FESTIVAL DRAWS UNPRECEDENTED CROWDS AND CRITICAL RAVES

HOUSTON – Having just wrapped the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston, Executive Director Trish Rigdon reported early estimates for attendance exceeding 10,000 people – setting an unprecedented record for the festival dedicated to films by and about performing, visual and literary artists. In just its third year in existence, Cinema Arts Festival Houston (CAFH) drew standing room only crowds at screenings, a continuous wave of foot traffic at eye-popping installations – dubbed Cinema on the Verge – and scores of enthusiastic supporters at live performances and events throughout the city over the 5-day period of the festival.

Opening night on Nov. 9, 2011 set the tone for this year’s unrivaled success with the regional premiere of Downtown Express, accompanied by director David Grubin and the film’s star, the brilliant Russian-American violinist Philippe Quint. The Brown Auditorium at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston drew a crowd of more than 300, who were treated post-screening to Quint’s live performance of two numbers, including Tchaikovsky Melody and a stunning rendition of It Ain’t Necessarily So.

The line up of international artists, cutting edge filmmakers, and A-list talent (in the form of Ethan Hawke and Texas-based director Richard Linklater) proved to be as alluring to festival participants as to festival-goers. “One of the nicest aspects of this year’s festival was the camaraderie among the guest artists and the pleasure they took in experiencing each other’s films and Houston’s hospitality,” said CAFH Artistic Director Richard Herskowitz.

Indeed, Shakespeare High producer Brad Koepenick echoed that sentiment following the debut of his award-winning documentary. “As an actor and filmmaker, I’ve been to dozens of festivals, including Toronto, Sundance and Tribeca, but what sets Cinema Arts Festival Houston apart is its unique array of international films and artists, its exceptional vision of blending live performance and film and its dedication to providing ‘an experience’ for both the festival participants and the audience at large.” When charter and arts students were brought in from four different schools around the city to see Koepenick’s documentary on teen actors, he said “I can honestly say that after debuting clips at The Kennedy Center, premiering the film at Tribeca and finding theatrical distribution, this was a high point for the film this year and for me personally.”

From fascinating conversations with legendary Latin American director Patricio Guzman and Braden King’s unforgettable presentation of Here: The Story Never Sleeps, to the joyous responses to Trimpin’s interactive installations and the articulate and genuine presence of Ethan Hawke, the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston was a perfect storm of programming – complete with a storybook ending.

As over 3,000 people converged on Miller Outdoor Theatre for the festivities surrounding the world debut of Art Car: The Movie, co-director Carlton Ahrens confirmed, “It was an overwhelmingly positive experience and such an honor that we were chosen to be a part of it. It’s such a cool thing to have a free showing for thousands of people to come out and see.”

Ahrens’ business partner and co-director Ford Gunter summed it up this way: “The entire festival was a whirlwind of incredible screenings, panels and interactive installations. It’s a huge thrill and honor to be part of it, surrounded by peers we hold in high, high regard. The entire event, from the guest artists to the volunteer corps, could not have been more friendly and helpful in just about every way.

Contact: Mark Sullivan / Ashley Wehrly
On the Mark Communications
713-978-5050
mark@onthemarkcom.com
ashley@onthemarkcom.com

Festival Line Up Includes Regional Premieres of Acclaimed Fall Releases The Artist, Coriolanus and A Dangerous Method

HOUSTON – Austin native, Ethan Hawke, whose career has spanned theater and film acting and directing as well as novel writing, will present his latest film, The Woman in the Fifth, for the first time in Houston at the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston. Hawke will receive the Levantine Cinema Arts Award from the festival, honoring his multifaceted career in the arts, which started at age 14.The screening at the Museum of Fine Arts Brown Auditorium on Saturday, November 12 at 7 PM will be followed by a conversation on his multifaceted career, moderated by film teacher and critic Joe Leydon.  If that is not enough, Hawke’s good friend, famed director of Slacker and Dazed and Confused, Richard Linklater will join Hawke the following day for a tenth anniversary screening of their 2001 collaboration, Tape, on November 13 at 1 PM at Edwards Greenway Grand Palace.  Also premiering in Texas at the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston are three major upcoming releases: the award-winning and critically acclaimed The Artist, Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus, and David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method.

