FWL acquires MAVIS! documentary on gospel & soul music legend and civil rights icon Mavis Staples

Toronto-based distribution company Films We Like announces distribution deals for the feature documentary MAVIS! about the life of music legend Mavis Staples, directed by Jessica Edwards. Films We Like has acquired all rights for Canada. The film had its world premiere at the 2015 SXSW Film Festival where it received a standing ovation. The Q&A was followed by an intimate performance with Mavis Staples at the Paramount Theater. 

MAVIS! is the first documentary on gospel/soul music legend and civil rights icon Mavis Staples and her family group, The Staple Singers. Beginning in the gospel church, Mavis’ music spans from the freedom songs of the ‘60s and hits like “I’ll Take You There" to funked-up collaborations with Prince and her recent albums with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. Over the course of her unrivaled career, Mavis has stayed true to her roots, kept her family close and reinvented herself as a solo artist at the age of 65. With dynamic live performances, rarely-seen archival footage and conversations with musical legends Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, Levon Helm, Chuck D and more, MAVIS! reveals the struggles and successes of her journey. At 75, Mavis is making the most vital music of her career and her message of love and equality is needed now more than ever. 

Said Edwards, “We are beyond thrilled to have HBO as our broadcast partner. They’ve always been such a huge supporter of documentary films. We can’t wait to share the inspiration and joy of Mavis's music and story with HBO viewers, and with audiences across Canada through Films We Like.”

Said Staples, “I've been touring since 1954, and I've been to all kinds of festivals, but I don't think I was at a film festival until my movie screened in Austin. That was something else – to sit in the audience and see on that big screen the results of me and Jessica talking, all the old pictures and family performances, to hear these music giants say such nice things about me. I cried all my mascara off. To think that this story about my family and our music will be in theaters and on TV after all this time is just awesome. And being on HBO – that is a thrill. I'm catching up to my guy John Oliver! I am so grateful, knowing all these young people – whole new generations – they want to hear my songs and my family's story and what I have to say… I’m really blessed.”

The deals were negotiated by Josh Braun and David Koh of Submarine on behalf of the filmmakers.

Mavis! will screen at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto on Sunday April 26 at 6:15pm and Monday April 27 at 10:30am at the Isabel Bader Theatre .

The film will be coming to Canadian theatres in the near future.

For interview and screeners requests, contact: Lindsay Jensen

Website: www.mavisfilm.com  
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/112754009

About Film First
Film First is a Brooklyn-based production company specializing in documentary and commercial projects. Founded in 2009 as a boutique film publicity firm, the company worked with directors such as Ang Lee, Gus Van Sant, Sofia Coppola, David Cronenberg, the Coen Brothers, and many others before transitioning to film production in 2011. The company’s documentary work includes the POV short SELTZER WORKS and THE LANDFILL, which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

About Mavis Staples
Soul/gospel legend Mavis Staples will release a new four-song EP Your Good Fortune (ANTI-) on April 21st, and in July 2015 she will tour the US, co-headlining 12 dates with Patty Griffin.  Her 2010 Album You Are Not Alone (ANTI-) won the Best Americana Album Grammy.   Mavis is a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductee, National Heritage Fellowship award winner, was named to Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Singers, and has a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

About Films We Like
Founded by award-winning documentary filmmaker Ron Mann (Grass, Comic Book Confidential, Altman) Films We Like is a boutique distributor of documentary, independent and international films in Canada. Recent releases include Force Majeure, Finding Vivian Maier, and the Academy Award-winner Ida.

Comedy Fans Rejoice! Saturday Night Live Documentary "Live From New York!" One Night Celebration Across Canada June 10th

Films We Like and Cineplex Entertainment’s Front Row Centre Events are thrilled to present Live From New York! in select theatres across Canada on June 10, 2015, for one night only.

