232 Third St. @ 3rd Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11215
F/G to Carroll St. or M/R to Union
Impeccably
composed and entrancing from start to finish, Mikel Cee Karlsson's
Greetings from the Woods is a masterful documentary about the town of
Varberg, a beautiful little hamlet located deep within the Swedish
forest. A former professional skateboarder and now a successful music
video director, the filmmaker returned to Varberg to spend three years
capturing the lovely charm and the magical and mundane habits of the
longtime denizens of his boyhood home. His impressionistic portrait is
filled with lovingly captured little moments: an eccentric local
dressed as a Viking shops at a local strip mall; a tiny dog faces off
against a herd of curious cattle; a seemingly endless parade of mopeds
shoot down the road; a local photographer wanders through fairgrounds
and local parks, capturing thousands of snapshots of the locals. Even
the routine household rituals of Karlsson's parents--his father playing
with the cat and salting slugs in the yard, his mother vacuuming the
house and falling asleep in the living room--are assembled to create a
delicate, intimate, yet exhilaratingly engaging ballet of motion and
stillness.
Since departing hometown years ago, Karlsson has achieved a great
deal of success shooting and directing videos for many of Scandinavia's
biggest stars - most notably Fever Ray. His videos show a keen eye and
inventive imagination, and have won countless awards across Europe.
Nonetheless, Greetings From the Woods shows a breadth of vision and a
dedication to the art of verite documentary filmmaking that signals a
great leap forward for Karlsson.
One unforgettable montage starts in the waiting area of a maternity
ward, with an expectant mother sitting, listening patiently--but with
an unmistakable look of concern--as she listens to the almost comically
pained wailing of another mother giving birth down the hall. We enter
the delivery room to see the moment of birth, and the tormented cries
of the mother suddenly give way to the quiet--but unmistakably
messy--beauty of the mother holding her newborn in her arms for the
first time; the infant is still fresh, wet and purple from the womb. A
moment later the child is washed and dried by a nurse, and his screams
mirror the panic his mother felt just moments earlier. Next we see the
swaddled baby in his mother's arms, sleeping peacefully, as his
grandfather looks over them with a smile on his face that is at once
childlike, gleeful, and serene. This sequence segues into old archival
super 8 footage of the town from long ago: runners race off into the
hills at a local marathon, a farmer doffs his cap, an elk stares into
the camera, a sunflower towers over us, two stories in the air. The
sequence ends as we discover that the footage was shot by the local
photographer, and we seem him sitting in his dark living room watching
these childhood home movies on an old projector. Stretched across his
face is a smile that is at once childlike, gleeful, and serene.
Sequences such as these make Greetings much more than a series of
beautiful images or a sentimental homage to a town. Karlsson's film
captures the distinctly Swedish character of the people of Varberg,
while simultaneously communicating subtly transcendent truths about
love, life, humanity, nature, and, most of all, the passage of time.
Karlsson's inspired eye behind the camera and subtly clever touch as an
editor are given a perfect showcase in this extraordinary film, and
Greetings From the Woods signals the emergence of a unique new talent
in world cinema.
"WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY" DEBUTS IN THEATERS ON MARCH 26, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE Contact:
Laura Kim, laura.kim@insidejob-la.com
March 26, 2010 Fumi
Kitahara, fumi@theprkitchen.com
"WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY" DEBUTS
IN THEATERS ON MARCH 26, 2010
NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, SAN FRANCISCO AND
CHICAGO
After
a successful festival debut, Waking Sleeping Beauty will begin its
theatrical run with limited releases in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and San
Francisco on March 26, 2010. Directed by Don Hahn and produced by Peter
Schneider and Don Hahn, Waking Sleeping Beauty was an Official Selection at the 2009
Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and winner of the
Audience Award at the Hamptons International Film Festival.
Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairy tale, as it
chronicles the time from 1984 to 1994, when a perfect storm of people and
circumstances changed the face of animation forever. It is a story of clashing
egos, out-of-control budgets, escalating tensions... and one of the most
extraordinary creative periods in animation history.
In
New York, the film will open at the Landmark Sunshine. In Los Angeles, the
film will open on two screens, at the AMC Century City and AMC Burbank 16. In
Chicago, the film will open at the AMC River East, and in San Francisco at the
Landmark Embarcadero—all on March 26, 2010.
"One
of the best comeback stories in show business" - Los Angeles Times
"Surprisingly
hard-hitting and revealing…" – The Hollywood Reporter
"…A
true insiders look at the second golden age for the Magic Kingdom's cartoon
features…" USA Today
Director
Don Hahn (producer of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King) and
producer Peter Schneider (former chairman of the studio), key players at Walt
Disney Studios feature animation department during the mid1980s, offer a
behind-the-magic glimpse of the turbulent times the animation studio was going
through and the staggering output of hits that followed over the next 10 years.
Artists polarized between the hungry young innovators and the old guard who
refused to relinquish control, mounting tensions due to a string of box-office
flops, and warring studio leadership create the backdrop for this fascinating
story told with a unique and candid perspective from those that were there.
Through interviews, internal memos, home movies and a cast of characters
featuring Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Roy Disney, alongside an
amazing array of talented artists that includes Steven Spielberg, Richard
Williams, John Lasseter and Tim Burton, Waking Sleeping Beauty shines a
light on Disney animation's darkest hours, greatest joys and its improbable
renaissance. Waking Sleeping Beauty is a Stone Circle Pictures/Red
Shoes Production.
WAKING SLEEPING
BEAUTY
Running time: 86
minutes
Rating: PG
www.wakingsleepingbeautymovie.com
Photography
available at: www.wdsfilmpr.com or www.box.net/wakingsleepingbeautyphoto
Broadcast
materials available at: www.EPK.TV
#