Artistic Director Richard Herskowitz comments: “We’re thrilled to be bringing Ethan Hawke here with his close friend and collaborator, Rick Linklater. Linklater’sTape was a breakthrough performance for Hawke, and his phenomenal growth as an actor is on ample display in his new psychological thriller, The Woman in the Fifth. Rick Linklater launched our festival in 2009 with the opening night screening of Me and Orson Welles, and has been a supportive member of our honorary board ever since.”

Hawke is best known for his breakthrough supporting role in Dead Poets Society, in which he appeared alongside Robin Williams in 1989. Shortly thereafter, a movie that took place in Houston gained him critical acclaim – 1994’s Generation X drama, Reality Bites. A year later, he starred in Linklater’s romantic drama Before Sunrise, and later in the 2004 sequel Before Sunset. In 2001, Hawke was cast as a rookie police officer in Training Day, for which he received a Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category. Other films have included the science fiction feature Gattaca (1997), the title role in Michael Almereyda’s Hamlet (2000), the action thriller Assault on Precinct 13 (2005), and the crime drama Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007).

In addition, Hawke has appeared in many theater productions including The Seagull, Henry IV, Hurlyburly, The Cherry Orchard, The Winter’s Tale and The Coast of Utopia, for which he earned a Tony Award nomination. He made his directorial debut with the 2002 independent feature Chelsea Walls. In November 2007 Hawke directed his first play, Jonathan Marc Sherman’s Things We Want. Aside from acting, he has written two novels, The Hottest State (1996) and Ash Wednesday (2002).

Hawke’s film, The Woman in the Fifth – a thriller based on Douglas Kennedy’s novel – is directed by Pawel Pawlikowski and co-stars Kristin Scott Thomas. Hawke plays American writer Tom Ricks, who comes to Paris desperate to put his life together again and win back the love of his estranged wife and daughter. When things don’t go according to plan, he ends up in a shady hotel in the suburbs, having to work as a night guard to make ends meet. Then Margit (played by Thomas), a beautiful, mysterious stranger walks into his life and things start looking up. Their passionate and intense relationship triggers a string of inexplicable events… as if an obscure power was taking control of his life. Following the screening of The Woman in the Fifth, Joe Leydon will host a Q&A with Hawke, diving into the breadth of the actor/director/novelist’s career.

Finally, as part of the festivities surrounding Hawke’s appearance at the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston, Hawke will receive the 2^nd Annual Levantine Cinema Arts Award, which honors a leading actor, director, or other creative artist who has stretched the boundaries of cinematic expression throughout an illustrious film career. The award is sponsored by Levantine Entertainment, a new motion picture development, financing and production company aiming to provide U.S. and worldwide audiences with high quality, socially conscious, and character-driven films.

Pamela Powers, president of Levantine Entertainment and a board member of the Houston Cinema Arts Society, comments, “Along with Cinema Arts Festival Houston, Levantine Entertainment seeks out filmmakers with wide-ranging artistic talents. Ethan Hawke’s impressive ventures in theater and literature, in addition to his well-known film acting, make him a perfect Levantine Cinema Arts Award recipient.”

Coriolanus is an action film about a banished hero of Rome who allies with a sworn enemy to take his revenge on the city. It is a 2011 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy of the same name directed by and starring Ralph Fiennes, who makes his directorial debut with this film. Shot mostly in Belgrade, Serbia, Coriolanus also features Gerard Butler and Vanessa Redgrave, among others. The film premiered Out of Competition at the 61^st Berlin International Film Festival in February 2011 and it opened the 2011 Belgrade International Film Festival. It was also shown at the 2011 Hollywood Film Festival as well as the Toronto International Film Festival, where the audience gave it a standing ovation. Coriolanus will be release in U.S. by The Weinstein Company later this year.

