Los Angeles, U.S.A. — Production has begun in South Africa and North Carolina on the HBO Films presentation ‘Mary and Martha,’ starring Hilary Swank (Oscar winner for ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ and ‘Million Dollar Baby’) and Brenda Blethyn (Oscar nominee for ‘Secrets & Lies’ and ‘Little Voice’), it was announced July 16 by Len Amato, president, HBO Films.

Directed by Phillip Noyce (‘Salt,’ ‘The Quiet American’) from a screenplay written by Richard Curtis (Oscar nominee for ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral,’ Emmy winner for HBO’s ‘The Girl in the Café’), ‘Mary and Martha’ depicts the epic journey of two mothers who bond over the mutual loss of their sons to malaria. James Woods, Frank Grillo, Ian Redford and Stephanie Faracy also star.

“We were especially attracted to Richard Curtis’ approach to the story – bringing a human touch to this serious and often overlooked issue about a disease that is preventable and can be eradicated,” said Amato. “In the hands of Philip Noyce, directing these two gifted actresses, the difficult subject matter becomes upliftingly accessible, yet profoundly powerful.”

Hilary Swank stars as Mary and Brenda Blethyn stars as Martha, an American and an Englishwoman who have little in common apart from the one thing they wish they hadn’t – both have lost sons to malaria. Promising adventure and fun, Mary took her young son, George, to Africa, where he subsequently contracted the disease, while Martha’s son, Ben, died while working as a volunteer at an orphanage in Mozambique.

When the two immensely different women meet in Africa, they bond over their shared personal loss. Forging a deep friendship, they vow to dedicate themselves to the cause of malaria prevention, realizing that, as mothers, they have a responsibility to all the world’s children.

Says writer Richard Curtis, “I’ve always wanted to write a film about the fact that when you have children, there’s always the possibility of extreme joy and extreme sorrow. And over the years, working with Comic Relief, I have come across the tragedy of the startling number of lives taken by malaria every year. This film gives me achance to write about that too, as well as working with a team of people I hugely admire – Brenda Blethyn, Hilary Swank and the great Australian director, Phillip Noyce.”

‘Mary and Martha’ is an HBO Films Presentation of a WTTV Working Title Television Production, in association with BBC and NBC Universal; executive produced by Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Liza Chasin and Juliette Howell; produced by Genevieve Hofmeyr and Hilary Bevan Jones; director, Phillip Noyce; screenplay written by Richard Curtis.

Image Courtesy of  Featureflash / Shutterstock.com

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Los Angeles, U.S.A. — HBO has confirmed some of the new cast members for the third season of the hit series “Game of Thrones,” with many of the actors appearing in a video that was unveiled Friday, July 13 at Comic-Con 2012.

Among the new actors and the characters they will portray are:

Diana Rigg will play Lady Olenna Tyrell. Also known as “The Queen of Thorns,” Lady Olenna is the grandmother of Margaery and Loras Tyrell and is, in many ways, the true leader of their powerful family.

Mackenzie Crook will portray Orell. A wildling raider, Orell is a “warg” or “skinchanger,” with the ability to enter the mind of an animal and control its actions.

Clive Russell will be Bryndon “The Blackfish” Tully. Known far and wide as “The Blackfish,” Brynden is a famous knight and the uncle of Catelyn Stark. He quarreled bitterly with his brother, Lord Hoster Tully, and the two were estranged for many years.

Nathalie Emannuel will play Missandei. Originally from the peaceful island of Naath, Missandei was sold into slavery as a child, along with her brother. She received education in various languages and became a translator to the slave trader Kraznys in Astapor.

Kerry Ingram will portray Shireen Baratheon, the only child of Stannis Baratheon. An avid reader, she escapes her lonely life through myths and stories – her books are her most treasured possessions.

Paul Kaye will be Thoros of Myr. A key member of the outlaw band known as the Brotherhood Without Banners, he is a Red Priest, in service of the Lord of Light, and originally hails from the Free City of Myr, in Essos.

Thomas Brodie-Sangster will play Jojen Reed, a mysterious and enigmatic young man who becomes an important ally to Bran Stark.

Ellie Kendrick will be Meera Reed. The eldest daughter of Howland Reed and a staunch Stark loyalist, Meera and her younger brother Jojen seek out Bran Stark to protect him on his hard journey north.

Richard Dormer will portray Beric Dondarrion. Once the lord of Blackhaven and a celebrated warrior, Lord Beric has now become the leader of the Brotherhood Without Banners, a band of vigilante outlaws.

