Beyond Fest Sets 2021 Lineup; ‘Sankofa’ Gets 4K Restoration Via Array; Buffalo 8 Acquires ‘Dreams On Fire’; More – Film Briefs

Matt Grobar

September 16, 2021 at 5:12 PM·9 min read

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Leading US genre festival Beyond Fest has set a slate of programming comprising 39 features ahead of its return to theaters between September 29 and October 11.

The festival will open with the West Coast premiere of Julia Ducornau’s Palme d’Or Winner Titane, which will be screened from a never-before-seen 35mm print. The fest is also presenting the US premiere of David Gordon Green’s anticipated Blumhouse slasher, Halloween Kills—the 12th chapter in the iconic Halloween franchise, which had its world premiere in Venice.

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Other major festival titles screening are Valdimar Jóhannsson’s Cannes horror pic Lamb, and Gaspar Noé’s Vortex. V/H/S 94, The Black Phone, Earwig, Travelling Light, South of Heaven, The Seed, The Feast, The Banquet are also on the lineup.

As part of its Icons of Cinema series, the festival will also present screenings of past films from Michael Mann (Collateral and Thief), Udo Kier (Blood for Dracula) and director and VFX wizard Phil Tippett (Mad God, Starship Troopers), with each in attendance.

Additional throwback screenings of Lars von Trier’s Antichrist, The Babadook, Freddy vs. Jason, You’re Next and more will also be offered over thecourse of the festival, with DuCornau, Green, Jóhannsson, Noomi Rapace, Jason Blum, Scott Derrikson, Adam Wingard, Fede Álvarez also in attendance.

Screenings will take place at the Legion Theatre, Aero Theatre, and Los Feliz 3; all programming at the latter is 100% free to all guests. Attendees to all screenings will need to present a valid ID and physical proof of vaccination, while following mask mandates. Those who have not been vaccinated for religious or medical reasons will be provided with reasonable accommodations, though they’ll need to submit proof of a negative Covid-19 PCR test, taken within 72 hours of a given screening.

Tickets to Beyond Fest will go on sale via americancinematheque.com on September 17th at 10 a.m. PT. For the full 2021 lineup, click here.

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Array Releasing has partnered with Ethiopian filmmaker Haile Gerima for a 4K restoration of his self-distributed 1993 film, Sankofa, which it will re-release on September 24, in the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, via Netflix.

The film about the untold history of Black resistance marked the culmination of 20 years of research into the trans-Atlantic slave trade. It follows Mona (Oyafunmike Ogunlano), a Black American fashion model on a photo shoot in Ghana, who undergoes a journey back in time to a North America plantation, where she becomes the enslaved African woman Shola. Following her transformation, she experiences the horrors of slavery firsthand, recovering and confronting her ancestral identity and experience.

Sankofa will screen at Ava DuVernay’s Array Creative Campus in Los Angeles on September 24, followed by a screening of Gerima’s film Ashes and Embers on September 25, the same day Gerima is set to be honored by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures with the inaugural Vantage Award.

Tickets to Array’s upcoming events are free and open to the public with advance registration at http://www.arrayplay.com. Proof of vaccination is required to attend.

The Sankofa acquisition was negotiated by Gordon Bobb of Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein, and Lezcano on behalf of Array, and Haile Gerima, Shirikiana Gerima and Merawi Gerima of Negod Gwad Productions.

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EXCLUSIVE: Buffalo 8 has nabbed North American and UK rights to Dreams on Fire, the Fantasia Audience Award winner, which marks Philippe McKie’s feature debut.

The film follows Yume (Bambi Naka), who leaves her small town against her parents’ wishes to move to Tokyo and break into Japan’s underground dance scene.

“Dreams on Fire is a beautiful and electrifying descent into a previously unexplored dance subculture, which we are so excited to share with audiences,” said Buffalo 8’s Head of Distribution, Nikki Stier Justice. “Director Philippe McKie manages to capture the essence of the underground dance scene with vibrant and mesmerizing cinematography through a nuanced character study of an aspiring dancer.”

Michelle LeBlanc produced the pic written, directed and edited by McKie. It’s set for a theatrical release early next year.

The acquisition deal was negotiated by Buffalo 8’s Nikki Stier Justice. Check out the trailer for Dreams on Fire below.

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Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios, has taken global VOD rights to writer-director Aaron M. Abeltos’s crime thriller, Iron Temple, which will be available for rental on digital, cable and satellite platforms, and to own on DVD on November 2.

The narrative-documentary hybrid follows real-life bodybuilder Tony Torres as he builds a lucrative career in the fitness and adult entertainment industries, only for it to come crashing down, when he covers for a friend who has committed murder. After being chased by the FBI and sent to prison for five years, Tony has to build his life up once again from scratch, beginning his road to redemption by setting up a small gym.

Freestyle’s Chris Gray negotiated the acquisition deal with Abelto. More information on the film can be found here. Check out its trailer below.

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Beyond Fest Sets 2021 Lineup; ‘Sankofa’ Gets 4K Restoration Via Array; Buffalo 8 Acquires ‘Dreams On Fire’; More – Film Briefs

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