Terence Davies jetted in from London and was given priority VIP treatment at MIA by our premiere sponsor American Airlines to introduce his fifth, and possibly most exquisite feature film, The Deep Blue Sea, which received a standing ovation, following an enormously witty Q&A which he opened by saying “If I grew up in Miami, I’d never leave” and went on to say that the Olympia Theater at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts is the nicest cinema he has ever been in.
During the film’s screening, he was whisked away for a gourmet indulgence at Tuyo restaurant where one of the courses included was a creative mix of hedgehog mushrooms with fingerling potatoes and petits pois.
Industry news: Screen Media Films has acquired the North American rights to the Rodrigo Santoro (What to Expect When You’re Expecting, 300) starrer Heleno, by José Henrique Fonseca following its recent screening at the Miami International Film Festival. The company will release the film theatrically this summer.
More MIFF Kodak Moments: The first of the two-day Film Field Trips offered by Kodak, designed to introduce students and emerging filmmakers to the local film infrastructure, was to labs, studios and rental houses around Dade and Broward counties, while meeting individuals who enable shooting on film. Day one featured visits to ARRI/CSC, Continental Film and Digital Lab.
An Italian Consulate VIP Reception was held in honor of Italian cinema, honoring two of MIFF’s visiting Italian directors: Pippo Mezzapesa director of Annalisa (Il paese delle spose infelici), one of our 4 Directors to Watch, and Roberto Faenza, director of Someday this Pain Will be Useful to You (Un giorno questo dolore sarà utile) screening tonight at the Gusman Center, who will be joined by actor Tony Regbo on stage at the Gusman Center.
Miami Beach native Timothy Greenfied-Sanders, director of About Face: The Supermodels Then and Now, skillfully tackles the themes of beauty and aging, spanning the topics of plastic surgery, drugs, personal history and more by interviewing some of the most famous female models from the past five decades in this illuminating documentary. Stunning Carol Alt was present at the screening, sharing her experience of posing for Playboy recently, at the age 47.
Tower Power: Miami Dade College’s Tower Theater was packed for producer Gennady Kostrov, who flew in from Moscow, to present Motherland or Death (Patria o muerte) by Vitaly Mansky which screened to yet another full house with a Q&A that would have gone on deep into the night if the audience had their way.
One elderly woman in the audience lamented to the Producer that it had been 50 years since she was able to set foot onto her homeland and the Russian producer responded that he knew a man who had a similar issue in reverse. He was never able to leave Cuba and became a postage stamp collector; the images on the stamps were the only way he was able to see the world.