Wilmington, U.S.A. – Cucalorus Film Festival released its official schedule of films this week from the headquarters at Jengo’s Playhouse in downtown Wilmington. Tickets went on sale to the public early Friday morning. The festival screens over 190 films from 15 different countries with programs focusing on dance, social justice, emerging filmmakers, music videos and North Carolina artists.

Cucalorus director Dan Brawley commented, “We’re really embracing the other art forms that have been built into the festival – our dance program is taking a big leap forward and our music video program has nearly tripled.”

‘A Royal Affair’ (a period drama set in 1760′s Denmark) and ‘Casting By’ (a documentary about legendary casting agent Marion Dougherty) headline the festival’s crowd-pleasing Magnolia program. Michael Mohan (whose short Ex-Sex played the festival last year) returns to Cucalorus with his edgy romantic comedy ‘Save the Date’. Jared Moshe’s indie western ‘Dead Man’s Burden’ features a standout performance from Barlow Jacobs as an estranged son who returns home to deal with the family estate after his father’s mysterious death.

Josh Koury’s heartwarming and hilarious documentary ‘Journey to Planet X’ follows two amateur sci-fi filmmakers as they struggle to step up their game and produce their next film. NC School of the Arts Graduate Nate Meyer’s feature ‘See Girl Run’, starring Robin Tunney and Adam Scott, tells the story of a woman who questions her marriage and seeks out her high school sweetheart to reignite her life.

The festival’s opening night event, Dance-a-lorus, will bring dancers and filmmakers together for a live-stage event. Durham-based filmmaker Jim Haverkamp will be the focus of this year’s North Carolina Retrospective, which includes a weeklong project called the Strange Beauty Challenge, a hands-on film making project where fifteen teams (spots are still available!) make an experimental short film in less than a week.

Visual Soundwalls, shorts blocks named after imaginary monsters, and too many moonshine moments to remember all find their way onto the jam packed Cucalorus schedule. The full schedule with links to purchase tickets can be found at www.cucalorus.org.

The Cucalorus Film Festival is sponsored in part by PNC Bank.

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Los Angeles, U.S.A — The First Annual San Pedro International Film Festival (SPIFFest) opens Friday, October 12, 2012 at the Warner Grand Theatre with a special screening of The Loneliest Planet, an award-winning independent film written and directed by Julia Loktev.

The riveting and daring love story, which stars Gael Garcia Bernal, Hani Furstenberg and Bidzina Gujabidze, is a winner of the Los Angeles AFI Fest “Grand Jury Prize,” the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival’s “The Golden Lady Award” and the International Istanbul Film Festival’s “Golden Tulip Award.”

Special opening night guests include producer Felicia D. Henderson (“Everybody Hates Chris,” “Fringe,” “Soul Food: The Series”), director/actor Rockmond Dunbar (“Prison Break,” “Sons of Anarchy”), actors Golden Brooks (“The Great Divide,” “Hart of Dixie”), Brea Bee (“Breaking In,” “Nikki” in Silver Linings Playbook), andVeronica Milagro (“Gundown”); songwriter/producer Janet Cole Valdez (“Gladiator,” “The Young and the Restless”), and celebrity sculptor Joan Banks, along with prominent business and community leaders. Red carpet arrivals begin at 7:00 p.m., followed by the screening at 8:00 p.m. Tickets to the event and passes to both opening and closing night parties can be purchased online.

SPIFFest was founded to celebrate the city’s diverse culture and contributions to the cinematic arts by providing audiences with unique, independent films from around the world that both inspire and entertain. Following the festival, organizers plan to launch several youth-oriented community programs with a focus on filmmaking.

“For decades, San Pedro’s long history of film production has played a vital role in making Los Angelesthe creative capital of the world,” said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. “The San PedroInternational Film Festival is a welcome celebration of the City’s creative spirit and unique filmmakers both locally and internationally.”

Many highly acclaimed major motion pictures have been filmed in San Pedro, including King Kong,Chinatown, Point Break, Silence of the Lambs, The Usual Suspects, Pearl Harbor , Pirates of the Caribbean, Titanic and 500 Days of Summer. The city has also been a popular shooting location for TV shows such as NCIS, Mad Men and Dexter.

SPFFest screenings will continue on Saturday with more new feature films, documentaries, short films and student works. The festival will close Sunday, October 14 with a screening of the Silver Linings Playbook, winner of the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival Audience Award.

Festival sponsors include San Pedro Business Improvement District (PBID), Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council, The Friends of the Croatian Cultural Center, Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles, San Pedro Convention & Visitors Bureau, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Monster Energy Drink, Kind Healthy Snacks, San Pedro Today, Script Pipeline, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and Experience San Pedro.

The Warner Grand Theatre and Croatian Cultural Center of Greater Los Angeles are facilities of the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

About SPIFFest

San Pedro International Film Festival’s mission is to celebrate the city’s cultural diversity and film production history. SPIFFest provides audiences with extraordinary films from new local and international filmmakers that educate, enlighten and entertain. We also support community programs that help young filmmakers develop the skills needed to achieve their aspirations.

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She will turn 33 in a few weeks (and a happy birthday to her!), but Sarah Polley has accomplished more already than many people can as a group –she has the awards, and lost two teeth, to prove it. Many audiences know her work as an actress; many know she has directed; some know she has written films (writers are often unsung); some might know she can sing too.

And soon, she will be a mother. She has another of her babies, her directed film, ‘Take This Waltz,’ touring international film festivals this year. The Canadian star has been nominated for over two dozen awards, and has won nearly half of them. One of these nominations was for her performance in the 1988 TV series, ‘Ramona,’ when she was eight, four years after she had begun her film career.

Last year, Ms. Polley received a star on ‘Canada’s Walk of Fame,’ which celebrates successful Canadians. Some of her time has been spent as a political activist, fighting for Canada’s leftist party and campaigning for such causes as health-care, the homeless and the arts. In 1995, two of her teeth were knocked out in a skirmish with riot police.

In 1991, Ms. Polley, only twelve, wore a peace sign to protest the first Gulf War; Disney executives were denied their request to remove it and, despite her success in the highly popular ‘Road to Avonlea,’ blacklisted her.

The list of directors with whom she has worked reveals the artistically subversive company she keeps: Terry Gilliam, Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, Kathryn Bigelow, Zack Snyder, and Wim Wenders, to name a few. The range of styles is equally impressive: (voice-acting) the Canadian children’s-classic, ‘Babar: the Movie’ (1989); the haunting ‘Exotica’ (1994); the tragic ‘The Sweet Hereafter’ (1997); the horror ‘Dawn of the Dead’ (2004); the comedy ‘Slings & Arrows’ (2006); and the sci-fi thriller ‘Splice’ (2009).

She can sing, too. In ‘The Sweet Hereafter’ she sings three songs, one of which she co-wrote and is featured as the title track. Ms. Polley has also written a number of short films, and wrote and directed ‘Away from Her’(2006), starring Julie Christie and compatriot Gordon Pinsent.

The film received an Academy Award nomination in 2008, and was awarded the Canadian equivalent, The Genie Award, for Best Achievement in Direction –she was the first woman to win this. Her latest film, ‘Take This Waltz,’ stars Michelle Williams, Sarah Silverman and another Canadian, Seth Rogen. It has already received a nomination for a festival Best-Picture award. Ms. Polley will be very busy indeed.

Entertainment Press / Shutterstock.com

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