Kristofer Hivju is cast as Tormund Giantsbane. A famed wildling warrior and chief lieutenant of the “King Beyond the Wall,” Mance Rayder, Tormund is fearsome and strong, with a large build and a beard to match.

Philip McGinley as Anguy, an extremely skilled archer and key member of the outlawband known as the Brotherhood Without Banners.

Tara Fitzgerald will play Selyse Baratheon. The wife of Stannis Baratheon, Selyse spends much of her life in seclusion, shut away in a gloomy tower.

Tobias Menzies will portray Edmure Tully. The younger brother of Catelyn Stark, Edmure has recently become Lord of Riverrun in the wake of his father’s death.

Anton Lesser will be Qyburn, a former maester of the Citadel, who was stripped of his chain many years ago.

Based on the bestselling fantasy book series by George R.R. Martin, “Game of Thrones” is an epic drama set in the world of Westeros, where ambitious men and women of both honor and ill-repute live in a land whose summers and winters can last years. The Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning fantasy series concluded its ten-episode second season in June, with the third season scheduled to launch in 2013.

Season two cast members included: Emmy and Golden Globe winner Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Aidan Gillen, Iain Glen, Kit Harington, Richard Madden, Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, Sophie Turner, Jack Gleeson and Alfie Allen.

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On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake struck off the coast of Japan, leaving 15,372 people confirmed dead and 7,762 reported still missing. In the wake of the largest earthquake in the country’s history, some people drew the courage to revive and rebuild from cherry-blossom season, which began within weeks of the tragedy.

Oscar-nominated this year for Best Documentary Short Subject, ‘The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom’ shows how nature can be a rejuvenating – as well as a destructive – force when it debuts Monday, July 16 (10:00-10:40 PM ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. Directed by Lucy Walker (the Oscar-nominated documentary feature “Waste Land”), this poignant film debuts immediately after the debut of the SXSW Film Festival hit “Birders: The Central Park Effect,” which offers a different look at how nature touches people.

The documentary will also show on HBO on July 18 (12:15 PM), July 24 (4:15 PM) and July 28 (6:00 AM, 3:15 PM).

The film will also be shown on HBO2 on July 18 (9:00 PM).

HBO Documentary Films presents another weekly series this summer, debuting provocative new specials every Monday through July 30. Other July films include: “Hard Times: Lost on Long Island” (July 9); “Birders: The Central Park Effect” (July 16); “Vito” (July 23); and “About Face: Supermodels Then and Now” (July 30).

‘The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom’ is a stunning visual poem about the ephemeral nature of life, and the healing power of Japan’s most beloved flower. The nation is transfixed by cherry blossom season, which runs from late March through April, with many people tracking the blossoms’ short life-cycle and attending “hanami,” or viewing parties, with family and friends.

Walker had originally planned to visit Japan to make a film about the cherry-blossom season, but on March 11, 2011, while she was making final preparations for her trip, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck, triggering tsunami waves of up to 133 feet on Japan’s northeastern coast. Initially unsure whether to continue, she flew to Tokyo with a small film crew and headed north to the Tohuku region, where she captured both the utter devastation and stoic resolve of survivors, many of whom had lost family members and friends.

‘The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom’ opens with harrowing home-video footage, shot from a hill, of a huge wave destroying the town below. A month later, a young woman stands on the same hill, remembering how she “watch[ed] people being consumed by the tsunami.” An older man tells how he tried and failed to save his oldest friend, proclaiming, “I don’t want a house. I don’t want clothes. I don’t want anything. I just want his life back.”

Others tell their stories of survival, escaping in their slippers and seeing whole houses rush toward them on a wave of black water. One couple living at a community center returns to the ruins of their house, hoping to rebuild. Their town is within the 30km exclusion zone around the Fukushima power plant, and many people wear cotton masks as protection from radiation.

Amidst the despair in the days following the tsunami comes a glimmer of hope in “sakura” (cherry blossom), a harbinger of spring in Japan and a national symbol of renewal. One man explains how the cherry blossom reflects the Japanese character, saying, “Each flower is tiny, and you can’t see one individually. But it’s beautiful when you see lots of flowers together. Japanese people see themselves that way too.”

Out of respect for the victims, many viewing parties were canceled this year, but people still visit the blossoms and take pictures. A man who lost his house shows where new plant shoots have sprouted on the beach, commenting that if plants can hang in there, humans can too. A young woman looking at the cleanup and construction adds, “Every year that the trees bloom, they’ll give us the courage to keep going.”

