AWARDS

• Won - Woodstock Film Festival 2012 - Jury Prize - Best Narrative Feature, Marshall Lewy
• Won - Woodstock Film Festival 2012 - Best Editing, Alex Jablonski

SYNOPSIS
A former Britpop rocker Lachlan MacAldonich has settled into a comfortably numb existence in farm country just outside Los Angeles. By day, he works on an organic farm and travels regularly to the city's farmers' markets to sell produce. By night, he retreats to his crummy apartment to record "Flame-Outs," his podcast that recounts the tragic deaths of great musicians. The only spark in his humdrum existence is a lovely struggling actress and amateur chef who frequents the farmers' market.

One night, Lachlan gets pulled over for a DUI, a charge that dredges up his past drug offense and threatens him with deportation. Lachlan's only hope of staying in the U.S. is proving that his removal would cause "extreme hardship" to a U.S. citizen spouse or relative. Lachlan contacts his estranged ex-wife and daughter, raising past demons that he must finally confront.

CALIFORNIA SOLO is a human story about post-fame life and personal redemption.

DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
The core of CALIFORNIA SOLO is the character of Lachlan MacAldonich. I wrote Lachlan specifically for Robert Carlyle, an actor whom I've always admired immensely, and I thought it would be interesting to put him at the center of an American indie film. It was easy to write the character with Carlyle's voice in my head, and I wrote the first draft of this script furiously, in just 16 days. I have heard two different acronyms for the word fear. One is "Face Everything and Recover;" the other is "F*** Everything and Run." For me, CALIFORNIA SOLO is about Lachlan's taking the first tentative and difficult steps towards recovering the life he ran away from years ago.

I had written the script for Robert Carlyle, but I didn't know how we would get it to him. When we managed to reach him, he signed on to play Lachlan within a few days. It turns out he had known a lot of these ex-rocker types from Britpop's heyday – he had hung out with them in London, and at the Hacienda nightclub in Manchester. He was part of their glory days, but also familiar with some of the demons that assailed them afterward. Many of the shirts Robert wears in the film are his own from the days when "Trainspotting" first came out. '90s Britpop is the music scene that Lachlan and his fictional former band, The Cranks, grew up and flourished in, and I listened to Britpop non-stop while writing CALIFORNIA SOLO. I was first introduced to it while visiting friends in Ireland during college. Britpop is, I think, an underappreciated movement. The songs have aged well – simple rock with an epic feel and great emotion. But besides Oasis and maybe the Verve, Britpop didn't hit it quite as big in the US as it did back in the UK, which is why an organic farm in Southern California is a perfect place for Lachlan to hide out from his past.

The other thread that inspired me to make this film was realizing how immigration laws can wreak havoc on the lives of longtime residents of the United States, even legal residents. The deeper I dug into U.S. immigration law, the more disturbing I found the bureaucracy. Immigration lawyers told me about immigrants with green cards who become separated from their children and grandchildren because of an unexpected legal turn; and of endless and unpredictable twists of fate along the path to removal from the country. There is heartbreak in the tension between the straightforward nature of Lachlan's DUI and the extent and unpredictability of its consequences.

We shot CALIFORNIA SOLO in 21 days in and around Los Angeles. Many of the locations were within walking distance from my home. After making my first feature, Blue State, in Winnipeg, I wanted to shoot in a place I knew well, and to portray Los Angeles in a light we don't always see in movies, from the beautiful farms that surround the city, to the farmers markets that pop up each weekend, to the hipster neighborhoods and clubs. The cinematographer James Laxton and I strove to give Los Angeles a cooler, earthier, less plastic treatment than it often gets in films.

My inspirations for performance and visual style were character-driven films like The Verdict, Tender Mercies, The Visitor, and the films of Mike Leigh. These movies manage to tell a dramatic story through nuance and attention to human detail – to let the actors be the main event – and that's what I've tried to accomplish in CALIFORNIA SOLO.

AWARDS
Won - Buster International Children's Film Festival 2012 - Best Buster Award - Danish Actors' Guild's Best Young Actress, Julia Garne

SYNOPSIS
Rachel is a rambunctious teenager from a fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah. On her 15th birthday, she discovers a forbidden cassette tape with rock music on it. Having never heard anything like it, Rachel has a miraculous experience. Three months later, she turns up pregnant and claims to have had an immaculate conception from listening to the music. Rachel's parents arrange a marriage, but she runs away to the closest city, Las Vegas, to search for the man who sings on the cassette tape, thinking he has something to do with her mysterious pregnancy...

