!!! Great, responsive audience Q&A!!
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 14TH ORLANDO FILM FESTIVAL HOSTS NORTH FLORIDA PREMIERE
ORLANDO, FL. – The 14th Orlando Film Festival will host North Florida premiere of Arthur Balder’s AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY. The festival will take place October 17-24, and full schedule can be found online here.
The festival describes its mission this way on its official site: “The mission of the Orlando Film Festival is to support and promote the arts in Downtown Orlando through the medium of film. The Orlando Film Festival seeks to inspire filmmakers and enhance the movie viewing experience in Downtown Orlando through creative, unique and entertaining events. We put a strong emphasis on celebrating our filmmakers because we are all filmmakers ourselves.”
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 13TH International Film Festival Prvi Kadar/First Frame, Bosnia-Herzegovina
SARAJEVO, BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA. – The 13th International Film Festival Prvi Kadar/First Frame, Bosnia-Herzegovina (aka Prvi Kadar Filmski Sarajevo Festival), has selected Arthur Balder’s AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY as part of the international competition of 2019, to take place in November. The film vies for the “Stamp of Prince Pavle” for the Best Film in the selection “In Focus”, for the Gate of Zvornik Award for the Best Director, and also for the Grand Prix of the festival.
International Film Festival Prvi Kadar/First Frame is the most important documentary film event of the Balkans region, Europe, and takes place in in two cities, Zvornik and Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It defines its mission as “one to promote film as cinematic art of authors from all over the world. The Festival is of a competitive character”.
Twelve editions of the festival, a large number of authors interested in it, prove that the festival has reached recognition as the most important and prestigious documentary film event on the Balcans, Europe, next to Sarajevo Film Festival, more focused on fiction.
Festival selections advocate for primarily unique, artistic approaches to filmmaking, on which is built the whole idea of the ‘first frame’. In considering the relationship between themes and ideas, stress is given to the author’s attitude, and his/her artistic aim.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 34TH FORT LAUDERDALE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, FL
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL. – Da Vinci Films LLC has been officially presented with the Official Selection laurels for Arthur Balder’s AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY to be part of the 34th Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival.
Since 1986, the Broward County Film Society has shared the beauty of independent cinema with South Florida through the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. More than 30 years later, The Film Society has leveraged the success of FLIFF to establish itself as one of five Major Cultural Institutions of Broward County. Read more about the incredible history of FLIFF following the link.
SAVE THE DATE: 34th Annual FLiFF – November 1 – 17, 2019
REVIEW: “ARTHUR BALDER TAKES US ON A VISUALLY SPECTACULAR JOURNEY” THE MIRROR-SPECTATOR, BY ALIN K. GREGORIAN
“Director Arthur Balder takes us on a visually spectacular journey .”
American Mirror is “a revelation to Balder’s craft“
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“It expands our ordinary perception of time”
“His artistic vision challenges the canons of mainstream documentary filmmaking.”
WINNER: BEST OF FESTIVAL AWARD AT ARLINGTON INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
ARLINGTON, MA. – DA VINCI FILMS has been officially informed of the jury deliberations by the Arlington International Film Festival, Massachusetts, receiving the laurels of Best Of Festival 2019 for Arthur Balder’s AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY. The film will be screening at the Capitol Theatre in Arlington. For screening hours and more info visit the festival official site here. Arthur Balder, director and producer of the film, will be presented with the award during the ceremony to take place in November.
The Arlington International Film Festival offers a unique opportunity for cross-cultural education by promoting understanding of the many cultures represented in our town and beyond. They are registered in Arlington, Massachusetts as an organization dedicated to developing, promoting, and increasing multicultural awareness and understanding in our town. The festival is a means for recognizing that such diversity enriches our community.
AIFF on selecting jurors: “Each year, AIFF invites and appoints Jurors who hold sole responsibility for choosing the films that will be screened as well as the films that receive awards. These jurors were chosen for their knowledge, creativity, innovation and experience in the film industry and will be judging over 2500 submissions received from as near as Boston and as far away as Iran.”
AIFF has invited Kate Bernhardt, Lawrence Benedict, Rick Beyer, Alice Bouvrie, Barbara Costa, Paul Dervis, Elizabeth DiNolfo, John Kusiak, Michael Mahin, Nuno Sá Pessoa, Charles H. Schuerhoff, Cheryl Hamilton, Bernice Schneider, Sophie Seifried, Eric Stange, Marga Varea, Nicolas Thilo-McGovern, Nuria Pellicer, Shuyi Wang, Alice Markowitz, Yahia Zakaria, and Stephen Angba.
