Tag: Film

PITTSBURGH – The Point Park University-produced feature film, “The Umbrella Man,” will premiere next month at the Pittsburgh Independent Film Festival.

Directed by Michael Grasso, “The Umbrella Man” will be screened at 1:45 p.m., Sunday, June 22, in the Baverso Theater at the Father Ryan Arts Center in McKees Rocks.

 “The Umbrella Man” is the story of a father who becomes engrossed with Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories after the death of his 8-year-old son. Set in Pittsburgh, the film deals with one couple’s love, loss, and the survival of their relationship. The film stars Carter Roy and Rachael Carpani as the married couple, as well as Abbie Cobb, Rich Williams, John Amplas and Kevin Crowley.

Point Park University was the driving force in developing the original material written by Michael and Joseph Grasso. The REP, Point Park University’s professional theatre company, mounted a staged production of “The Umbrella Man” in 2011 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. Directed by Robert A. Miller, who also is a producer on the movie, the stage play introduced audiences to the deep human drama in an unprecedented stage experience.

Much of the movie was filmed in the Pittsburgh area last year, providing dozens of Point Park University students a unique opportunity for on-the-job training.

“Michael and I are thrilled that ‘The Umbrella Man’ has been included in the 2014 Pittsburgh Independent Film Festival.  It was an amazing project with incredible performances and a super talented Pittsburgh crew. We are also proud to have teamed with Point Park University in order to provide their students, recent grads and alumni a chance to work on the production of ‘The Umbrella Man’ and gain valuable real-world experience on a feature film. It was a true Pittsburgh project, and we had a fantastic experience shooting this film in and around Pittsburgh,” said Joe Grasso, co-writer, co-producer and cinematographer.

The screening of “The Umbrella Man” in Pittsburgh follows the announcement last month that another Point Park University-produced film venture, the 10-episode documentary series, “The Chair,” will air this fall on STARZ as the channel’s first original unscripted series. The 10-episode series, filmed in Pittsburgh this year, follows two up-and-coming directors as they compete to make two separate feature films from the same script. More than 100 Point Park students and alumni supported the TV series and two feature films as interns, employees, and through class projects. Additionally, production offices were located on Point Park University’s campus in downtown Pittsburgh.

Point Park University’s involvement in these projects helps to expand its cinema and digital arts offerings to a wider array of students who have the desire to forge a career in the entertainment industry.

You can visit the film’s IMDB page at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2413958/

The ninth annual Silk Screen Film Festival 2014 will begin on Saturday, April 26th, and runs through Sunday, May 4th. The 2014 Festival features 25 feature length films from all over Asia and the Middle East, as well as two shorts.

There will be 47 screenings at 4 locations in the city: the Regent Square Theater, the Melwood Screening Room, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s Earth Theater, and the new location this year is the Waterworks Cinemas, which will host one screening of “Jadoo” on Thursday, May 1^st at 7:00 p.m.

To kick off the festival, Silk Screen will host a star-studded Gala of lively entertainment and ethnic cuisine on Friday, April 25th, 6:30 p.m. at the Rivers Club in Oxford Center. The Late Night Gala, new this year for the younger crowd, will begin at 9:30 p.m. with Pittsburgh’s hottest D.J, Pandemic Pete.

The Opening Film “Omar” is one of the 2014’s Academy Award Nominated Films for Best Foreign Film directed by Hany Abu-Assad. It is the first time Silk Screen presents a film from Palestine, a region of endless warfare hoping for peace. On Sunday May 4th, the Film Festival will end with “Morning Recipe”, a touching film delivering family love and motive for life. Documentaries, animation, and remake of a previous Best Picture winner are all on the slate for the 2014 Silk Screen Festival, offering those interested in experiencing international cinema an even greater opportunity than ever before.