AWARDS

• Won – Hollywood Film Festival – Editor of the Year, Dylan Tichenor
• Nominated – Cannes Film Festival – Palme d'Or, John Hillcoat

SYNOPSIS
LAWLESS is the true story of the infamous Bondurant Brothers: bootlegging siblings who made a run for the American Dream in Prohibition-era Virginia. In this epic outlaw tale, inspired by true-life tales of author Matt Bondurant's family in his novel "The Wettest County In The World", the loyalty of three brothers is put to the test against the backdrop of the nation's most notorious crime wave.

The three Bondurant brothers run a bootlegging operation during the depression, up in the mountains of Franklin County, Virginia. Crooked Special Deputy Charles Rakes is after a share of the brothers' profits. Compounding their troubles, the local competition is elbowing in on their activities. Forrest's boisterous defiance and Cricket's knack for moonshine production help the brothers gain a local monopoly. When Forrest is wounded as tension with Rakes escalates, Jack, initially the timid one, must prove his worth against gangster Floyd Banner's mob, and we see him metamorphose into a cocky exhibitionist in his attempts to woo the off-limits preacher's daughter, Bertha.

AWARDS

• Won - Sundance Film Festival 2012 - Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, Derek Connolly
• Nominated - Sundance Film Festival 2012 - Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic, Colin Trevorrow

SYNOPSIS
Darius is a young intern at a Seattle-based magazine and jumps at the chance to investigate the author of a classified ad seeking someone to travel back in time with. Along with Jeff, the staff writer, and Arnau, a fellow intern, the three go on a road trip to a coastal town. While Jeff just wants to chase after his high school crush and Arnau wants some kind of life experience, Darius spends her time with Kenneth, a man who believes that he has built a time machine. The closer they become and the more they understand about each other, the less clear it becomes if Kenneth is just crazy or if he actually is going to successfully travel back in time.

AWARDS

• Nominated - Sundance Film Festival 2012 - Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic, Mark Webber

SYNOPSIS
When the mother of his two-year-old son suddenly passes away, struggling actor Mark (played by Mark Webber, who also wrote and directed the film), is forced to confront his shortcomings. With his fate and his son's now intertwined, he grapples with his ability to grow up – stuck between the life he once knew and the one waiting for him. When he has a meaningful encounter with a young mother (Shannyn Sossamon), Mark is no longer able to live in the comfort of denial. Set against the backdrop of Los Angeles, THE END OF LOVE is an intimate and honest slice-of-life portrait of a father and son in transition.

AWARDS

• Won - San Sebastián International Film Festival 2012 - Audience Award - Best Film,
  Ben Lewin
• Won - Sundance Film Festival 2012 - Audience Award – Dramatic,
  Ben Lewin
• Won - Sundance Film Festival 2012 - Special Jury Prize - Dramatic, For Ensemble Acting, William H. Macy, John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, Annika Marks, Moon Bloodgood

SYNOPSIS
The story of a 36 year old man, who's confined to an iron lung and no longer wishes to be a virgin. With the help of his therapist and his priest, he contacts Cheryl Cohen-Greene, a professional sex surrogate and a typical soccer mom with a house, a mortgage and a husband. Based on the poignantly optimistic autobiographical writings of California-based journalist and poet Mark O'Brien, THE SESSIONS, follows the fascinating relationship which evolves between Cheryl and Mark as she takes him on his journey to manhood.

CRITICAL RECEPTION
The Sessions was considered one of the 2012 Sundance breakout hits. John Hawkes received two prolonged standing ovations at the film's screening. It was praised by critics at the festival as accessible, enjoyable, and light-hearted.

"...Performances are paramount in a film like this, and Hawkes works some kind of miracle despite the self-evident physical limitations of the role."
Peter Debruge, Variety

"...Most decisively, in audience terms, it argues in favor of living a full life, whatever one's personal constraints, of not being intimidated by societal or religious dogma or, most of all, by one's fears... Hawkes' full-bodied vocal and emotional characterization stands in stark contrast to his frail corporal presence. Hunt's performance may be physically bold but is equally marked by its maturity and composure."
Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter

SYNOPSIS
The layered romantic drama THE WORDS follows young writer Rory Jansen (Bradley Cooper) who finally achieves long sought after literary success after publishing the next great American novel. There's only one catch – he didn't write it. As the past comes back to haunt him and his literary star continues to rise, Jansen is forced to confront the steep price that must be paid for stealing another man's work and for placing ambition and success above life's most fundamental three words.