In addition to its Oscar nomination, ‘The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom’ received the Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Hamptons International Film Festival and BFI London.

‘The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom’ was directed by Lucy Walker with executive producers Tim Case and Charles V. Salice and producers Kira Carstensen and Lucy Walker. The director of photography was Aaron Phillips, the editor was Aki Mizutani, and the music was produced by Moby.

Image Courtesy of   Kasper Nybo

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Each year, more than a million birds make a migratory pit stop in New York City’s Central Park – and they don’t go unnoticed. The revealing documentary ‘Birders: The Central Park Effect’ chronicles one year in the life of the extraordinary array of wild birds that grace Manhattan’s celebrated patch of green, and the equally colorful New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration, when it debuts Monday, July 16 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. The debut of the Oscar-nominated documentary short “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom,” which shows how nature can be a rejuvenating as well as destructive force, follows at 10:00 p.m.

Other HBO playdates are July 19 (5:00 PM), July 21 (10:00 AM, 5:20 AM), July 24 (11:30 AM, midnight) and July 29 (2:00 PM).

It will also be showed on HBO2 with playdates on July 18 (8:00 PM), July 22 (5:25 AM) and July 26 (8:00 AM).

HBO Documentary Films presents another weekly series this summer, debuting provocative new specials every Monday through July 30. Other July films include: “Hard Times: Lost on Long Island” (July 9); “The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom” (July 16); “Vito” (July 23); and “About Face: Supermodels Then and Now” (July 30).

Devoting equal time and affection to birds and birders, first-time filmmaker Jeffrey Kimball explores a distinctly New York phenomenon, telling a story of humanity, nature and the precarious balance between the two. ‘Birders: The Central Park Effect’ captures an astonishing number of species – from hummingbirds and herons to owls and hawks – with stunning HD photography that does justice to the birds’ amazingly diverse patterns, hues and personalities. The film also celebrates devoted NYC birders who find a paradise within the urban chaos, among them author Jonathan Franzen and Starr Saphir, the “matriarch” of Central Park birdwatching.

It’s springtime in New York City, and the city’s biggest park is hosting a community of several hundred birders. As veteran birder Lloyd Spitalnik notes, “If you get tired of looking at the common birds, you might as well just pack it in.” Chris Cooper says his friends don’t see him from April 15 through Memorial Day; if they question his annual obsession, he counters by rattling off his “seven pleasures of birding.” Anya, a 15-year-old birder, wants to protect birds because they are “so alive, active, varied and beautiful.”

As the birders describe their passion, the pleasure they derive from the birds is both contagious and poignant. To a birder, finding a feathered friend is like a celebrity sighting. Scientists call the concentration of birds funneling into this oasis of nature amid a sea of steel and cement the Central Park Effect.

Septuagenarian Starr Saphir, who has been giving bird tours almost daily for 20 years, wasdiagnosed with terminal breast cancer a few years ago. She talks about her heightened joy in birding, which eases her pain, and shares lists of birds she’s seen, which she has kept in journals every day since she was a child, looking at them fondly like a photo album or scrapbook. Jonathan Franzen says that when he began birding, it was like an addiction; a morning without birding gave him a sense of unease that could only be fixed by the first spotting of the day, like a smoker craving a cigarette.

Central Park is a magnet for millions of birds who need a rest stop as they migrate along the Eastern Seaboard twice a year, in spring and fall. While this migration is a dangerous process, during which millions of birds die each year, many survivors remember stopovers in the fall and return to the Park, where devoted birders await them.

By early June, all the migrants have passed through New York City, but a couple of dozen species linger. Birds have adapted to human urbanization, and though Central Park is entirely man-made, it appears no different to birds than most natural parks in the country, which are also managed landscapes. Unfortunately, notes birder Jonathan Rosen, the Effect can lead some to believe that the world and the environment is doing just fine.

In winter, species that tend to migrate north in warmer months often fly south to Central Park. At the annual Christmas bird count, citizen scientists help produce the official “Birds in Decline Report” by going out in teams and counting every bird in the Park. Though a seemingly impossible task, patterns can be found in the results. One depressing statistic for bird lovers is that nearly a quarter of all species have had a 50% decline.

Sitting on a park bench the next spring, Jonathan Rosen says he doesn’t think of his birding as a hobby “any more than raising my children would be considered a hobby.” Perhaps, he concludes, as all sorts of animal populations slowly diminish, people are hungry to touch something that may be slipping away.