The Opening Film ticket is $20 and the Closing Film is $15 and included an invitation to the closing reception at D’s Six Pax & Dogz. A 4-flim pass for $30 and an 8-film pass for $60 (not valid for Opening or Closing Night Films) are now available at: http://www.showclix.com/event/SilkScreenFilmFestival2014 . Single tickets are $10 each and $5 for students with valid I.D. Scheduled to be shown:

• “A Respectable Family” (Iran) – April 29, 7:00 p.m. & May 2, 7:00 p.m., both at Regent Square Theater : Directed by Massoud Bahkshi, a story about a man’s returning to Iran after twenty-two years in exile, the clash between past and present leaves him with a hazy choice between loyalty and morality.

• “A Time in Quchi” (Taiwan) – April 27, 1:00 p.m. at Melwood & April 30, 2:00 p.m. at Carnegie: a tale about a young boy from Taipei, who is sent to stay with his grandfather in rural Taiwan. In this touching family drama, he learns life lessons and experiences his coming of age.

• “Ankhon Dekhi” (India): 4/27, 1:30 p.m. & 5/3, 4:30 p.m. both at Regent Square Theater:  Fresh off last year’s opening film “Midnight’s Children,” Director Rajat Kapoor returns to Silk Screen Film Festival with this daring tale of the spiritual and ontological awakening of an ordinary man.

• “Apur Panchali” (India) – 4/29, 9:00 p.m. & Sun 5/4, 2:00 p.m. both at Regent Square: a real life story inspired by Subir Banerjee, the little child actor who played the iconic role of Apu in Satyajit Ray’s masterpiece Pather Panchali, which even today remains one of the 100 greatest films of all-time.

• “Beyond All Boundaries” (India) – Each screening is paired with the short film Kush, 4/27, 4:30 p.m. & 5/2, 7:00 p.m. both at Melwood : a documentary uses the 2011 Cricket World Cup as a backdrop to thoughtfully contrast the struggles of India with the hardships faced by individuals.

• “Bonta” (China/USA) – 4/27, 2:00 p.m. & 5/1, 6:00 p.m. both at Carnegie: an animated sci-fi adventure film pulls together all the best elements of fantasy storytelling in an adventure that is a joy to watch for audiences of all ages.

• “ Cheong”(South Korea): 4/26, 7:00 p.m. & 4/28, 9:00 p.m. both at Melwood , 5/1, 1:30 PM at Carnegie: Cheong tastefully explores the inner world of a little girl who tries to experience his blind father’s realities.

• “Confession of Murder” (South Korea) – : 4/30, 8 :00 p.m., 5/2, 9:30 p.m. both at Melwood: A handsome young man emerges from nowhere and publishes a revealing biography in which he admits to killing ten women in an infamous series of murders. A detective refuses to believe it and tries to reveal the truth.

• “Garden of Words” (Japan) – Each screening is paired with the short film Cheong. 4/26, 7:00 p.m. & 4/28, 9:00 p.m. both at Melwood : a study in visual poetry and an ode to human connection and discovery.

• “Hank and Asha” (USA) – 4/26, 4:30 p.m.& 5/3, 7:30 p.m. both at Melwood: directed by James E. Duff, a romantic story between Hank and Asha begins with sharing their video diaries despite thousands of miles distance.

• “Hide and Seek” (South Korea)  – 4/27, 7:00 p.m. & 5/1, 9:00 p.m. both at Melwood: The film spins the tale of Baek Sung-soo, whose stable life as a successful businessman gets upended when he begins having strange and inexplicable visions.

• “Jadoo” (UK/India) – 4/26,2:00 p.m. at Carnegie & 5/1, 7:00 p.m. at Waterworks : Oscar-nominated cinematographer Amit Gupta presents this lighthearted comedy about food, family and romance.

• “Kush” (India) – 4/27, 4:00 p.m. & 5/2, 6:30 p.m. both at Melwood: A school field trip rapidly goes awry in this short film based on the shocking death of Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 and the large-scale ethnic violence tragedy that followed .

• “Liar’s Dice” (India) – 4/27, 4:00 p.m. & 4/30, 7:00 p.m. both at Regent Square” : depicts a story of a dedicated wife from a rural village facing the horrible realization that her husband is missing and no one will help her find him.