Official Selection – Classic Section, Cannes Film Festival 2012

SYNOPSIS
Iconic writer, director, actor, comedian, and musician Woody Allen allowed his life and creative process to be documented on-camera for the first time. With this unprecedented access, Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Robert Weide followed the notoriously private film legend over a year and a half to create the ultimate film biography. WOODY ALLEN: A DOCUMENTARY chronicles Allen's career – from teen writer to Sid Caeser's TV scribe, from standup comedian to award-winning writer-director averaging one film-per-year for more than 40 years. Exploring Allen's writing habits, casting, directing, and relationship with his actors first-hand, new interviews with A-listers, writing partners, family and friends provide insight and backstory to the usually inscrutable filmmaker.

SYNOPSIS
The story of one American's obsessive search to get closer to his deceased father by uncovering the story of his family's town of Trochenbrod, Ukraine. First made famous by Jonathan Safron Foer's 'Everything Is Illuminated', Trochenbrod was the only all-Jewish town to ever exist outside of Palestine.

Trochenbrod's 5000 Jews were obliterated by the Nazis, except for 33 townspeople who escaped the massacre there. This personal search triggers a resurgence of interest in the town and reconnects the few remaining survivors who hadn't seen each other in over 60 years and now are telling fascinating stories about that town and their survival. LOST TOWN utilizes contemporary documentary footage, original animation, and survivor testimonials to tell the story of how far one will go to claim their sense of identity.

AWARDS
Won – SXSW 2012 – Audience Award Won – Newport Beach Film Festival 2012 – Audience Award Won – Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival 2012 – Top 10 Audience Favorites Won – Brooklyn Film Festival 2012 – Best New Director Katie Dellamaggiore
SYNOPSIS
A documentary about I.S. 318 - an inner-city school where more than 65 percent of students are from homes with incomes below the federal poverty level - that also happens to have the best, most winning junior high school chess team in the country. (If Albert Einstein, who was rated 1800, were to join the team, he'd only rank fifth best). Chess has transformed the school from one cited in 2003 as a "school in need of improvement" to one of New York City's best. But a series of recession-driven pubic school budget cuts now threaten to undermine those hard-won successes.

BROOKLYN CASTLE tells the stories of five members of the chess team at a below-the-poverty-line inner city junior high school that has won more national championships than any other in the country. The film follows the challenges these kids face in their personal lives as well as on the chessboard, and is as much about the sting of their losses as it is about the anticipation of their victories. Ironically, the biggest obstacle thrust upon them arises not from other competitors but from recessionary budget cuts to all the extracurricular activities at their school. BROOKLYN CASTLE shows how these kids' dedication to chess magnifies their belief in what is possible for their lives. After all, if they can master the world's most difficult game, what can't they do?


ABOUT THE TEAM
The I.S. 318 chess team currently has 85 members and has won thirty national championship chess titles. In April of 2012 they became first junior high school team to become High School National Champions. They were honored in a ceremony with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and their triumph was featured on the front page of The New York Times.

AIFF GUEST
Brian Schulz is a national sports Emmy Award recipient for his work on the Showtime series The Franchise: A Season with the San Francisco Giants as well as a three-time New York Emmy Award winning cinematographer for Major League Baseball Productions. As one of MLB's lead cinematographers he is dispatched across the country to capture the game's most dramatic images. A veteran of numerous All Star games and World Series, his creativity behind the film and HD camera can be found in network promos and specials, World Series Films and the Emmy Award winning YES Yankeeography series. He's also directed and shot a number of music videos and is a cinematographer on the 2012 short-film, Damaged Goods. Brooklyn Castle represents his first feature length film as both a producer and the DP. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and currently resides in New York City.

SYNOPSIS
The saga of "famous unknown" Pablo Ferro, a man with a personal journey that spans from Havana, during the pre-Cuban revolution to his current home, in the garage behind his son's house. Using a blend of character animation, motion design, and documentary footage, PABLO tracks Ferro's rise as a poor Cuban immigrant to the heights of the Madison Avenue commercial industry and then becoming one of the most celebrated designers of movie history once hailed by Stanley Kubrick as the father of the sixties look and the MTV aesthetics. The film centers around Ferro's presence in the New York City counter-culture of the 1960's until the mystery that changed his life forever.