A 2012 SXSW selection in Documentary Feature Competition, ‘Birders: The Central Park Effect’ is directed and produced by Jeffrey Kimball; executive produced by Pamela Hogan and Tom Casciato; edited by Daniel Baer; co-produced and co-edited by Nick August-Perna; cinematography by Tony Pagano, Nick August-Perna and Chris Dapkins; bird and nature cinematography by Jeffrey Kimball; music by Paul Damian Hogan.

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“Real Time with Bill Maher” continues its tenth season Friday, June 29 (10:00-11:00 PM live ET), exclusively on HBO, with an instant replay at 11:00 PM following the live presentation. Allowing Maher to offer his unique perspective on contemporary issues, the show includes an opening monologue, roundtable discussions with panelists, and interviews with in-studio and satellite guests.

The roundtable guests this week are radio host Amy Goodman, Lt. Gov. of California Gavin Newsom and journalist Fareed Zakaria; author and former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and author Lizz Winstead are interview guests.

Bill Maher has been favorite of subscribers since his first special on the network in 1989, starring in nine solo specials, including the hour-long presentations “Bill Maher…But I’m Not Wrong,” “The Decider” and “I’m Swiss” (both nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special category), “Victory Begins at Home,” “Be More Cynical,” “The Golden Goose Special” and “Stuff That Struck Me Funny,” and two half-hour stand-up specials, plus the specials “30 Seconds Over Washington” and “Comic Relief VI.”

He was the creator and host of “Politically Incorrect,” which was produced by HBO Downtown Productions and debuted on Comedy Central in 1993. The series moved to ABC in 1997 and ran through 2002.

His latest book, “The New New Rules: A Funny Look at How Everybody but Me Has Their Head Up Their Ass,” was published in November and made the New York Times bestseller list. Maher’s 2006 book, “New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer,” also made the New York Times list, as well as bestseller lists across the country. He is also author of the books “When You Ride Alone You Ride with Bin Laden: What the Government Should Be Telling Us to Help Fight the War on Terrorism,” “Does Anybody Have a Problem with That? The Best of Politically Incorrect” and the novel “True Story.” Maher produced and starred in the 2008 feature film ‘Religulous’, the seventh most successful documentary of all time.

Image Courtesy of  Bill Maher

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With its images of mountains and edelweiss, “The Sound of Music” might not seem like a natural fit for India’s “maximum city,” but the Bombay Chamber Orchestra begs to differ. Recruiting kids from the slums – home to half the city’s population — the Orchestra sets out to stage a one-time-only choral performance of the Rogers & Hammerstein score.

The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical tells the story of the tenacious, musically inclined Indian street children who are enlisted to perform a concert with members of the elite orchestra.  For 11-year-old Ashish, like many of the other kids, performing in the concert means more than singing in a world-class theater; it also offers the hope of rising above his social and cultural limits.

Highlighting the gap between dreams and reality while showing the power of music to transform lives, the uplifting documentary debuts November 23, exclusively on HBO2. The film is one of four documentaries about contemporary India debuting on HBO and HBO2 in November.

The others are: “Marathon Boy,” the story of a four-year-old marathon runner whose rags-to-riches saga morphs into a tale of greed, corruption and broken dreams, which debuted Nov. 3 on HBO; “The Bengali Detective,” a portrait of Rajesh Ji, who solves crimes in the city of Kolkata while following his dreams of being a professional dancer, debuting Nov. 16 on HBO2; and “Pink Saris,” profiling the unlikely female activists of Northern India’s Gulabi Gang, who battle violence against women, debuting Nov. 30 on HBO2.

At the center of The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical is 11-year-old Ashish, whose wide smile and optimism stand in sharp contrast to his family’s constricted slum shelter. He admits sometimes lacking confidence as he repeatedly writes and speaks the affirmation, “I will not be self-conscious,” but his natural charisma suggests he could go far, given the right opportunity.

Ashish’s greatest strength, like many of the street kids vying to make the cut, is the ability to look beyond his deplorable living conditions, remain positive during adversity, and continually seek a better life.

Now, Ashish has been tasked to perform a solo piece from “The Sound of Music” at Mumbai’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, normally inaccessible to the poor. He can’t help but attach dreams to the event, because he hopes to win the affections of an upper-class girl and inspire a patron to sponsor his education. With so many hopes riding on this single performance, the stakes are high.

The documentary captures the timeless international appeal of such tunes as “Do-Re-Mi” and “My Favorite Things.” For Ashish, “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” and “I Have Confidence” speak directly to his experience. Even in his challenging urban landscape, he can relate to the sentiments conveyed by the lyrics “Climb ev’ry mountain, ford ev’ry stream/Follow ev’ry rainbow, ‘til you find your dream.”

