San Francisco, U.S.A. — Roughly 10,000 people became inducted into the mysterious Jejune Institute in San Francisco between 2008 and 2011. ”The Institute,” a full length documentary film premiering at the Mill Valley Film Festival this month, attempts to capture this enigmatic experience for viewers, and to unravel the truth behind the opaque organization.

“Many members described it as a cult,” says Spencer McCall, the film’s director. “But as I delved deeper, there appeared to be elements of an elaborate game being played.” Many of the subjects interviewed for the film disagreed on exactly how to describe their experience, whether it was a game or a much more serious endeavor. This paradox is one of the primary questions explored through the movie, which is McCall’s first feature length film.

At the opening night of the Mill Valley Film Festival, where Bradley Cooper’s new movie The Silver Lining Playbook kicked off the festivities, ex-members of the Jejune Institute demonstrated outside, discouraging audiences from seeing the movie. “Don’t believe the lies!” they chanted, before being ushered away by festival security. “I don’t appreciate this being characterized as just some alternative reality game,” said Gordo McLaughlin, one of the demonstrators, who was also interviewed in the documentary. ”It’s not an accurate or truthful film. I think it’s a disgrace to the festival.”

Controversy seems to follow “The Institute,” which is beginning its festival run. “It’s been an incredible struggle,” Spencer McCall says. “Some participants are dealing with mental illness and delusion, and I’ve had them turn on me and try to block screenings. But it just seems to be adding fuel to the fire.” The sensational story has already received coverage by The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Wired magazines, among others.

“The Institute” will be showing at the Rafael Theater on Thursday, October 11 at 4:30 p.m., and at CineArts at Sequoia Theater on Sunday, October 14 at 2:00 p.m. Rumors are already swelling about what strange occurrences may transpire at the viewings.

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Celebrating its fifth year, Focus Features’ Africa First Program will accept entries beginning this Monday, May 14 and continuing through Monday, August 20. Focus CEO James Schamus made the announcement on Tuesday

The uniquely conceived initiative, with funds earmarked exclusively for emerging filmmakers of African nationality and residence, is for the fifth consecutive year offering eligible and participating filmmakers the chance to be awarded $10,000 in financing for pre-production, production, and/or post-production on their narrative short film made in continental Africa and tapping into the resources of the film industry there.

The program also brings the filmmakers together with each other and with a renowned group of advisors, major figures in the African film world, for support and mentorship. Past short films to come out of the Program have been showcased at the Sundance, Toronto, London, and Berlin Film Festivals; on The Africa Channel; and with the Museum of the Moving Image and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, among other venues worldwide.

A compilation of films completed through the Program is available on DVD and across VOD and EST platforms. Complete details on Africa First – including application information – can be accessed year-round through www.focusfeatures.com/africafirst.

Africa First is supervised by Program Director and producer Kisha Cameron Dingle (…Sometimes in April), whose company, Completion Films, has a first-look and consulting deal with Focus, and who coordinates the Program’s submissions and evaluations with Focus director of development & production Christopher Kopp.

In addition to on-site work in Africa, the winning filmmakers of Africa First will visit New York City in the fall of 2012 for a weekend of one-on-one workshop discussions with each other; members of the advisory board of experts in African cinema; such Focus executives as Mr. Schamus and president of production Jeb Brody, covering topics like international distribution and the economics of studio financing; and Mrs. Dingle and Mr. Kopp.

Mr. Schamus said, “In celebrating the fifth anniversary of Africa First this year, we are also celebrating the dynamic and talented group of filmmakers we’ve had the privilege of collaborating with during the Program’s tenure. The kudos and acclaim their films have generated around the world is gratifying, and we look forward to working with them again.”

In 2008, the Africa First Program selected these filmmakers and their respective films; Mr. Edouard Bamporiki (from Rwanda) for Long Coat, Ms. Jenna Bass (from South Africa) for The Tunnel, Mr. Jan-Hendrik Beetge (from South Africa) for The Abyss Boys, Ms. Dyana Gaye (from Senegal) for N’Dar (a.k.a. St. Louis Blues), and Ms. Wanuri Kahiu (from Kenya) for Pumzi [Breath].

The winning filmmakers for 2009 were Mr. Stephen Abbott (from South Africa) for Dirty Laundry, Mr. Matt Bishanga (from Uganda) for A Good Catholic Girl, Mr. Daouda Coulibaly (from Mali) for Tinye So, Mr. Matthew Jankes (from South Africa) for Umkhungo, and Ms. Rungano Nyoni (from Zambia) for The Adventures of Mwansa the Great. The 2010 filmmakers chosen were Ms. Chika Anadu (from Nigeria) for The Marriage Factor; Mr. Lev David (from South Africa) for Down; Ms. Jacqueline Kalimunda (from Rwanda) for Sky Burning Down; Ms. Ebele Okoye (from Nigeria) for The Legacy of Rubies; and Mr. Julius Onah (from Nigeria) for Nepa Don Quench.