• “Mourning Recipe” Closing Film  (Japan) – 5/4, 5:00 p.m.: What starts out as a simple family melodrama develops into a meditation on family, connection, grief, and ultimately- healing.

• “Norte, The End of History” (Philippines) – 5/3, 2:00 p.m. at Melwood: When a brutal murder shatters a small Filipino town, the police wrongfully arrest impoverished family man Joaquin. What follows is a harrowing tale of suffering and brutality, as well as a philosophical consideration of crime and its far-reaching consequences.

•“Omar” Opening Film (Palestine/Belgium) – 4/26, 7:00 p.m. at Regent Square : In Palestine’s first Oscar nominated film; all is fair in love and war. No film in recent memory unpacks this cynical, familiar sentiment with as much gusto and truth as Omar.

• “Red Obsession” (Australia) – 5/1, 6:30 p.m. & Sun 5/4, 2:00 p.m. both at Melwood: Narrated by Russell Crowe, this documentary is a fascinating study about the world of fine wine and a cautionary lesson in global markets.

• “Sake-Bomb” (USA/Japan) – 5/1, 9:30 p.m., 5/3, 9:30 p.m. both at Regent Square: Sake-Bomb uses the road movie tradition as a vehicle to examine the dynamic relationship between two very different individuals who find that they may share much more than is immediately apparent.

• “The Haumana” (USA) – 4/29, 6:00 p.m. at Melwood,  5/4, 3:00 p.m. at Carnegie: depicts not only a beautiful tropical paradise we typically associate with the Hawaiian Islands of our imagination but explores local values as embodied in the hula tradition.

• “Things Left Behind” (USA/Japan/Canada) – 5/2, 2:00 p.m. & 5/3, 2:00 p.m. both at Carnegie: This unique documentary is a collaboration between photographer Miyako Ishiuchi and filmmaker Linda Hoaglund stands as their mutual commitment to shattering the imagery of the Japanese as victims of a holocaust.

• “Touch of the Light” (Taiwan)  – 4/28, 7:00 p.m. at Melwood, 5/1, 1:30p.m. at Carnegie-The short film Cheong will be shown as part of this screening: based on a remarkable true story, born visually impaired, Siang is a talented real-life pianist who has been accepted by a prestigious art college is experiencing the journey towards dream

• “Trap Street” (China)  – 4/29, 8:30p.m. at Melwood, 5/3, 7:00 p.m. at Regent Square: What begins as a simple story of boy-meets-girl, Trap Street takes us into a rabbit hole. more sinister implications begin to arise as the boy becomes unwittingly tangled in the web of lies and deceit.

• “Unforgiven” (Japan)  – 4/26, 9:30p.m. & 4/28 7:30p.m. at Regent Square:  Jubei Kamata (Ken Watanabe) brings swords to a gunfight in this highly anticipated Japanese adaptation of Clint Eastwood’s 1992 Best Picture Winner Unforgiven.

• “Why Don’t You Play in Hell?” (Japan) – 5/2, 9:30 p.m. at Regent Square, 5/3, 9:30 p.m. at Melwood : The ambitious, yet wildly untalented, amateur film-making crew discover they may be able to shoot a gang war between rival Yakuza factions that’s been brewing for a decade.

• “With You, Without You” (Sri Lanka) – 4/26, 4:30 p.m. , 4/30, 9:15 p.m. both at Regent Square : A chance encounter between a lonely pawnbroker and his beautiful but shy patron in post-war Sri Lanka quickly leads to romance, but as the two spend time together it becomes increasingly clear that issues from their varied pasts create a struggle to coexist in the present.

• “Zinda Bhaag” (Pakistan) – 5/1, 7:00 p.m. & 5/3, 2:00 p.m. at Regent Square: a drama of three friends Khaldi, Chitta and Tambi literally beg, borrow, and steal to get by in their everyday lives while they look westward for something more than mere existence.