AWARDS

• Nominated – Sundance Film Festival 2012 – Grand Jury Prize – Documentary,
  Sheena M. Joyce, Don Argott

SYNOPSIS
In 2010, the United States announced the first new nuclear power plant construction in over 32 years. The 'Nuclear Renaissance' was born, and America's long-stalled expansion of nuclear energy was infused with new life. On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Japan and caused chaos at the Fukushima Power Plant. That accident sent ripples all the way to the US and suddenly the fierce debate over the safety and viability of nuclear power was back in the public consciousness. The documentary takes the viewer on a journey to reactor communities around the country. This film exposes the truths and myths of nuclear power, and poses the question of whether or not man can responsibly split the atom.

SYNOPSIS
Paul and Phyllis van Amburg, believing that a small, family farm is the best place to raise their children, take their life savings and buy a defunct dairy. With three children and a fourth on the way and armed only with their principles and determination, they fight to defy the odds as they become full time farmers. THE FIRST SEASON, through an intimate, cinéma vérité style, bears witness to the Van Amburg's struggle as they fight against relentless toil, financial ruin and the harsh reality of diary farming to achieve their version of the American dream.

AWARDS

• Nominated - Sundance Film Festival 2012 - Grand Jury Prize - Documentary, David France

SYNOPSIS
The story of two coalitions – ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) – whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time. With unfettered access to a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and '90s, filmmaker David France puts the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures, and the exultant breakthroughs of heroes in the making.

CRTICAL RECEPTION

"Served powerfully, with minimal adornment... A moving and meticulous documentary about AIDS activism in the late '80s and early '90s"
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

"…An epic celebration of heroism and tenacity, and less directly, a useful template for any fledgling activist movement, demonstrating the effectiveness of inside/outside strategy."
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

SYNOPSIS
A tantalizing and star-studded tribute to Roger Corman, Hollywood's most prolific writer-director producer, and seminal influencing force in modern moviemaking over the last 60 years. Featuring interviews with Hollywood icons and cinematic luminaries, some who launched their careers within Corman's unforgettable world of filmmaking, including Paul W.S. Anderson, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert De Niro, Peter Fonda, Pam Grier, Ron Howard, Eli Roth, Martin Scorsese, William Shatner, Quentin Tarantino and Jack Nicholson, along with many others. CORMAN'S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL chronicles how Corman created his cult film empire, one low-budget success at a time, capitalizing on undiscovered talent, and pushing the boundaries of independent filmmaking. Director Alex Stapleton weaves archival footage following Roger's illustrious career: from his early days of genre-defining classics including the original Fast and Furious, the original Little Shop of Horrors, The Crybaby Killer, The Intruder, House of Usher, and The Wild Angels (which at that point in 1966 was his 100th film) – to present day video of him and his wife Julie on location, still at work as they continue to produce and distribute films outside the studio system: fast, cheap and out-of-this-world!

At the American Independence Film Festival producer and cinematographer Brian Schulz will hold a workshop.

Brian Schulz is a national sports Emmy Award recipient for his work on the Showtime series "The Franchise: A Season with the San Francisco Giants" as well as a three-time New York Emmy Award winning cinematographer for Major League Baseball Productions. As one of MLB's lead cinematographers he is dispatched across the country to capture the game's most dramatic images. A veteran of numerous All Star games and World Series, his creativity behind the film and HD camera can be found in network promos and specials, World Series Films and the Emmy Award winning YES "Yankeeography" series. He's also directed and shot a number of music videos and is a cinematographer on the 2012 short-film, "Damaged Goods." BROOKLYN CASTLE represents his first feature length film as both a producer and the DP. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut and currently resides in New York City.

At the American Independence Film Festival directors Sheena M. Joyce and Don Argott will hold a workshop.

Director and cinematographer Don Argott formed 9.14 Pictures with producer Sheena M. Joyce in 2002. Together with editor Demian Fenton, they created "Rock School," the company's first feature-length documentary, which premiered at the Los Angles Film Festival in 2004, and was acquired by Newmarket Films/Picturehouse Films. It was extremely well received on the festival circuit, screening at Sundance and South by Southwest, and given rave reviews by Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Ebert & Roeper. "Rock School" was released worldwide theatrically in June 2005, on DVD in September 2005, and on A&E Television in 2006.

