Now Playing at 2009 Film Festivals: Tribute to Spike Lee, First Sign Language Feature!

Film Festival Events happening this week in May 2009 take place in Florida, Washington and Toronto. Spike Lee is in the mix at one of them while the film festival world and movie lovers alike celebrate the first ever sign language feature film.

1. Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle, Washington
Dates: Starts tomorrow on Thursday May 21, 2009 and runs through Sunday June 14, 2009.

The website for Seattle International Film Festival states that it will "present the Golden Space Needle Award for Outstanding Achievement in Directing to Spike Lee in recognition of his extraordinary filmmaking career".

2. Delray Beach Film Festival
Delray Beach, Florida
Dates: Started Yesterday and runs through Sunday May 24, 2009.

One of the featured films at the Delray Beach Film Festival include BAGHDAD DIARY, which plays today at 5:00pm.

Bside Description for BAGHDAD DIARY:
Baghdad Diary' is a documentary on the Iraq War and its aftermath from two unique perspectives: an Iraqi man and his family struggling to survive and an American television cameraman embedded at the frontlines with the US Army. In March 2003, a Norwegian journalist smuggled a video camcorder into Iraq for Fadil Kadom, a 36 year-old Iraqi taxi driver. Kadom videotapes everything he sees: his family's preparations for war, the days of bombs and missiles, Baghdad's fall and the horrific explosion of insurgent and sectarian violence. Embedded with the Third Infantry Division in Kuwait, NBC News cameraman Craig White and correspondent David Bloom, bring the war into American living rooms, live from a television transmission vehicle, the 'Bloommobile', as they race toward Baghdad. 'Baghdad Diary' is Fadil Kadom's and Craig White's story, videotaped by each of them at great personal risk.

Fadil Kadom's video diary unmasks the horrors of Saddam's torture houses and mass graves, celebrates the return of religious freedom in Karbala, and reveals the mounting fear as Iraqi streets turn deadly. In nine dangerous trips to Iraq, Craig White's camera rides side by side in combat with American soldiers as they fight their way through Iraq, and witness to the disintergration of Iraqi civil society. Numerous emotional and graphic scenes include the death of NBC colleague David Bloom, and the ambush at Objective Curly, a battle so fierce that Craig White thought he would not survive. This documentary is their 'Baghdad Diary', a cautionary tale of war's human toll.

3. Toronto International Deaf Film and Arts Festival
Toronto, Ontario
Dates: Starts tomorrow on Thursday May 21, 2009 and runs through Saturday May 23, 2009.

The 2009 Toronto International Deaf Film and Arts Festival will be screening the film Universal Signs (captioned for the hearing in subtitles) during it's Opening Night Gala. Doors Open at 5:30p.m. with a Wine & Cheese Reception. The Universal Signs Screening starts at 7:30 with a Post Show Q&A with Stars from the film.

Film Description for the Universal Signs movie:
Universal Signs (Pictured at the Beginning of this post) is a modern silent film told in mesmerizing American Sign Language (ASL) and captioned for the hearing. After the death of his (Natale as "Andrew") fiancee's daughter, who dies in his care because he couldn't hear her drowning, Andrew a Deaf man shuts himself off from the world. Haunted by memories, it is only through a new friendship that he can learn to forgive, love and reconnect.

Universal Signs starring Canadian actors Anthony Natale (Mr. Holland's Opus, Jerry Maguire) and Sabrina Lloyd (Sports Nights) directed by Ann Calamia and produced by Calamia, Catherine Miller and Lupe Ontiveros is the first full-length Sign Language film in history, according to a press release for the 2009 Toronto International Deaf Film and Arts Festival.

Coming up next on the Madlab Post....A Film Festival goer reviews movies and events from Oklahoma!

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Now Playing at 2009 Film Festivals: Bon Jovi and Retro Horror!

There are a few film festivals and movie screening information to check out this week in April. From New York to Boston to Texas, there are a number of opportunities to meet other movie lovers and maybe even some cool celebrities at these 2009 Film festivals. Movies in the rest of this post include a cool behind the scenes peek at Bon Jovi, Movies that Show Auto based Art and more.

Now Playing at 2009 Film Festivals this week in April:

1. The Tribeca Film Festival (Starts Today!) will be showing over a dozen movies including Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful. This year, the Tribeca Film Festival will run from Wednesday April 22, 2009 to Sunday May 3, 2009. Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful is a feature length documentary about John Bon Jovi's band and what makes the rock star angry. Bon Jovi: When We Were Beautiful also features behind the scenes footage from the band during their world tour. American Casino and The House of the Devil are two of many other movies showing at The Tribeca Film Festival.

Also a documentary like the Bon Jovi flick, American Casino shows how everyday Americans have funded casinos in a manner that they may not be aware of. The synopsis for American Casino explains it well: "This film finally explains how and why over $8 trillion of our money vanished into the American Casino. Filmed over twelve months in 2008, American Casino takes you inside a game that our grandchildren never wanted to play". The House of the Devil (Pictured above) is about one babysitting job that turns into a nightmare. The main character becomes the center of satanic rituals in this supernatural horror film. You may be familiar with The House of the Devil's director Ti West. He is best known for directing The Roost and Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever.

