Philadelphia Film Festival – cinefest 09 Opening Ceremony

PHILADELPHIA CINEFEST 09 ANNOUNCES OPENING & CLOSING NIGHT FILMS
Philadelphia film event feature 200 films from 39 countries

Philadelphia CineFest 09 is pleased to announce that (500) Days of Summer and Lymelife have been officially selected as Opening and Closing films for the 2009 festival, running from March 26th through April 6th. These two stunning films join a celebrated schedule of over 200 movies assembled from over 39 countries.

(500) Days of Summer is an “anti-romantic” comedy about a boy who falls head over heels for a girl who doesn’t believe in love or fate! Summer (Zooey Deschanel) can’t entertain the idea of love, while Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt) truly believes he will find his soul mate. Jumping back and forth between the 500 days of their unpredictable courtship, this 2009 Sundance Film Festival favorite will make its East Coast premiere on March 26th, with special guests to be announced soon.

Lymelife, shown at both Sundance 09 and the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the International Critics award, is Derick Martini’s directorial debut. Set in late-1970’s Long Island, Lymelife follows the story of two families whose lives are altered by an outbreak of lyme disease and the accompanying paranoia as seen through the eyes of a fifteen-year-old boy, Scott Bartlett (Rory Culkin). The comedy/drama also features Alec Baldwin, Cynthia Nixon, Kieran Culkin, Jill Hennessy and Timothy Hutton.

These two Sundance favorites will bookend 12 days of internationally acclaimed dramas, comedies, documentaries and shorts. The CineFest slate of movies features such diverse fare as:

• The Nail: The Story of Joey Nardone: A world premiere, featuring Philly icon Tony Luke Jr. Shot in South Philadelphia, it brilliantly balances a cast of Philly notables, including Dayanara Torres as Amelia. Locals will thrill as the locations, players and references fly at us with genuine pedigree.
• Training Rules: The world premiere of a documentary that follows the lawsuit filed in 2006 against head coach Rene Portland and Penn State by student athlete Jennifer Harris. This high profile case ignited the world of women’s collegiate sports by bringing to light discrimination based on sexual orientation in organized sports.
• Institute Benjamenta: The hallmark production of the world-famous Brothers Quay animator team. The Brothers Quay will also receive a special award presented jointly by University of the Arts and CineFest.
• 20th Century Boys & 20th Century Boys 2 : Stephen King influences, T. Rex rock n’ roll and comic book mythology fuse together as Naoki Urasawa’s epic Japanese manga gets a big screen treatment as a group of childhood friends race against time to untap a conspiracy to end the world . CineFest features the first and second parts of this stunning triology.
• Tyson: Mike Tyson is the subject and executive producer of this docu-biography, which – dare we say it? – really packs a punch.
• Hunger: Directed by award-wining British director Steve McQueen, and starring Michael Fassbender as Bobby Sands, the Irish Republican Army member who led the 1981 hunger strike at the British-run Maze prison. A wildly popular hit at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
• Cuttin’ Da Mustard: An independent comedy chronicling the lives of a group of young actors in Queens. Aspiring actor Rolo (Tropic Thunder’s Brandon T. Jackson) feels misunderstood when he re-enacts a monologue from Menace II Society at a Shakespearean acting class, so he enrolls at smaller Queens’s theater company. Writer-director Reed R. McCant’s autobiographical feature includes strong ensemble acting from Keisha Knight Pulliman, Charles S. Dutton and Sinbad.
These films assembled from over 39 counties are helmed by some of the most gifted directorial talent of modern cinema, including pioneers like Goran Markovic, Götz Spielmann, Ilan Duran Cohen, James Toback, Jennifer Lynch, Jose Mojica Marins, Josiane Balasko, Kathryn Bigelow, Katsuo Fukusawa, Léa Pool, Miguel Bardem, Olivier Assayas, Robert Townsend, Ryan Nicholson, Ryuichi Honda, Sólveig Anspach, Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay, Terence Davies, and Tim Disney.

A cavalcade of talent in CineFest films include Mark McGraw, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Sally Starr, Hugh Dancy, Peter Gallagher, Amy Irving, Jeff Daniels, Nora Dunn, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Alice Krige, Alfre Woodard, Will Patton, Debra Wilson, Ice Cube, Mos Def, Ving Rhames, Mike Tyson, Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger, Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo, Robbie Coltrane, Michael Biehn, Tatum O’Neal, Penelope Ann Miller, Julia Ormond, Bill Pullman, Cheri Oteri, Dominic Monaghan, Ron Perlman, Tilda Swinton, Saul Rubinek, Tony Danza, Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal, Fanny Ardant, Isabelle Huppert, Louis Garrel, Nathalie Baye, Eric Caravaca, Josiane Balasko, Jeanne Moreau, Hippolyte Girardot, Dominique Blanc, and Juliette Binoche.

Films are organized into program tracks, including:

• Fade to Black: Movies created and programmed by leading African-American filmmakers.
• American Independents: The best of national indie filmmakers and new talent.
• Philadelphia Independents Presented by DIVE: Local productions spotlighted on their home turf.
• Contemporary World Cinema: The best in international cinema.
• French Re-Connection: The finest French films of 2008
• International Comedy: Proving laughter is the universal language.
• Cinema of the Muslim Worlds: A look at human-interest stories of Muslim life.
• Latino Cinema: Spanish and Latino films with global and regional bite.
• Documentaries of Today: Insightful and thought provoking reports on international life.
• Danger After Dark: Cutting-edge genre films from around the globe. .

CineFest locations will include The Prince Music Theater, The Bridge Cinema de Lux, International House, the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, and several other locations in the city.

Partnering and sponsoring organizations include (partial list): Pennsylvania Film Office, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Greater Philadelphia Student Film Festival, Backseat Film Festival, Bryn Mawr Film Institute, Urbanphilly.com, Reelblack.com, The Greater Philadelphia Film Office – Multicultural Affairs, University of the Arts, Philadelphia University, Kimmel Center, Dive/Shooters, PA Tourism, Philadelphia Independent Film and Video Association (PIFVA), French Embassy, French-American Cultural Foundation, Province of Quebec, Canada, Offit Kurman Attorneys at Law, Clear Channel Outdoors, Continental Airlines, Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival, Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, WHYY and University of the Arts.