OFFICIAL SELECTION: 12TH BLOW-UP – CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL ARTHOUSE FILM FESTIVAL
CHICAGO, IL. – DA VINCI FILMS has been presented with the Official Selection laurels of the 12th BLOWN-UP Chicago International Arthouse Film Festival for Arthur Balder’s AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY.
The festival, under the direction of Emmy Award-winning production designer Sergey Mavrody, describes its mission as linking “the most creative artists together with very intelligent audiences for its annual festival of narrative, musical and documentary films, shorts, animations, experimental films, and student work. The festival was named after Michelangelo Antonioni’s iconic film BLOW-UP (1966). The festival is a project of Belisso, LLC.”
VISION OF THE FESTIVAL
The official site describes the festival vision in this way:
“The festival would like to approach the caliber of films made by such great directors as Eisenstein, Antonioni, Fellini, Tarkovsky, Godard, Truffaut, Pasolini, Kurosawa, Buñuel, Norshteyn.”
| Animation Jury Chair | Mikhail Gurevich film critic, author and scholar. Chicago. | |
| Narrative Feature Jury Chair | Hisham Bizri MFA, fimmaker. Providence, Rhode Island. | |
| Narrtive Short Jury Chair | Jennifer Ann Zale PhD, film studies, Indiana University Bloomington. Chicago. | |
| Documentary Jury Chair | Eryn Walanka producer, editor, three time Emmy Winner and seven nominations. | |
| Experimental Film Jury Chair | Michael Edwards professor, University of Utah, Rhode Island School of Design. | |
| Student Film Jury Chair | Michael Apostolidis MS, Director, Screenwriter, Evanston IL. | |
| Juror | Toni Reed executive producer, director, writer, Emmy Winner. Chicago. | |
| Juror | Roger Nevares MFA, VGIK film school. Actor, director & educator, London, UK. | |
| Juror | Howard Motyl MFA, director, producer, professor, Southern Illinois University. | |
| Juror | Sonia Albert Sobrino MFA, filmmaker, professor, University of Utah. | |
| Juror | Miriam Albert Sobrino MFA, filmmaker, professor, University of Utah. | |
| Juror | Yves Nougarède Films and Programme Planning Manager. Annecy, France. | |
| Juror | Carla Barger MFA, PhD candidate, film & literature scholar, writer, instructor. | |
| Juror | Steve Anderson screenwriter, producer, cinematographer, director & video editor. | |
| Juror | M. Cleveland Brand Jr., founder Culaheev Productions Inc, est. 2002. | |
| Juror | Michael Fishman, MA, American University, New York. Screenwriter. NYC. | |
| Juror | Michael E. Harkins, BA, USC, director. Sr. Producer, Video Production at CTCA. | |
| Juror | Ramona Pozek, MA Regent University, VA. Filmmaker, Actor, Chicago. | |
| Juror | Sergei Anashkin, MFA, film critic, author and scholar. Moscow, Russia. | |
| Juror | Olga Bobrowska, author, animated film critic. Warsaw, Poland. |
FINALIST: AT ISFMF, ‘AMERICAN MIRROR’ AND OSCAR-WINNER ‘FREE SOLO’ VIE FOR BEST ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY SOUNDTRACK TOP AWARD
SAMOBOR, CROATIA. – The International Sound & Film Music Festival, that takes place every year in the Croatian coastal city of Samobor, has published the lists of finalists and different categories. In the category Best Original Score of Documentary, among others totaling nine films, AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY and its composer, Mark Petrie, vie for the Crystal Pine Award with such films as Academy award-winner for Best Documentary FREE SOLO, composers credited Marco Beltrami and Brandon Roberts.
Another Finalist position that confirms the criteria of director and producer Arthur Balder, who selected Mark Petrie for the film after several unsuccessful trials with other composers. The interferences during the production on the side of non-professionals who wanted to push their friends instead of respecting the creative and professional criteria of the director – and most importantly the professional requirements needed for the task – ended, in total agreement with the executive office, with firing the interference and placing the production of the soundtrack under the sole criteria of the director and producer, Arthur Balder.