A Dangerous Method is based on the turbulent relationships between fledgling psychiatrist Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender), his mentor Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen) and Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley), the troubled but beautiful young woman who comes between them. Directed by David Cronenberg, the screenplay was adapted by Academy Award-winning writer Christopher Hampton from his 2002 stage play The Talking Cure, itself based on the 1993 non-fiction book by John Kerr, A Most Dangerous Method. The film premiered at The 68th Venice Film Festival, and made its U.S. Premier at the Telluride Film Festival in Telluride, CO on Labor Day weekend. A Dangerous Method is distributed by Sony Pictures Classics in the U.S. and will open in New York and Los Angeles on Nov. 23, with other cities following.

Spirited and delightful, The Artist is a director Michel Hazanavicius’ playful love letter to the movies’ early days and is a variation on an A Star Is Born-like relationship between a dashing Douglas Fairbanks-style star (Jean Dujardin) whose career wanes with the coming of sound and a dazzling young actress (Berenice Bejo) whose popularity skyrockets at the same time. Dujardin won the Best Actor Award at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where the film premiered.  The film just recently received the audience award at the 2011 Hamptons Film Festival and the Founders Award at the Chicago International Film Festival. The Independent in London reports that, “The Artist is a film of extraordinary visual zest, humour and pathos…” With James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller and John Goodman as a definitive cigar-chomping studio boss.The Weinstein Company will be releasing The Artist in the U.S. in late November, in good time to position it for the Oscar race.

As previously announced, the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston also will feature many live musical and artistic performances, ranging from virtuoso violinist Philippe Quint to multimedia artist Miwa Matreyek. Additionally, the festival will feature several International films and guests, including such notables as Patricio Guzman (Chile), Zhu Wen (China) and Mahmoud Kaabour (Lebanon). This year’s festival highlights Texas films and filmmakers more than ever, screening Natural Selection by Houston native, Robbie Pickering and Art Car: The Movie. Further, the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston will screen its first 3D movie, PINA, a dance film by great German director, Wim Wenders, the famed director of Houston-filmed Paris, Texas.

The 2011 festival is scheduled to take place in Houston from Nov. 9 to 13. Cinema Arts Festival Houston capitalizes on the city’s status as an international art city, collaborating with many of Houston’s museums, art centers, theaters, and cultural institutions.  Works are shown not only in traditional theatrical venues but also via interactive video installations, live music and film performances, and outdoor projections. Past festivals have featured guests Isabella Rossellini, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro, Richard Linklater, Alex Gibney, and Shirley MacLaine. The 2010 festival drew thousands of film enthusiasts and art lovers spread among over 40 screenings and events.

The full schedule and tickets to the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston are available on the HCAS website at http://cinemartsociety.org.

ABOUT HOUSTON CINEMA ARTS SOCIETY (HCAS)
Houston Cinema Arts Society is a non-profit organization created in 2008. With the support of former Houston Mayor Bill White and the leadership of Franci Crane, HCAS organized and hosted the 2009 and 2010 Cinema Arts Festival Houston, a groundbreaking and innovative film and multimedia arts festival featuring films and new media by and about artists in the visual, performing, and literary arts. The festival celebrates the vitality and diversity of the arts in Houston and enriches the city’s film and arts community. In addition, this project is supported in part by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts, Houston First Corporation and funded in part by a grant from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance. The third annual Cinema Arts Festival Houston will be held Nov. 9-13, 2011. For more information, please visit HCAS at www.cinemartsociety.org.

Contact: Mark Sullivan / Ashley Wehrly
On the Mark Communications
713-978-5050
mark@onthemarkcom.com
ashley@onthemarkcom.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 18, 2011

HOUSTON – The 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston will showcase its largest selection of Texas programs, including, narrative and documentary shorts and features and a panel discussion. While the festival’s contingent of Texas films has been building every year since its inception, this category has naturally become a substantial component of the Houston celebration of film and the arts. One of the six Texas-based programs in this year’s festival, Natural Selection, swept seven awards at the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival, and was directed by Houston native, Robbie Pickering. Pickering will appear with the film on Sunday, November 13^th at Edwards Greenway Grand Palace.