2. (Set Your Calendar!) Date Number One and Indie Film Blogger Road Trip director Sujewa Ekanayake also mentioned over at his main blog that Carter will be showing at Aeon Logic Art Gallery in Brooklyn on May 23. The Carter movie is from Ryan Andrew Balas, producer of the web series Sandcastles. An ad line for Carter reads: Jeb is committing suicide in 3 days. And he is the happiest he has ever been. More information about Carter can be found on the movie's website.

3. Independent Film Festival Boston (Starts Today!/Features Sundance Winner!) runs from April 22, 2009 to Tuesday April 28, 2009. Movie lovers in Massachusetts have more options here if there is nothing playing at the local movie theater. While that Beyonce' movie opens on Friday, there may be better selections at Independent Film Festival Boston. You may find We Live in Public (Pictured way above/YES, those are toilets!) to be very close to home. This is one of many must-see films playing at Independent Film Festival Boston.

A bit from Bside includes "Focusing on a single visionary artist, Timoner (director of We Live in Public) examines the increasingly blurred boundary between public and private, revealing the intimacy that gets lost when we begin to expose everything about ourselves". We Live in Public won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance earlier this year. Another bold film playing at this 2009 film festival may be something worth bringing the kids to watch. Automorphosis is a feature length documentary that features innovative and sometimes odd transformations of vehicles into artistic forms of expression. Did you notice that red telephone in the photo above this post? Well, that is actually a car that someone (maybe someone with a lot of time on his or her hands) turned into a work of art....or communication, lol. Either way, the stuff that people were able to do with regular cars in this movie is pretty creative and amazing. Automorphosis is definitely a must-see if you are attending Independent Film Festival Boston this year.

4. (Now Playing!)The 42nd Worldfest started last Friday and will run until Sunday April 26, 2009. This film festival screened a nice film called Under Our Skin, which is a feature length film about Lyme Disease. There are also fun short films playing at the 42nd Worldfest. Check them out if you are in or near Houston, Texas.

5. (Now Playing!) As mentioned in a previous April 2009 Film Festival Lineup, the Barebones Film Festival started last week and is still showing films this week. If you are in or near Oklahoma, get your butt down to the Roxy theater and check out other Barebones Film Festival events. Later, I will be posting some reviews and visitor notes from a reviewer who attended a few movie screenings at the current Barebones Film Festival over the last few days.

What movies have you seen in the last week? Leave a brief review on them in the comments section below!

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Film Festivals 2009: Now Playing this Week in April

Did you know that you could have watched Slumdog Millionaire way before it was released in theaters? It played at a few film festivals around the country, which gave movie lovers like you a chance to get their own preview of this Oscar-winning movie. If you missed the $2,000 Couchfest Wrapup and meeting celebrities at the Festivus Film Festival, now is the time to check out some really cool films before it's too late.

There are lots of independent films playing at a number of film festivals starting this week in Atlanta, Muskogee and more. The photo above is a still from the movie Chicken of God playing at the 2009 Atlanta Film Festival. Check out the movie schedules for the following film festivals, as you'll find something to do and new people to meet this week:


Now Playing this Week:

1. The Atlanta Film Festival (Starts tomorrow!) runs from Thursday April 16, 2009 to Saturday April 25, 2009.
Guests for the opening night gala of the 2009 Atlanta Film Festival include Eddie Vedder, Josh Brolin, Howard Zinn, and Jasmine Guy. Films include The Way We Get By, 500 Days of Summer, Get Brunette (Pictured Above), Alexander the Last, Deadland and more.

2. The Calgary Underground Film Festival already started on April 14th but is still showing films. Calgary Underground Film Festival events for this year close on Sunday April 19, 2009. This is one of the international film festivals so unless you can take a quick vacation, hit up your international friends on Twitter, Myspace and Facebook and tell them to support if you're not able.

3. (Starts Tomorrow!) Screening at the Historic ROXY THEATRE in Oklahoma, the 2009 Bare Bones International Film & Music Festival starts on the same day as the Atlanta Film Festival but in another state. The 2009 Bare Bones International Film & Music Festival runs from Thursday April 16, 2009 to Sunday April 26, 2009. I have not been to the April film festival but have attended other Bare Bones Film Festivals and they are filled with fun films and great movie loving people. Films playing at this Film Festival include the dark comedy The Stevie Wondershow (Pictured Above) and a Humorous short film, Election 2008.

Although the event does not start until next week, passes are now available for the Kansas City Film Festival. Events for the 2009 Kansas City Film Festival begin on Wednesday April 22, 2009.

List your favorite film festivals or favorite movies that you saw at a film festival in the comments section below!

This post marks the latest entry to the Film Festival Wednesdays series.

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