Audiences will get to see Saturday Night Live like they have never seen before. The feature length documentary Live From New York! will be in Canadian theaters on June 10. Live From New York! explores the show's early years, an experiment that began with a young Lorne Michaels and his cast of unknowns, and follows its evolution into a comedy institution. Archival footage is interwoven with stolen moments and exclusive commentary from "SNL" legends, journalists, hosts, crew and others influenced by the comedy giant. Live From New York! captures what has enabled "SNL" to continually refresh itself over nearly 800 episodes and keep us laughing for 40 years. The film is set to open the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival on April 15.  Live From New York! is directed by Bao Nguyen, created and produced by JL Pomeroy and Tom Broecker, produced by Kimmie H. Kim, Sarah Cowperthwaite, Owen Moogan, and associated produced by Demetra Stavrakas.

Films We Like will handle the Canadian theatrical release on June 10 with strong support from Cineplex Entertainment, Front Row Centre Events.

In addition to rare footage from the last 40 years, an incredible cast of "SNL" alumni shares the screen to discuss what the show has meant to them and its impact on the world through illuminating anecdotes and reflections of their time as cast members and hosts. These incredible performers include Chevy Chase, Laraine Newman, John Goodman, Tina Fey, Candice Bergen, Chris Rock, Amy Poehler, Alec Baldwin and many more.

"When JL and I first conceived of the idea for this film, it was always our vision that it be released theatrically," said Tom Broecker. "Given that Live From New York! highlights the impact SNL has had on American culture, it’s only fitting that it be available to moviegoers across North America," added JL Pomeroy.

Advance tickets for the June 10 one-time event screening are available through cineplex.com/events.

LIVE FROM NEW YORK!
Directed by Bao Nguyen
Produced by JL Pomeroy and Tom Broecker 
Running time: 82 min.

Download hi-res images and press notes

For Interviews with director, producers and select talent, contact: Emily Howell

About Front Row Centre Events (FRC) 

Brought to you by Cineplex Entertainment, Front Row Centre Events bring world class entertainment to your local Cineplex Entertainment theatre and other participating locations! Presented in high-definition with digital surround sound, guests can experience the best in original one-night only and series-based programming. With the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series, Broadway productions, live broadcasts direct from the stage of London’s National Theatre, Bolshoi Ballet performances, classic films, concerts, live sporting events and documentaries, Front Row Centre Events put you in the centre of the action on the big screen!

About Films We Like

Founded by award-winning documentary filmmaker Ron Mann (Grass, Comic Book Confidential, Altman) Films We Like is a boutique distributor of documentary, independent and international films in Canada. Recent releases include Force Majeure, Finding Vivian Maier, and the Academy Award-winner Ida.

"KUMIKO, THE TREASURE HUNTER" Opens Across Canada - Friday April 3, 2015

Films We Like presents a Zellner Brothers Film

“A wonderfully strange and beguiling adventure story comprised of buried treasure, hand crafts, and a possibly unhealthy obsession with the Coen brothers … and a knockout central performance by Rinko Kikuchi.” - Scott Foundas, Variety

In this darkly comedic odyssey, Academy Award nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel, Pacific Rim) stars as Kumiko, a frustrated Office Lady whose imagination transcends the confines of her mundane life. Kumiko becomes obsessed with a mysterious, battered VHS tape of a popular film she’s mistaken for a documentary, fixating on a scene where a suitcase of stolen cash is buried in the desolate, frozen landscape of North Dakota. Believing this treasure to be real, she leaves behind Tokyo and her beloved rabbit Bunzo to recover it – and finds herself on a dangerous adventure unlike anything she’s seen in the movies. 

With KUMIKO, THE TREASURE HUNTER, indie mavericks the Zellner Bros. spin a strangely touching underdog fable, populated by eccentrics and elevated to sonic heights by a Sundance award-winning score from electro-indie outfit The Octopus Project that will leave audiences rooting for the impossible

Directors DAVID and NATHAN ZELLNER
Two of the most distinct voices and idiosyncratic personalities in independent cinema today, Austin-based filmmakers, David and Nathan Zellner have written, produced, directed and appeared in numerous award-winning shorts and feature films over the past decade.  The Zellners have been a force on the festival circuit dating back to the 2005 short film FLOTSAM/ JETSAM, their first film to premiere at Sundance.  Other notable shorts by the Zellners include the acclaimes AFTERMATH ON MEADOWLARK LANE and SASQUATCH BIRTH JOURNAL 2.  

