ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Filmmakers representing the United States, Africa, Canada, the Caribbean and Europe comprised the more than 50 submissions received for BronzeLens 2011. More than 30 films will be screened during BronzeLens and of the films to be screened, 11 represent submissions from Atlanta filmmakers. The second annual BronzeLens Film Festival (BronzeLens) will take place over the course of four days, November 10-13, 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. BronzeLens events will take place at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis (Festival Headquarters), Georgia Pacific Center Auditorium, American Cancer Society Auditorium, Regal Theaters Atlantic Station and the Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Academic Center on the campus of Spelman College.
Feature films to be shown include:
On Opening Night November 10, 2011 will be the Atlanta premiere of We The Party produced and directed by Mario Van Peebles. We The Party is a colorful, authentic, cutting edge dramedy about high school students struggling to come of age during America’s first black presidency. The movie chronicles the adventures of five tightly knit teens as they plot to up their game, loose their virginity, out maneuver the school bully, and take the girls of their dreams to prom. Set against the backdrop of the latest music and dancing, “We The Party” features…. Snoop Dogg, YG, The New Boyz, The Rej3ctz, The Pink Dollaz, Mario Van Peebles, Michael Jai White, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Tiny Lister, Melvin Van Peebles, Moises Arias, Orlando Brown and Quincy Brown. www.imdb.com/title/tt1702016 Location: Regal Theaters Atlantic Station.
The Atlanta premiere of Shanghai Hotel starring Hill Harper, Eugenia Yuan and directed by Jerry Davis will take place November 11, 2011. Addressing community and civic engagement issues is a critical component of BronzeLens. This year the topic is human trafficking. The screening the of the film Shanghai Hotel Staring Eugenia Yuen and Hill Harper will bring together organizations that work towards eradication of this crisis and provide opportunity to expose the issue through film. The Shanghai Hotel is the story of a young woman named Yin Yin (Eugenia Yuan), who illegally buys her way to the USA from communist China hoping to make a better life for herself and her family. Yin Yin is devastated by the news that she is being sold into the sex slave trade. Women from Thailand, Korea and China all reside in the Shanghai Hotel. www.imdb.com/title/tt0816648 Location: The Rich Auditorium of the Woodruff Arts Center.
2011 Sundance Audience Award winner for World Cinema Drama, KINYARWANDA will be shown November 12, 2011. The African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement previews its second film, KINYARWANDA. Writer/director Alrick Brown’s compelling feature directorial debut garnered the Sundance Film Festival 2011 Audience Award in the World Cinema Drama category this year, and captured the Grand Prize at the lauded Skip City Film Festival in Japan last week. In KINYARWANDA, a young Tutsi woman and a young Hutu man fall in love amidst chaos, a soldier struggles with being absent from her family to foster a greater good, and a priest grapples with his faith in the face of unspeakable horror. www.kinyarwandamovie.com Location: Georgia Pacific Center Auditorium
Butterfly Rising marks the directorial debut of Tanya Wright who is known to fans worldwide for playing the sassy Deputy Kenya Jones on HBO's juggernaut, TRUE BLOOD. She has appeared on such ground-breaking shows as 24, NYPD BLUE and ER. Wright is also remembered by many for playing the role of LaMuzindah in the feature film THE BROTHERS and as Theo's first girlfriend, Tanya, on THE COSBY SHOW. She is the creator of several feature films, TV pilots, web series and reality shows, author and is currently creating a game. Butterfly Rising is currently the only transmedia project (a project that tells a story over many different platforms) currently on the indie circuit written/directed/produced and starring an African-American woman. www.imdb.com/video/wab/vi3619292185 Location: Georgia Pacific Center Auditorium
BronzeLens has expanded its reach and is now is an international film festival. This year France Atlanta 2011 and BronzeLens have collaborated to present landmark films, thought provoking issues about African cinema and the importance of diversity in film at what has been named “France-Atlanta at the BronzeLens Film Festival.” For this component of the festival one of the most notable African filmmakers of his generation, Gaston Kaboré, will be joining American filmmakers as a special guest in a roundtable discussion on the importance of African cinema and diversity in film Saturday, November 12, 2011 from 5 to 7 p.m. Among African films to be screened are Gaston Kaboré’s critically acclaimed Buud Yam (Best Film award at the 15th Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO)) and Sarabah, by Maria Luisa Gambale / Gloria Bremer at the American Cancer Society Auditorium. On Sunday November 13, 2011 “France-Atlanta at The BronzeLens” will present Mandela in the Name of Liberty by Joël Calmettes at the Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Academic Center on the campus of Spelman College.
Atlanta is known globally for its history as an advocacy center for social justice and civil rights. To that end Cinema and Social Justice Sunday was created as component of BronzeLens in collaboration with the National Center for Human and Civil Rights. One of the featured films to be shown is The Loving Story. It is a documentary that tells the story of Richard and Mildred Loving an inter-racial couple and their challenges to live together as a family. It also examines the drama, the history, and the current state of interracial marriage and tolerance in the United States. The documentary was filmed in High Definition video and 16mm film. The Loving Story is co-produced by HBO Documentary Films and will be broadcast on HBO in February, 2012.
About the BronzeLens Film Festival
BronzeLens producers are committed to bringing national and worldwide attention to Atlanta, helping to showcase the city as a leader in the thriving film industry. The festival is set to be a creative platform designed to empower, entertain and educate from various disciplines and inspire aspiring filmmakers. Narrative fiction, documentary, music video, and short film screenings coupled with the who’s who of the film industry make BronzeLens one of the nation’s most substantive film festivals.
Founded in 2009, The BronzeLens Film Festival of Atlanta, Georgia is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing national and worldwide attention to Atlanta as a center for film and film production for people of color. Its mission is twofold: to promote Atlanta as the new film Mecca for people of color; and to showcase films and provide networking opportunities that will develop the next generation of filmmakers. Visit www.bronzelens.com for more information regarding the BronzeLens Film Festival and for registration information.
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