"Two Days in April," 9.14's second feature-length documentary, followed four college football players as they entered the NFL Draft. The film was commissioned by Red Envelope Productions (the distribution arm of Netflix), and is currently available on Netflix. It aired on the Documentary Channel, and is available in retail stores for purchase.

Their third film, "The Art of the Steal," chronicled the long struggle for control over the $30 billion dollar Barnes collection of Post Impressionist and Early Modern art. It was acquired by IFC Films' Sundance Selects division at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, went on to screen at the New York Film Festival and AFI Fest, and was named by Roger Ebert as one of the Best Documentaries of 2010. It is aired on Showtime, is currently airing on the Sundance Channel, and is available on DVD.

"Last Days Here" hit theaters in March of 2012, after a world premiere at 2001's South by Southwest Film Festival. Acquired by IFC Films' Sundance Selects division, the doc told the story of Bobby Liebling, lead singer of the cult hard rock/heavy metal band Pentagram. Intimate, raw, and unexpectedly funny, "Last Days Here" portrayed the unbelievable journey of a man at the crossroads of life and death, and won awards at many festivals, including the IDFA PLAY Award for Best Music Documentary at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam.

Their most recent film, THE ATOMIC STATES OF AMERICA, takes the viewer on a journey to reactor communities around the country, and seeks to explore the truths and myths of nuclear power. It made its world premiere in the U.S. Documentary Competition at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, and continues to screen in festivals worldwide.

9.14 also does a great deal of work in the music industry, creating behind-the-scenes DVDs and EPKs for clients like Sony Music, working with such artists as Michael Jackson, Ozzy Osbourne, and Neil Diamond. They also completed behind-the-scenes specials for Nickelodeon with the Naked Brothers Band and Miranda Cosgrove of iCarly. They continue to collaborate on music, television, and film projects.

At the American Independence Film Festival director Robert Weide will hold a workshop.

Robert Weide's documentary films, chronicling iconic American comedians, include, "The Marx Brothers in a Nutshell," the Emmy-winning "W.C. Fields Straight Up," "Mort Sahl: The Loyal Opposition," and "Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth" (another Emmy winner and Oscar nominee for Best Feature Documentary).

In 1996, Weide wrote and produced the feature film "Mother Night," based on the Kurt Vonnegut novel. In 1999, he produced and directed the HBO comedy special, "Larry David: Curb Your Enthusiasm," which would serve as the springboard for the Golden Globe-winning series, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," for which Weide served as principal director and Executive Producer for the first five seasons. He was Emmy-nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Comedy Directing for four years running, winning the directing award during the third season. He returned to the series last year to direct the much talked-about episode, "Palestinian Chicken," which earned him the prestigious DGA Award for comedy direction, as well as another Emmy nomination.

2008 saw the release of Weide's feature directorial debut, "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People," a British production starring Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, Jeff Bridges, and Megan Fox. In 2011, Weide returned to his documentary roots with his acclaimed film, WOODY ALLEN: A DOCUMENTARY. Made with the full cooperation of the iconic and elusive filmmaker, the film met with glowing reviews and stands as the definitive biography on its subject. An official selection for the classic division at Cannes Films Festival, it is currently enjoying distribution world-over.

The official website for his Whyaduck Productions: www.duckprods.com

At the American Independence Film Festival composer William Goldstein will hold two workshops: The art of instant composition,and Music in Film – The art of improvisation and creative process.

William Goldstein has been a recording artist for both Motown records and CBS Masterworks. He has over 35 albums currently available. He has scored over 50 Movie and Television projects, including "Fame" and "The Miracle Worker." He has written on the arts for The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times. He has been a pioneer in the use of computers and electronic instruments in music. His most distinguishing characteristic as a composer/pianist is his gift of "Instant Composition", creating compositions in real time in front of the audience, which he is exploring in many diverse ways and sharing with audiences through Master Classes, recitals and Albums. Some of the most famous practitioners of instant composition are Bach, Mozart, Handel, Scarlatti, Liszt, Chopin, Gershwin...and more recently Keith Jarrett.

William Goldstein headed the jury in the first competition in "Instant Music Composition" in well over 100 years at the Transatlantyk Festival in Poznan Poland in August 2011.