The result is very clear: Mark Petrie shared Tied Best Original Soundtrack award with Terence Blanchard at the DOC LA Film Festival in 2018, and in recent weeks in September the film’s soundtrack has been Finalist at Burbank International Film Festival, the most important in the Studio City north of Hollywood, and Finalist at the FIMUCINEMA international competition, organized by FIMUCITE, a festival of film music in Tenerife, Spain.
We hope Mark Petrie will continue getting the recognition his work deserves.
WINNER: BEST FEATURE FILM AT LUCKY STRIKE FILM FESTIVAL, LOS ANGELES.
LOS ANGELES, CA. – Lucky Strike Film Festival, a very friendly event organized by the production company LUCKY STRIKE FILMS STUDIOS, hosted a North Hollywood premiere of the film AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY. The festival, which contemplates two main categories, feature length and shorts, chose the film as winner of Best Feature Film category. Director and producer of the film Arthur Balder was presented with the award by producer, director and writer Romane A. Simon, head of Lucky Strike Films Studios.
This is particularly moving because it represents a sincere recognition coming directly from other peers and production companies, and it is specially important as what it means for the sake of non-biased, truthful appreciation of other peers’ work. In general in this industry, not everybody dares to do even a 1% of that, even being themselves part of the films where others must put in countless months, years, of work behind the cameras which at a later date do have a meaningful, positive, even profitable impact (direct or indirect) on the image and careers of those who appear in front of the cameras for just a few hours.
Thank you, Romane. A. Simon!
WINNER: FILM TO BE PART OF THE EXCLUSIVE 24TH MILANO FILM FESTIVAL’S ‘THE OUTSIDERS’ OFFICIAL SELECTION
MILAN, ITALY. – Another win is the Official Selection just announced by the 24th Milano Film Festival, where Arthur Balder’s unique cinematic vision AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY has been selected as part of the most exclusive curatorial section: The Outsiders (12 films in total), a non-competitive section made of outstanding films from the international scene which, in the festival own words “are Italian premières by authors who are famous names but unfairly invisible in theatres, new challenges, stories that fascinate us.”
This great achievement is increased by the films that are part of the selection. “The Beach Bum” by Harmony Korine and starring Academy Award-winner Matthew McConaughey as the mad poet Moondog is one of them. The American Korine, a controversial author already seen at the MFF with Mister Lonely (2007) and Trash Humpers (2008), signs his most light-hearted, but still melancholic, work amid the lights of Miami.
Instead “We are Little Zombies”, the debut of Makoto Nagahisa, in the name of a vintage videogame aesthetic, and distorts a difficult subject such as mourning in childhood: having no parents is not so difficult, if you have the courage to form a band to conquer the world.
Two films trace the elaboration and evolution of desire. The first is Searching Eva by Pia Hellenthal, at the Festival in collaboration with VICE Italia, the portrait of the atypical sexworker and artist Eva Collé, a brilliant reflection on social media and identity. The second one explores an icon: Cercando Valentina – Il mondo di Guido Crepax by Giancarlo Soldi, in which we discover the birth of a girl that changed eroticism and comics in an international Milan in the 1960s.
Lastly, two other films dialogue with the theme of the International Feature Film Competition, marked by a reinterpretation of film genres: the first is by a master of Japanese cinema, Takashi Miike, who mixes noir and comedy explosively in First Love, the second is by the Portuguese João Nicolau, at the MFF with his debut Rapace (2006) and now a famous author who, touching approaching musical comedy, tells the story of Luís Rovisco (Miguel Lobo Antunes), a wild and crazy over 60 Peter Pan in Technoboss.
WINNER: BEST DIRECTOR AT PEAK CITY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, NORTH CAROLINA PREMIERE
APEX, NC.- Director and producer Arthur Balder was presented by actor and producer John Demers with the Best Director Award of the competitive category of Feature Films of the Peak City International Film Festival 2019.
Apex City, one of the fastest growing cities in the USA, is home to the film festival that hosted more than 90 films across classic categories. The director was presented with the Best Director of a Feature Film award, which shows the wide-angled, challenging cinematic vision of an auteur that is successfully breaking the boundaries between genres.
AMERICAN MIRROR: INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY is being awarded as a documentary, as a fiction, and also as an experimental film. Nominations for best special effects, best editing, best original soundtrack have also been consistent, and the film has confirmed awards for best cinematography from different festivals.
The 2019 edition of the festival also was honored by the presence of Star Trek star Robert O-Reilly, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award.