After leaving Houston for New York, Pickering received his undergraduate degree at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. During his time at Tisch, he wrote and directed two short films, both of which won the Student Film Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival in their respective years. Pickering is the first and only participant in the nearly twenty-year history of the festival to win the student award twice. In his feature film directorial debut, Pickering and his comedy, Natural Selection garnered seven awards at the 2011 South by Southwest Film Festival, including Grand Jury and Audience Awards for Best Narrative Feature and Breakthrough Performance for Rachael Harris and Matt O’Leary.

Natural Selection is the story of Linda White, a devoted Christian housewife, who leads a sheltered and childless existence in suburban Texas. Her world is turned upside-down when Linda discovers that her husband has a 23-year old illegitimate son, Raymond, living in Florida. Linda sets out on a quixotic journey to find him and reunite him with his father; along the way she develops a tender and surprising relationship with Raymond that forces her to come to terms with her past and rethink her future.

Another marquee screening that will take place as part of the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston is Echotone, a documentary directed by Nathan Christ and photographed by Robert Garza. Showing at River Oaks Theater on Thursday, Nov. 10, Echotone is a cultural portrait of a modern American city examined through the lyrics and lens of its creative class. Internationally known as “The Live Music Capital of the World,” Austin’s music culture has led it to become a leading cultural destination. Yet working musicians and their environments are being trampled by high-rises and upscale developments. This lyrical documentary provides a telescopic view into the lives of Austin’s vibrant young musicians as they grapple with questions of artistic integrity, commercialism, experimentation, and the future of their beloved city.

One such musician who appears in Echotone is Dana Falconberry, an Austin artist who has been hailed by the Austin Chronicle as one of the city’s “most promising singer-songwriters” and “most arresting female vocalists.” Falconberry will bring her musical talent to Houston, playing live for the audience at River Oaks Theater following a Q&A.

Also taking place during the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston is the Texas Filmmakers Showcase, in partnership with the Houston Film Commission (HFC).  Each year, this showcase of Texas’ finest short films is presented to executives in the Hollywood film community, with subsequent screenings around Texas throughout the rest of the year. The selection committee is a cross-section of film industry professionals from outside the state of Texas. This year’s program of short films includes 8 by Julie Gould and Daniel Laabs, Fatakra by Soham Mehta, The Man Who Never Cried by Bradley Jackson, Sasquatch Birth Journal by David and Nathan Zellner, and more. The Texas Filmmakers Showcase will take place on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 3:45 pm at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Brown Auditorium.

Another partnership with the Houston Film Commission is a panel discussion focusing on filmmakers from the Bayou City who recently premiered their feature documentaries or will premiere a film at the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston. “Meet the Makers” includes Jena Moreno, director of Stitched, a documentary that follows three quilters racing to complete their entries for the International Quilt Festival in Houston, the largest quilt show in the nation; Ford Gunter and Carlton Ahrens, co-directors of Art Car: The Movie, which will premiere on the closing night of the festival; and Alex Luster, director of Stick ‘Em Up. Moderated by Alex Cervantes from the HFC, the panel will discuss what they learned and what to look out for in bringing a feature documentary to completion. They will share stories about hanging with art car builders, illegal street artists and cutthroat competitive quilters.

“Where I’m From” is another showcase of Texas film offerings at this year’s festival and will take place at Rice Cinema on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 3:00 PM. The “2011 Where I’m From Short Film Contest,” cosponsored by Texas Monthly and the Austin Film Festival, gave Texas filmmakers a chance to depict the places they’re from, in ten minutes or less. The program at Rice will screen the 11 best submissions, proving that in Texas, cities and towns are more than just locations on a map; these places are part of who we are and how we define ourselves.

As previously announced, Art Car: The Movie will make its world premiere and conclude the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston and round out the Texas films. Directed by former journalist Ford Gunter and Carlton Ahrens, this new documentary follows a handful of local artists as they prepare their entries for the granddaddy of them all, the 2010 Houston Art Car Parade. With almost 300 entrants and more than 300,000 spectators, the Art Car Parade in Houston is the biggest in the world, and attracts talent from across the globe. Gunter and Ahrens traveled across the U.S. and the world talking to artists, critics and academics to figure out where art cars fit in the art world and define the car’s place in American culture and as a reflection of self. With 250-plus hours of footage of more than 50 artists, experts, politicians and celebrities, including 2010 Grand Marshal Dan Akyroyd, 2010 participant Larry the Cable Guy and past Grand Marshal George Clinton, Art Car: The Movie tells the classic American story of the quintessential form of public art.

