I’ve never been to Lithuania, so I can’t attest how easy or not it is to escape from, but the title of this movie suggests you’ll have a few problems. A few of you may remember the film causing a bit of interest during its crowdfunding stage when director Romas Zabarauskas promised naked pics of himself to people who gave enough, and one of his actors also released some nude shots to increase interest in the film.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘After his star actress, Indre, murders her mother, rich-kid filmmaker Romas plans her escape from Lithuania. His sexy Mexican boyfriend Carlos helps them reluctantly. On the road, Romas begins shooting an improvised experimental film of the trip with his smartphone. As events take an unexpected turn, their secrets, memories and emotions make this journey wilder than any film Romas could have imagined.’

TLA Releasing is bringing out the film on DVD on the UK on July 10th. Take a look at the trailer below. [Read more…]

Since it started in 2002, the Tribeca Film Festival (co-founded by Robert de Niro), has become one of the world’s premiere movie fests. It’s a great honour then to win an award at Tribeca, which is just what Guillermo Pfening did, for playing a gay Latino immigrant in Nobody’s Watching. That certainly bodes well for the movie, which will hopefully get a release soon.

Here’s the film’s synopsis from the Tribeca Film Festival website: ‘Nico (Pfening) is a famous actor in Argentina, but in New York, nobody takes notice. After giving up a successful career in his home country for a chance to make it in the Big Apple, he needs to juggle bartending, babysitting and odd jobs to keep himself afloat. Starting from square one is hard in the city of dreams. With each role Nico takes on, he puts on a new persona in order to fit in. He performs the ideal bartender, the up-and-coming actor, the friend, the father figure. But when old friends from Buenos Aires come to visit, he needs to juggle the image of his old life with the reality of the struggling actor in New York City.

‘In a moving depiction of this vibrant city, director Julia Solomonoff’s touching feature presents a portrait of immigrant solitude. Nico faces the difficulty of finding not only a home, but himself amidst the indifferent metropolis. Nobody’s Watching questions how we adjust when we lose our audience.’

Take a look at the teaser for the movie below. [Read more…]

Today, the movie Taxi Stories receives its US/International premiere as part of the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival. It will screen on Wednesday, May 3rd at 8:30pm, as the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. It’s a great time then to take a look at the trailer for the intriguing pan-Asian film, which is getting a decent amount of buzz.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘TAXI STORIES is a mosaic film of 3 stories in 3 different Asian cities where the paths of the rich and poor cross one another in and around taxis. A closeted Beijing cab driver tries to seduce a rich passenger, a Hong Kong pregnant trophy wife starts to develop feelings for her new Indonesian maid and a Jakarta slum orphan becomes infatuated with a Western female backpacker. All 3 characters desperately want to connect on a basic human level but are their own worst obstacle. In a new Asia where social mobility is linked to increasing wealth, money divides and separates each of them making it harder to be who they really are and not what they appear to be.

‘TAXI STORIES stars reknowned Hong Kong acting legend Ms. Petrina Fung Bobo (馮寶寶), Indonesian mega singer/actress Shanty and rising star Cora Cao (曹珊). TAXI STORIES is written and directed by Amsterdam based Chinese American filmmaker Doris Yeung and is a co-production between China, Indonesia and The Netherlands.’

You can watch the trailer below. [Read more…]