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MEMOIRS OF A PLAGUE heads to idfa
A LOOKING GLASS PICTURES PRODUCTION. DIRECTED BY ROBERT NUGENT
Memoirs of a Plague has been selected for IDFA's 'Green Screen' competition; Documentaries that focus on the interaction between man and his envionment.
The war against locusts is as old as human civilization. Its one of the universal stories we tell of our creation, laying deep within us. But where does the individual fit into this drama? What role does fate play and what role science? The film follows the director's journey as he examines the drama of the encounter between man and locust. And raising the questions, do we live outside or inside nature, and who is hunting who ?
Memoirs of a Plague will be available early 2011 - to preorder a copy, just click here
ANOTHER WIN FOR END OF THE RAINBOW!
A LOOKING GLASS PICTURES/TRANS EUROPE FILMS CO-PRODUCTION
DIRECTED
BY ROBERT NUGENT
Continuing its enormous success on the International Festival circuit, this month End of the Rainbow picked up its fourth award in Portugal. The City of Lisbon Award for Best Feature Documentary at the Lisbon International Documentary Film Festival (Docslisboa) carries a prize of 15,000 Euros. Doclisboa has established itself as one of the world’s leading documentary film festivals, and is the only film festival in Portugal that is exclusively dedicated to documentary films. End of the Rainbow also received a Special Mention in the International Documentary Competition at the Cinemambiente International Environmental Film Festival in Torino, Italy. ‘Cinemambiente was founded in Turin in 1998 with the idea to promote a heightened awareness of crucial environmental issues through cinematic works’. The jury commented:
‘Outstanding cinematography combined with incredible access to the subject made this film an unforgettable experience. We witness two opposite worlds collide with a terrible combination of injustice, imperialism and environmental exploitation. A rare view of a hidden world.’
The End of the Rainbow DVD will be available soon – to preorder a copy, just click here
DON’T MISS END OF THE RAINBOW’S TV PREMIERE ON SBS THIS FRIDAY!
Make sure you catch End of the Rainbow’s television premiere this Friday 17th October at 7.30pm on SBS! The Australian/French co-production is director Robert Nugent’s first feature documentary, and has already been selected for 19 international festivals and picked up 3 awards including the First Appearance award at IDFA 2007, the Maysles Award at Belfast 2008 and the International Premiere at London One World 2008. “…a flawless piece of work…” Belfast Film Festival 2008
“Best film on global economics I’ve seen at IDFA this year”. Lawrence Daressa, California Newsreel
“A critical and multi-faceted story of globalisation.” Jury, IDFA 2007
For the feature length version, The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) will be holding a screening on Saturday 18th October at 4pm. The screening will take place at the ACMI cinemas on Flinders St (VIC) and tickets will be $8. For more information, visit the ACMI website.
VOTE FOR END OF THE RAINBOW AT THE 2008 IF AWARDS!
There are only 9 days to go before voting closes for the 2008 IF Awards, so make sure you vote for End of the Rainbow before it's too late!
Also this month, End of the Rainbow will be continuing its worldwide festival circuit with two more screenings. Scheduled for 15-21 September is the Sardinia Ethnographic Film Festival (SIEFF) which showcases ‘a selection of recently made documentary films with an ethno-anthropological prospective, special attention being given to those works principally concerned with themes that inevitably bring us back to the representation of contemporary life’(Babelmed.net).
Second on the festival circuit for this month is the International Documentary Film Festival of Mexico (DOCSDF) scheduled for September 25 – October 4. ‘DOCSDF collaborates with more than 20 national and international festivals and welcomes over 100 national and international guests’ each year (http://www.docsdf.com/English/docsdf/growth.html).
End of the Rainbow will also screen at two European festivals next month. Cinemambiente International Environmental Film Festival (CIEFF) will be held in Torino, Italy, and will run from October 16-21. Vienna International Film Festival (VIENNALE), which is ‘one of the oldest and best-known festivals in the German-speaking world’, will run from 17-29 October.
For more information on any of these festivals, visit the official websites by clicking through the hyperlinks. Make sure you also stay tuned to this website for November’s festivals, screenings and other exciting events. Alternatively, you can become a fan of our facebook page.
SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL
End of the Rainbow is currently continuing the worldwide festival circuit, with its Australian premier at the Sydney Film Festival scheduled for Tuesday 17th June 2008. End of the Rainbow is an 83-minute elegiac portrait of the changes brought by the arrival of an industrial gold mine in a remote region of West Africa. The film is the directorial debut of AFTRS graduate Robert Nugent.
End of the Rainbow recently screening at the 8th Jameson Belfast International Film Festival, winning the Maysles Award for ‘Best Documentary’ and receiving high acclaim from the official jury:
‘We were struck by the way in which End of the Rainbow told an important and powerful story with breathtaking clarity, economy and beauty. We were also impressed by the way in which the director avoided what could have been an easy and obvious stereotyping of his characters and, in doing so, left the audience to reflect on the universal themes explored in the film.’
The Maysles Award follows End of the Rainbow’s other recent success at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), where it won the First Appearance Award 2007 - the official jury describing it as a ‘critical and multi-faceted story of globalisation’.
End of the Rainbow will have its Australian premier at George Street Greater Union cinema, 6.30pm on Tuesday 17th June as part of the Sydney Film Festival’s Australian content. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster.
For more information please visit the Sydney Film Festival website or contact Mitzi Goldman from Looking Glass Pictures at mitzi@lookingglasspictures.com.au.
End of the Rainbow has also been selected for screening at the following festivals:
Cinema du Reel, Paris;
One World, Prague;
Planete Doc, Warsaw;
ZagrebDox – Zagreb;
Ecofilms - Rodos International Film and Video Arts Festival, Greece
Melbourne International Film Festival
“Best film on global economics I’ve seen at IDFA this year”. Lawrence Daressa, California Newsreel
“Great example of global issue at local level” Artur Liebhart Planete Doc Review
***** Peter Wintonick, IDFA website
“A profound first documentary” DOX magazine, March 2008