Along with an outdoor festival of music, art and live entertainment, Art Car: The Movie will screen on Sunday, Nov. 13 at Miller Outdoor Theater in Hermann Park.

As previously announced, the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston also will feature many live musical and artistic performances, ranging from virtuoso violinist Philippe Quint to multimedia artist Miwa Matreyek. Further, the festival will feature many international films and guests, including such notables as Patricio Guzman (Chile), Zhu Wen (China) and Mahmoud Kaabour (Lebanon). Further, the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston will screen its first 3D movie, PINA, a dance film by great German director, Wim Wenders, the famed director of Houston-filmed Paris, Texas.

The 2011 festival is scheduled to take place in Houston from Nov. 9 to 13. Cinema Arts Festival Houston capitalizes on the city’s status as an international art city, collaborating with many of Houston’s museums, art centers, theaters, and cultural institutions.  Works are shown not only in traditional theatrical venues but also via interactive video installations, live music and film performances, and outdoor projections. Past festivals have featured guests Isabella Rossellini, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro, Richard Linklater, Alex Gibney, and Shirley MacLaine. The 2010 festival drew thousands of film enthusiasts and art lovers spread among over 40 screenings and events.

In addition to the films and international guests announced here, the festival will unveil its complete program, including major new releases and special guests, on Oct. 17 at a special event at The Grove. The full schedule and tickets to the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston will be available on the HCAS website at http://cinemartsociety.org on Oct. 18.

ABOUT HOUSTON CINEMA ARTS SOCIETY (HCAS)
Houston Cinema Arts Society is a non-profit organization created in 2008. With the support of former Houston Mayor Bill White and the leadership of Franci Crane, HCAS organized and hosted the 2009 and 2010 Cinema Arts Festival Houston, a groundbreaking and innovative film and multimedia arts festival featuring films and new media by and about artists in the visual, performing, and literary arts. The festival celebrates the vitality and diversity of the arts in Houston and enriches the city’s film and arts community. In addition, this project is supported in part by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts, Houston First Corporation and funded in part by a grant from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance. The third annual Cinema Arts Festival Houston will be held Nov. 9-13, 2011. For more information, please visit HCAS at www.cinemartsociety.org.

Contact: Mark Sullivan / Ashley Wehrly
On the Mark Communications
713-978-5050
mark@onthemarkcom.com
ashley@onthemarkcom.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 14, 2011

Thursday, March 1, 2012
Private Reception with Christy Turlington Burns

Reception 6:00 PM at Samba Grill
Screening  7:00 PM at Sundance Cinemas

RSVP by e-mail to skcarrol@texaschildrens.org
or by phone at 832-824-2669

HOUSTON – Cinema Arts Festival Houston will screen a 3D dance film by a great German director as part of its 2011 selections during the November 9-13 festival. Made by Wim Wenders, the famed director of Houston-filmed Paris, Texas, PINA is part of an expanded lineup of international films. The festival is also bringing three major international directors to present works in the festival—Patricio Guzmán (Chile), Zhu Wen (China), and Mahmoud Kaabour (Lebanon).

PINA is a sensual, visually stunning journey of discovery into a new dimension: straight onto the stage with the legendary Tanz theater Wuppertal Pina Bausch ensemble. It features the unique and inspiring art of the great German choreographer Pina Bausch, who passed away in the summer of 2009.

“PINA is such a beautiful and moving film, and a wonderful testament to this great artist,” said Richard Herskowitz, artistic director. “We are excited to have PINA as our first ever 3D showing, because Wim Wenders utilizes 3D to such powerful effect, transporting the audience into Pina Bauschʼs world.”

PINA includes – in addition to excerpts from the four productions of “Café Müller”, “Le Sacre duprintemps”, “Vollmond” and “Kontakthof” – carefully selected archival footage of the legendary choreographer at work, innovatively inserted in the 3D world of the film as a third element, with many imaginative, short solo performances by the dancers of the ensemble. To achieve this, Wenders used Bausch’s own method of “questioning,” with which the choreographer developed her productions. She posed questions and her dancers answered not in words, but with improvised dance and body language. Wenders turned to this method when he invited the dancers to express their memories of Bausch in individual solo performances, filming these innumerous locations in and around Wuppertal.

