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APRIL 2009

New LGBT Films
Half-Life VOD & Digital Distribution Deal
Sundance doc END OF THE LINE

Dearest Programmers,

New American Vision (NAV) keeps on trucking into 2009 — adding to its slate with exciting new films to announce: two new LGBT films, an Iraqi feminist narrative feature, and two new activist docs.

Below please find a summary of new two LGBT films for the film circuit (BOY, AGAINST A TRANS NARRATIVE); Berlinale Selection NILOOFAR; and exciting new issue-oriented documentaries RAGING GRANNIES and the spectacular Sundance Selection END OF THE LINE (to be released theatrically in June).

We are also very proud to announce our acquisition for Wolfe of the hyper ambitious and creative, award-winning HALF-LIFE (a festival favorite at Sundance, Outfest, and LAFF 2008, and 2009 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, where it won Best Feature Jury Prize) for home video and Wolfe’s Warner Brothers VOD and Digital Distribution output deal that includes iTunes and XBOX and all significant digital distribution platforms. Be sure to check out the Half-Life Website.

TWO WORLD PREMIERE LGBT FILMS

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BOY

About the Film:

Brand new from Auraeus Solito, the filmmaker of Tuli and The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros, BOY is a delightful and sexy “coming-of-age” story about a young poet in Manila who discovers his sexuality and falls for a macho dancer. What begins as an erotic fascination turns into a journey about family and self-expression. Recently banned in Singapore — click here to read the article about ban at Singapore International Film Festival.

2009 | color | Philippines | 80 minutes

website: coming soon
territories: The World — all territories available
formats: DIGIBETA, BETASP, DVD
screeners: available now; please click here to contact Wolfe

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AGAINST A TRANS NARRATIVE

About the Film:

Directed by academic trans filmmaker Jules Rosskam (the short F. Scott Fitzgerald Slept Here), against a trans narrative is a brand new feature length experimental documentary (61 minutes) that primarily functions as a dialogue — between friends, cultures and generations — addressing issues of representation, identity-formation, and the various forces that act together to build (and dismantle) communities. Specifically, the film analyzes the construction of the dominant trans-masculine "narrative" and how this influences and potentially hinders peoples’ conceptions of themselves. Blending fiction, nonfiction, and experimental film genres, against a trans narrative employs a genre-busting combination of intimate diary footage, stylized dramatic scenes, spoken word performance, faux audition tapes, and roundtable interview footage to explore and initiate a dialogue between feminists, queers, and transfolk about the way we construct personal and historical narratives.

2009 | color | USA | 61 minutes

website: www.againstatransnarrative.com
territories: The World — all territories available
formats: DIGIBETA, BetaSP, DVCAM, DVD
screeners: available now; please contact Jeffrey Winter (323.466.3536)

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NILOOFAR

About the Film:

A powerful feminist narrative feature from Iraq directed by Iranian female director Sabine El Gemayel. Nasreen is a twelve-year-old girl whose dream is to read and write in a village where education is only for boys. While assisting her mother during a delivery, Nasreen meets a wise woman who allows her to secretly study. Meanwhile, Nasreen’s father arranges her marriage to an older man once she becomes a woman. Horrified by this notion, Nasreen does everything in her power to postpone her first period. Although destiny catches up with her, she continues to hide her womanhood from her community to pursue her dream, until one day when the truth is revealed.

World premiere AFI FEST 2008
Official Selection at the 2009 Berlinale

2008 | color | 82 minutes | France / Iran / Lebanon

territories: U.S Only
formats: 35mm, Digibeta, DVD
screeners: available now; please contact Jeffrey Winter (323.466.3536)

NEW DOCUMENTARIES

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END OF THE LINE

About the Film:

Co-Presented by National Geographic and Greenpeace, and fresh from its North American premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, this heart-wrenching documentary is nothing short of the “inconvenient truth” about the devastating effect of overfishing on the world’s ecosystems. The first major documentary to reveal the extent of the crisis facing today's oceans, THE END OF THE LINE challenges us to imagine a world without fish…period. This is Earth’s future by 2048 if we do not stop, think, and act. Directed by Rupert Murray, THE END OF THE LINE will be released theatrically in June, and is a perfect booking to honor World Ocean Day on June 8.

A must-see for anyone who cares about the future of life on this planet.

North American Premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival

2008 | color | UK | 90 minutes

website: coming soon
territories: U.S. only
formats: All Digital and Video formats including HDCAM, DIGIBETA, BETASP, DVD
screeners: available now; please contact Jeffrey Winter (323.466.3536)

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RAGING GRANNIES

About the Film:

A lively and thought-provoking portrait of The Action League of the San Francisco Bay Area — a group of women between 50 and 90 who are enraged by threats to our environment, by war and nuclear weapons, and by injustice wherever they find it. The Action League has been spied on by the National Guard, has been written about in both the local and national press, has appeared on nightly news programs, and has stood up to Bill O'Reilly on Fox News. In ostrich feathers and crazy hats, The Action League has been both booed and cheered, but they continue to protest with a sense of outrage, a sense of humor, and a commitment to non-violence.

World Premiere at the 2009 Cinequest Film Festival

2009 | color | USA | 54 minutes

territories: The World — all territories available
formats: DIGIBETA, BetaSP, DVCAM, DVD
screeners: available now; please click here to contact Wolfe

We will have more film announcements coming soon so stay tuned — we'll announce during the summer fests. If you missed any of our past NAV Newsletters, you can link to them on our website. Also available: our Digital Distribution Guide and our Queer Film Database, a resource for programmers that tracks only newer films recommended by fellow programmers — both will be updated regularly.