Feature films include GOLIATH (2008) and KID-THING (2012).
 

Running time:  105 minutes
English and Japanese (w English Subtitles)

Download hi-res images and press notes
 

Opens April 3, 2015
TIFF Bell Lightbox, Toronto, ON
Vancity Theatre, Vancouver, BC
Broadway Theatre, Saskatoon, SK
Regina Public Library Film Theatre, Regina, SK
Globe Cinema, Calgary, AB

Opens April 6, 2015
Bytowne Cinema, Ottawa, ON

Opens April 8, 2015
City Cinema, Charlottetown, PEI

Opens April 10, 2015
Cinema du Parc, Montreal, QC

Opens April 24
The Vic, Victoria, BC

Opens April 25, 2015
Metro Cinema, Edmonton, AB

"THE WONDERS" Opens in Toronto at the TIFF Bell Lightbox on Friday, March 27

THE WONDERS (LE MERAVIGLIE)

Written and directed by Alice Rohrwacher
Starring Monica Bellucci

Winner Grand Prix Cannes Film Festival

“a film about the countryside, about the somewhat peculiar love between a father and his daughters, about missing male sons, about animals and little people that live in the television.” 
– Alice Rohrwacher, Director
 

The Wonders, Alice Rohrwacher's richly textured sophomore feature and Cannes Grand Prix winner opens at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Friday, March 27. 

Nothing will be the same at the end of this summer for Gelsomina and her three younger sisters. 

The Wonders centers on a family of beekeepers living in stark isolation in central Italy where Gelsomina is the designated heir of the strange, secluded kingdom that her father constructed around them to protect his family from "the end of the world."  At twelve years of age, she is practically the head of the house.  

The dynamic of their overcrowded household is disrupted by the simultaneous arrival of a silently troubled teenaged boy taken in as a farmhand, and a production crew recruiting local farmers to participate in a TV competition for big prizes called "Village Wonders," presented by the mysterious Milly Catena (Monica Bellucci).

Both intrusions are of particular interest to Gelsomina, who is struggling to find her footing in the world, and Rohrwacher manages to convey her adolescent sense of wonder and confusion with characteristically graceful naturalism.

Set in her hometown and starring her sister Alba (as the mother), Alice Rohrwacher was inspired by her own upbringing when developing this award-winning fable.

Director, Screenwriter ALICE ROHRWACHER

Alice Rohrwacher’s first feature film Corpo Celeste premiered in Cannes in 2011 before going on to play Sundance, New York, London, Rio and Tokyo films festivals.  She was brought up in the Italian countryside in a German-Italian family, and bees are the animals she knows best.   

Running time:  110 minutes
Italian, French, German w English Subtitles

High rez images and press notes

Media Contact:
VK & Associates: info@vkpr.ca

Films We Like Acquires "Eden" for Canadian Distribution

Films We Like is excited to announce acquisition of EDEN, the exhilarating new film from French auteur Mia Hansen-Løve (Goodbye First Love), starring Félix de Givry and featuring Pauline Etienne, Greta Gerwig and Brady Corbet.

In the 90’s, French electronic music is developing at a rapid pace, and Paul (Félix de Givry) is taking his first steps as a DJ. Along with his best friend, he creates a duo called “Cheers”. But in their euphoric and short-lived rise to prominence, Paul becomes blinded by passion, and overlooks his own life.

EDEN traces the rise of the French electronic music from 1992 to today, and the development of the “french touch” generation that still enjoys outstanding international success thanks to musicians like Daft Punk, Dimitri from Paris and Cassius...

EDEN will be coming to Canadian theatres in June, 2015!

House music all night long!