The festival is also bringing three international filmmakers who will, thanks to the miracle of air travel, appear in live, physical “3D” before and after their screenings. The festival, in collaboration with Rice Cinema, is honored to bring to Houston the great Chilean director Patricio Guzmán. Guzmán is coming to the festival to launch a five-part retrospective highlighting the wide-ranging intellectual explorations of his work, called Patricio Guzmánʼs Universe: Reflections on Art, Science, Religion and History. Guzman will engage in dialogues with scholars in literature, religion, and astronomy during the series first three screenings as part of the Cinema Arts Festival Houston on Nov. 10, 11, and 12. The retrospective will continue at the Rice Cinema Nov. 18 and 19. The schedule is as follows:

November 10: The Southern Cross
November1 1: Robinson Crusoe Island and My Jules Verne
November 12: Nostalgia for the Light
November 18: A Village Fading Away and Madrid
November 19: Chile, the Obstinate Memory

Guzmán is best known for his politically engaged documentaries on the Allende era in Chile. Over the past forty years, he has catalogued, with great passion and artistry, the cataclysmic effects of the Pinochet coup that overthrew the democratically elected Socialist president Salvador Allende. Guzmán began his career in 1971, documenting Allendeʼs sweeping social reforms, but was forced to leave Chile for Europe where he completed The Battle of Chile, Parts 1-3 (1975-1979), considered by many a documentary masterpiece. Guzmán has returned to the events of 1973 and their aftermath several times throughout his career while also expanding his field of inquiry to explore the very natures of cinema, history and memory.

Guzmánʼs latest masterwork, Nostalgia for the Light, invokes astronomy, archeology, and history while examining the motives of people drawn to Chileʼs Atacama Desert, and has drawn cinephilesʼ attention to the broad range of Guzmánʼs intellectual explorations. The festivalʼs retrospective highlights Guzmánʼs expansive interests. For example, The Southern Cross explores the encounter of indigenous and western religions in Latin America, while My Jules Verne and Robinson Crusoe Island spring from Guzmánʼs childhood fascination with literary adventures.

Besides Guzmán, Zhu Wen and Mahmoud Kaabour also will attend the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston. Wen, a native of the Fujian Province in China, is an accomplished screenwriter and director who made his directorial debut with Seafood, which won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2001 Venice Film Festival. His second film, South of the Clouds, was awarded the NETPAC Prize at the 2004 Berlin Film Festival. Wen is also a well-known writer in China, a leader of the rebellious “Rupture” (Duanlie) writersʼ movement whose short story collection, I Love Dollars, was translated and published in the U.S. by Columbia University Press in 2007.

Wenʼs culture-clash, pseudo science-fiction comedy, Thomas Mao, will be featured at the festival on Saturday, Nov. 12 at Edwards Cinema. This playful narrative features “Thomas,” a European artist, played by an art curator from Luxembourg, and “Mao,” a Chinese farmer, played by famous artist Mao Yan. Through their close, often contentious relationship, Wen explores themes of friendship, artistic integrity, tradition vs. modernity and the mysterious balance between dueling realities.

Mahmoud Kaabourʼs Grandma, A Thousand Times is a poignant, magical realist documentary that depicts an amazing old woman – the widow of A Lebanese violinist – filmed by a talented grandson who evokes for her the presence of her late husband. The movie follows the 83-year old matriarch of the Kaabour family – the sharp-witted queen bee of an old Beiruti quarter. It documents her larger-than-life character as she struggles to cope with the silence of her once-buzzing house and imagines what awaits her beyond death. Meanwhile, her beloved violinist husband, who has been deceased for 20 years, is both an essential absence and presence. His features manifest through the face of their filmmaker grandson while his previously unpublished violin improvisations weave through her world and that of the film.