In telling his story, The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical never glosses over the difficulty of closing the gaps that lie between dreams and reality, rich and poor, but joyfully celebrates those who try. In addition to Ashish, The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical features Mangesh, Ashish’s best friend, who becomes jealous when Ashish is asked to be a soloist;

Nandini, a nine-year-old girl also given a solo, whose parents were once offered money by an American couple looking to adopt her and take her abroad; Kimberly, a well-spoken, supremely confident student at a posh Mumbai school, on whom Ashish develops a crush;

Johannes Steinwender, an Austrian music professor who has travelled to Mumbai to conduct the show; and Jini Dinshaw, the well-heeled founder of the Bombay Chamber Orchestra, who conceived the performance.

Notes Sarah McCarthy, the director, “Ashish has the sort of life force about him which makes him stand out. He’s ferociously intelligent and pretty much fearless.  In the first rehearsal all the kids were pretty scared, but not Ashish. He got so excited about singing the final note of ‘Do-Re-Me’ that he threw his hands in the air like some sort of evangelical preacher, which made Johannis, the conductor, notice him for the first time.

We’d always known he was going to be a character in the film, but when the conductor picked him to end the concert with ‘The Sound of Music,’ that pretty much secured his spot as the star.”

Sarah McCarthy made her directorial debut with “Murderers on the Dance Floor,” the story behind the YouTube clip of 1500 Filipino prisoners dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” which has been viewed by more than 43 million people. She also developed and produced the documentary “Black Widow Granny.”

The Sound of Mumbai: A Musical had its world premiere at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival and has a special screening at DOC NYC this Nov. 8.

Image Courtesy of   http://soundofmumbaimovie.com

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The concluding documentary in HBO and HBO2‘s month of documentaries about modern-day India is the story of women’s rights in rural India. As a young girl in rural India, Sampat Pal was married into a family where she was often beaten. But she fought back, leaving her in-laws and eventually becoming famous as a champion for beleaguered women throughout Uttar Pradesh.

The latest foray into the lives of extraordinary women from director Kim Longinotto (Rough Aunties), Pink Saris profiles the unlikely political activists of Northern India’s Gulabi Gang and their fearless leader, Sampat Pal, who battle antiquated caste traditions that produce lives of verbal, physical and sexual abuse. The moving documentary debuts November 30, exclusively on HBO2.

Sampat Pal is the leader of the Gulabi Gang (aka the Pink Gang), a vigilante group of women in Northern India distinguished by their distinctive bright pink saris. Like many other women, Pal was married as a young girl into a family that made her work hard and often beat her. Unlike most other Indian women, she overcame her problems to become an outspoken, self-described “messiah” for women.

Though domestic abuse is illegal in India, tradition and the caste system are steadfastly upheld by many, especially in the rural areas where the Pink Gang operates. By tradition, women are not allowed to live with their own parents once they are married, and are at the mercy of the husband’s family.

If a woman comes from a lower caste, she is often not allowed to marry a man of higher rank. Pal’s strategy is to expose abusive husbands, in-laws and other offenders by settling family matters out in the open, turning the tables on those who did the damage.

Among the women who see her and the Pink Gang as their only hope are Rekha, a 14-year-old homeless “untouchable” (the lowest caste, whose members are now known as Dalits) who is three months pregnant and unable to marry her unborn child’s father because of her low caste, and 15-year-old Renu, whose husband from an arranged marriage has abandoned her and whose father-in-law has been abusing her.

Pal says, “Forget tradition. Women won’t suffer in silence. They won’t keep quiet any more.” While Pink Saris highlights Sampat Pal’s strength and passion as a leader, as well as her unique way of resolving disputes, it also sheds light on her private troubles. Her partner, Babuji, who has watched Pal change over the years, is less certain about her high-profile methods.

Kim Longinotto, the world-renowned director of Pink Saris, has won awards at festivals worldwide, including the World Cinema Jury Prize in Documentary at Sundance for Rough Aunties, which aired on HBO2 in May 2010; a 2008 Peabody Award and two Cannes awards for Sisters in Law; and an Amnesty International DOEN Award at IDFA and Best Doc UK Spotlight at Hot Docs for The Day I Will Never Forget, which premiered at Sundance in 2003 and debuted on Cinemax that year.

The Museum of Modern Art honored her with a film retrospective of her body of work in 2009 and she received Hot Docs’ Outstanding Achievement Award in 2010.

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