IDA Wins Best Foreign Language Film at 87th Academy Awards®

Films We Like is very pleased to announce that Pawel Pawlikowski’s IDA won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards.

This is an historic Oscar win, as it is Poland’s first Academy Award in this category.

IDA was also nominated this year for Best Cinematography (Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski).

IDA is an intimate drama about a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland who, on the verge of taking her vows, discovers a dark family secret dating from the terrible years of the Nazi occupation. 18-year-old Anna, a sheltered orphan raised in a convent, is preparing to become a nun when the Mother Superior insists she first visit her sole living relative. Naïve, innocent Anna soon finds herself in the presence of her aunt, a worldly and cynical Communist Party insider, who shocks her with the declaration that her real name is Ida and her Jewish parents were murdered during the Nazi occupation. This revelation triggers a heart-wrenching journey into the countryside, to the family house and into the secrets of the repressed past, evoking the troubling legacy of the Holocaust and the realities of postwar Communism.

Powerfully written and eloquently shot, IDA is a masterly evocation of a time, a dilemma, and a defining historical moment; IDA is also personal, intimate, and human. This intersection of the personal with momentous historic events makes for what is surely one of the most powerful and affecting films of the year.

IDA returns to Toronto and plays Mount Pleasant Cinema and Kingsway Theatre starting Friday February 27, 2015.

The film returns to Vancouver and plays The Vancity on March 9 and 12, 2015.

New iTunes release!: PEACHES DOES HERSELF

Peaches’ controversial debut feature PEACHES DOES HERSELF is now on iTunes Canada! Here, the ever-provocative techno queen shows us what she’s made of as she leads her audience on an electro-rock journey through her life, her loves (lusts), and her music. Based on her jaw-dropping Berlin cabaret show, PEACHES DOES HERSELF takes no prisoners.

Watch PEACHES DOES HERSELF on iTunes Canada

FILMS WE LIKE AT THE 2015 ACADEMY AWARDS®!

Tune in this Sunday to find out if two Films We Like titles are 2015 Oscar® winners!

Films We Like’s recent hits IDA and FINDING VIVIAN MAIER have been nominated for the upcoming Academy Awards®! This weekend, we’ll be on the edge of our seats as we find out if Pawel Pawlikowski’s IDA wins for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography. We’ll also be holding our breath as we wait to learn if John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s FINDING VIVIAN MAIER wins for Best Documentary Feature. 

If you missed these great films, you still have a chance to get caught up on your Oscars® viewing!

Watch FINDING VIVIAN MAIER on iTunes Canada

Watch IDA on iTunes Canada

Wish us luck!

WHY DON'T YOU PLAY IN HELL? Opens in Toronto at The Royal Cinema on January 23, 2015

Films We Like is pumped to be bringing Sion Sono’s batsh*t crazy thirty-first feature WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL? to Canadian audiences. This outrageous yakuza extravaganza played at TIFF 2013 and had the midnight madness crowd going wild. WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL? opens in Toronto at The Royal Cinema on Friday, January 23, 2015.

Master filmmaker Sion Sono (Love Exposure; Cold Fish) describes his frenzied, gleeful new masterpiece as “an action film about the love of 35mm.” Based on a screenplay he wrote nearly fifteen years ago, WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL? is among Sono’s very best work, as his trademark excess and outrageousness is infused with an affection for the previous century of Japanese cinema. This is Sion Sono with his talent and unique vision completely unleashed.

There's a war going on, but that won't stop the inexperienced but eager wannabe film crew The Fuck Bombers from following their dreams of making the ultimate action epic. Ten years ago, yakuza mid-boss Ikegami
led an assault against rival don Muto. Now, on the eve of his revenge, all Muto wants to do is complete his masterpiece, a feature film with his daughter in the starring role, before his wife is released from prison. And The Fuck Bombers are standing by with the chance of a lifetime: to film a real, live yakuza battle to the death...on 35mm! 

Endlessly irreverent and wildly, hilariously visceral, WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL? is a Tarantino-esque ode to the yakuza films of yore, and features an over-the-top, blood-soaked finale for the ages.