Kaabour, jointly hosted by the festival and Levantine Entertainment, will accompany the film on Friday, Nov. 11. An award-winning filmmaker and writer from Beirut, Lebanon, Kaabourʼs first documentary Being Osama was labeled the quintessential film about the Arab Diaspora, receiving four international awards to date and playing on 12 international channels. Grandma, A Thousand Times won the Audience Choice award and a Special Jury prize at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival 2010.

Other confirmed works from around the globe at 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston include the following:

Unfinished Spaces
Following their emotional exile from Cuba in 1965, three architects return forty years later to finish what was considered the world’s most spectacular and futuristic art school, which was left to ruin by the country’s Revolution. The documentary features intimate footage of Fidel Castro, showing his devotion to creating a worldwide showcase for art, and it also documents the struggle and passion of three revolutionary artists. Unfinished Spaces, which premiered at the 2011 Los Angeles Film Festival, is directed by Alysa Nahmias and Benjamin Murray, and will be accompanied at the festival by Murray.

Flowers of Evil
In this timely feature debut from France, filmmaker David Dusa introduces us to the apolitical Gecko, a talented French-Algerian parkour dancer promoting himself via YouTube, and Anahita, an exiled Iranian girl who is so obsessed with staying on top of the protests in her homeland via the web that it threatens her fledgling relationship. Set in Paris, the movie also follows the doughs passionate and rootless love affair grounded in small acts of protest.

Free Radicals: A History of Experimental Film
In this personal documentary essay, France-based/American born director Pip Chodorov, who will visit Houston for this screening, examines the lives and work of such experimental luminaries as Hans Richter, Michael Snow, Peter Kubelka, Stan Brakhage and the godfather of the New American Cinema, Jonas Mekas. Chodorovʼs film is a tribute to these influential yet struggling artists, many of whom are longtime friends, who created this often misunderstood area of non-commercial filmmaking. For those unfamiliar with names like Mekas and Brakhage,the documentary provides an excellent introduction.

As previously announced, the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston also will feature many live musical and artistic performances, ranging from virtuoso violinist Philippe Quint to multimedia artist Miwa Matreyek. Further, the closing night film is the world premiere of Art Car: The Movie (2011) on Sunday, Nov. 13 at Miller Outdoor Theater in Hermann Park.

The 2011 festival is scheduled to take place in Houston from Nov. 9 to 13. Cinema Arts Festival Houston capitalizes on the cityʼs status as an international art city, collaborating with many of Houston’s museums, art centers, theaters, and cultural institutions. Works are shown not only in traditional theatrical venues but also via interactive video installations, live music and film performances, and outdoor projections. Past festivals have featured guests Isabella Rossellini, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro, Richard Linklater, Alex Gibney, and Shirley MacLaine. The 2010 festival drew thousands of film enthusiasts and art lovers spread among over 40 screenings and events.

In addition to the films and international guests announced here, the festival will announce its exciting roster of premieres as well as talent in the coming weeks, culminating with an unveiling of the complete program, including major new releases and special guests, on Oct. 18. The full schedule and tickets to the 2011 Cinema Arts Festival Houston will be available on the HCAS website at http://cinemartsociety.org on Oct. 18 as well.

ABOUT HOUSTON CINEMA ARTS SOCIETY (HCAS)

Houston Cinema Arts Society is a non-profit organization created in 2008. With the support of former Houston Mayor Bill White and the leadership of Franci Crane, HCAS organized and hosted the 2009 and 2010 Cinema Arts Festival Houston, a groundbreaking and innovative film and multimedia arts festival featuring films and new media by and about artists in the visual,performing, and literary arts. The festival celebrates the vitality and diversity of the arts in Houston and enriches the cityʼs film and arts community. HCAS is funded in part by the Crane Foundation, The Brown Foundation, Inc., Houston Arts Alliance through the City of Houston,Houston Film Commission and Texas Film Commission. The third annual Cinema Arts Festival Houston will be held Nov. 9-13, 2011. For more information, please visit HCAS at www.cinemartsociety.org.

Contact: Mark Sullivan / Ashley Wehrly
On the Mark Communications
713-978-5050
mark@onthemarkcom.com
ashley@onthemarkcom.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 8, 2011