The filmmakers selected in 2011 were Ms. Oshosheni Hiveluah (from Namibia) for 100 Bucks; Mr. Cedric Ido (from Burkina Faso) for Twaaga [Invincible]; Mr. Mark Middlewick (from South Africa) for Late Night Security; Ms. Akosua Adoma Owusu (from Ghana) for Kwaku Ananse; and Mr. Zelalem Woldemariam (from Ethiopia) for Adamet [Listen].

This year, the submissions period begins on Monday, May 14, 2012 and runs through Monday, August 20, 2012. The five filmmakers selected will be notified by October 2012 and will retain the copyrights and the distribution rights to their completed shorts, with the exception of North American rights; Focus retains those, as well as the right of first negotiation to productions derived from the shorts, such as a feature-length expansion.

Completion is developing feature, documentary, and television projects. Its president, Mrs. Dingle, previously worked as director of development at Walden Media, and as an executive at New Line Cinema, where she oversaw the development and production of Spike Lee’s Bamboozled.

The Africa First advisory board members are Ms. Mahen Bonetti, founder and executive director of the African Film Festival; journalist and documentary filmmaker Ms. Jihan El-Tahiri; Ms. June Givanni, who for four years programmed the Toronto International Film Festival’s Planet Africa series; Ms. Sharifa Johka, film programmer and independent producer; Mr. Pedro Pimenta, producer and manager of training programs throughout South Africa; and Mr. Keith Shiri, founder/director of the Africa at the Pictures film festival in the U.K.

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Award-winning filmmaker Marshall Curry, whose first two documentaries for POV (Point of View) have been nominated for Oscars ( Street Fight in 2006; If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front , in 2012), returns to POV for a third time with Racing Dreams, a chronicle of two boys and a girl who do something extraordinary: They fearlessly race extreme go-karts at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour in pursuit of trophies and, just maybe, careers as NASCAR drivers.

And as the youngsters compete on the track, they also navigate the treacherous road from childhood to young adulthood. Racing Dreams, winner of the Best Documentary Feature Awards at the Tribeca, Nashville and Jacksonville Film Festivals and executive-produced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, has its national broadcast premiere on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012 , at 9 p.m. on PBS’s POV series (check local listings) and will stream in its entirety on POV’s website www.pbs.org/pov/racingdreams Feb. 24 – March 24 .

American television’s longest-running independent documentary series, POV is the winner of a Special Emmy for Excellence in Television Documentary Filmmaking, two IDA Awards for Best Continuing Series and NALIP’s Corporate Commitment to Diversity Award. DreamWorks Studios is currently developing Racing Dreams into a dramatic feature film produced by the team of Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Star Trek, Cowboys & Aliens, Transformers).

Fondly described as “Talladega Nights meets Catcher in the Rye,” Racing Dreams is a dramatic, funny and sometimes heartbreaking look at the world of NASCAR culture as lived by three young aspirants to race-car glory and their families. The film follows Annabeth Barnes, Josh Hobson and Brandon Warren as they compete in the Pavement Series, a yearlong national championship of five races around the country organized by the World Karting Association (WKA).

The WKA’s races have been a breeding ground for NASCAR racers—Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Danica Patrick and others started out racing competitive go-karts—and Annabeth, Josh and Brandon dream of stepping up to the “big leagues,” too. In the film, Annabeth and Josh compete at the junior level, while Brandon is in his last season in the senior division.

For each of these young drivers, racing is more than just a hobby. Josh, who started racing when he was 5, grew up in car-country, not far from Flint, Mich. A well-spoken, straight-A student, he studies not only racing strategy, but also the political sensitivity it takes to be the kind of spokesman NASCAR and its sponsors favor.

Annabeth also has racing in her blood. Her Hiddenite, N.C. relatives have been racing cars “since back in the moonshine days,” she explains, and the sport has a particular significance for her: “When you’re racing you make your own decisions. . . . You’re totally independent.” She takes special pleasure in beating the boys in such a male-dominated sport, but as adolescence sets in, she feels torn between her love of racing, which requires her to travel nearly every weekend, and a desire to be a regular kid.

For Brandon, racing is in many ways an escape from a difficult home life in Creedmoor, N.C. ”If I’m not racing, I’m not happy,” he says. He lives with his grandparents in a double-wide trailer filled with racing memorabilia. Talented, funny and charismatic, Brandon also has a hot temper that sometimes gets him into trouble. He is aiming to win the championship that he lost the previous year when he was disqualified for rough driving.

As the tour unfolds, the three young racers step from the sheltered world of childhood into adolescence—discovering romance for the first time, questioning their relationships with their parents and glimpsing the serious obstacles that may threaten their ability to achieve their dreams.

“I think that pre-adolescence is probably the most important, poignant and under-explored stage in our lives,” says director-producer Curry. “It’s really when we are beginning to figure out who we are, how we relate to our parents, what romance feels like, and what we want to do.

“I hope that this movie will take people back to that age, and remind us of the dreams we had—to be President, or a baseball player, or wherever our imagination took us. Back before we knew about the importance of money or connections or how hard things were going to be, and we just dreamed.”

Racing Dreams is produced by Marshall Curry Productions, GOOD and White Buffalo Entertainment.

Photo Credit: Trujillo Paumier

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