Download the press kit and high-rez images!

For additional information and interview requests, please contact: Jasmine Pauk - Publicist - Films We Like

THE OVERNIGHTERS Opens in Toronto at The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema on Friday, November 7, 2014

Films We Like is excited to present Jesse Moss’ Sundance 2014 jaw-dropper THE OVERNIGHTERS. This haunting film follows the desperate, broken men who chase their dreams and run from their demons in the North Dakota oil fields, and the local Pastor who risks everything to help them. THE OVERNIGHTERS premiered this year at Sundance where it won the ‘Special Jury Prize for Intuitive Filmmaking,’ and it then captivated audiences at Hot Docs 2014. 

The film now opens in Toronto at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Friday, November 7, 2014. 

It is no secret that the United States has been facing a time of economic crisis. But in Williston, North Dakota the oil business is booming, nearly tripling the small town’s population in the past ten years. Unemployment is close to zero and starting pay in the oil fields can easily exceed $100,000. In search of a better life or a quick dollar, thousands of desperate men and women flock to the region looking for work and often arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs or the cars they are driving. 

!Housing in Williston has become scarce and expensive, leaving even those who have found employment without a place to live. These newcomers arrive at Concordia Lutheran Church everyday seeking help, which prompts Pastor Jay Reinke to open the church’s doors to allow the “Overnighters” — as he calls them — to stay for a night, a week or sometimes even longer, sleeping on the floor, in the pews and in their cars in the Church parking lot. Far from home and their families, they are desperately seeking the American Dream. On some nights, as many as sixty people call the Church home, which creates a vibrant but unruly ad-hoc community.

Members of Pastor Reinke’s Congregation and the Church’s neighbours voice their concerns about The Overnighters, while the recent murder of a local schoolteacher by out-of-towners has sown fear and distrust in Williston. The local newspaper’s sensational coverage of violent crime in the area contributes to a growing sense of unease. Yet Pastor Reinke remains determined to unite a divided community. “The last thing we need to do is serve our fear,” he says.

A modern-day Grapes of Wrath, THE OVERNIGHTERS engages and dramatizes a set of universal themes, including the promise and limits of reinvention, redemption and compassion, as well as the tension between the moral imperative to “Love thy neighbor” and the practice of one small, conservative community when confronted by a mighty river of desperate, job-seeking strangers.

Download the press kit and high-rez images!

For additional information and interview requests, please contact: Jasmine Pauk - Publicist - Films We Like

FORCE MAJEURE Opens in Toronto at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Friday, October 31, 2014

Films We Like is thrilled to present Ruben Östlund’s masterful, daring tragicomedy FORCE MAJEURE. Earlier in the year, this extraordinary film won the Cannes 2014 Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard. It was then selected for the Special Presentations section at TIFF 2014, where it was a huge hit with critics and festival audiences alike. This film has also been chosen to represent Sweden in the bid for Best Foreign-Language Film at the upcoming Academy Awards.

FORCE MAJEURE opens in Toronto at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Friday, October 31, 2014. 

A Swedish family travels to the French Alps to enjoy a few days of skiing and spend some precious time with each other. The sun is shining and the slopes are spectacular but, during a lunch at a mountainside restaurant, an avalanche turns everything upside down. With diners fleeing in all directions, mother Ebba calls for her husband Tomas as she tries to protect their children. Tomas, meanwhile, is running for his life...

Reality returns to embarrassed laughter, the anticipated disaster having failed to occur, and yet the family’s world has been shaken to its core. Tomas’ unexpected action leads them to evaluate their roles and assumptions, a question mark hanging over their father in particular. With the end of the holiday approaching, Tomas and Ebba’s marriage hangs in the balance as Tomas struggles desperately to reclaim his role as family patriarch.

FORCE MAJEURE is an observational comedy about the role of the male in modern family life. 

Download the press kit and high-rez images!

For additional information and interview requests, please contact: Jasmine Pauk - Publicist - Films We Like