Tag Archives: Edmonton International Film Festival

Award Winning Local Film ‘Lawrence & Holloman’ Opens in Theatres in Vancouver July 18th presented with The First Weekend Club

“The laughs just kept coming in this must see dark comedy. Perfectly cast … so well written .. audiences are going to love it. Put it on your calendars and get ready for those belly laughs!”
– The Cinequest Film Review, San Jose

“A kind of comic apocalypse … the unlikeliest best buds in the history of buddy comedy.”
– Edmonton Journal

The feel-bad comedy of the year …

LAWRENCE & HOLLOMAN

Directed by Matthew Kowalchuk based on the play by Morris Panych
Starring Ben Cotton, Daniel Arnold, Katharine Isabelle, Amy Matysio

Having swept North America with “must-see” reviews and 11 awards in 11 festivals, this darkly twisted buddy comedy – currently nominated for 4 Canadian Comedy Awards — is now making its theatrical premiere …

Synopsis:
Lawrence is an ever-optimistic suit salesman for whom everything always goes right. That is until he meets Holloman, a cynical and suicidal credit collector, and everything starts to go wrong. Very wrong. Is happiness determined by our outlook on life? Or can our destiny be changed … by another.

PREMIERE: FRIDAY JULY 18
VIFF VANCITY THEATRE
1181 Seymour Street
Reception at 6:45 | Screening at 7:45.
Presented with First Weekend Club
Reception with live musical performance by Jessica Harvey and Daniel Doerksen

Film followed by Q&A with filmmakers and after-party at Subeez
THEN:
July 19 @ 6:30 | July 21 @ 6:30 | July 22 @ 8:30 | July 23 @ 6:30
Tickets & Info: viff.org/theatre/films/fc8165-lawrence-holloman | 604 683 3456
Join the FB event at: facebook.com/events/851610758257396

CONTINUED RUN @
THE RIO THEATRE
1660 E Broadway @ Commercial
Thursday July 24 @ 9:30pm
Friday July 25 @ 7pm
Tickets & Info: www.riotheatre.ca | 604 878 3456

“A must-see! … the sleeper hit of the entire festival.” – The Gazette, EIFF
“Dark, twisted, and really very funny … a multi-dimensional screamer. One of the events top flicks.” – The Province
“Debuted to waves of laughter… a darkly funny, sometimes insane buddy comedy.” – YVR Shoots
“The writing is witty … the actors’ comedic timing is fantastic.” – The Examiner, Washington DC
“Clever, witty, and playful … This film is just dark enough that I feel a bit guilty about having enjoyed it as much as I did!” – AlienatedinVancouver
“Enjoyable to anyone … this film will please. It could also inspire you to choose to be optimistic and happy!” – Reellife
“Morbidly hilarious! … and that is sickly awesome.” – JasonWatchesMovies
“BEST BC FILMS AT VIFF” List – Vancouver Magazine
“TOP CANADIAN FILMS TO SEE AT VIFF” – The Huffington Post
“Rich humor … appealing performances … and something remarkable happens: the story starts to resonate in your heart — and when the dust settles this richly dark film may very well force you to re-examine your perspective.” – GayVancouver.net

Awards
Best Feature Comedy – RxSM
Best Canadian Feature – EIFF
Rising Star: Filmmaker – EIFF
Rising Star: Actor (Ben Cotton) – EIFF
Best Emerging Director – VIFF
Best Director of a Comedy – VTXIFF
Best Actor in a Comedy (Daniel Arnold) – VTXIFF
Best Canadian Film – BNFF
Best Comedic Acting (Ben Cotton) – BNFF
Excellence Award – Rincon, Puerto Rico
Best Casting – Leo Award

8 more Leo Award nominations (BC Film Awards):
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay
Best Lead Actor (Daniel Arnold), Best Lead Actor (Ben Cotton), Best Supporting Actress (Katharine Isabelle)
Best Editing, Best Sound Editing

4 Canadian Comedy Award nominations:
Best Feature, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay

Cast & Creatives
This debut feature from director Matthew Kowalchuk is based on the highly successful stage play by two-time Governor General’s Award winner Morris Panych. Adapted for the screen by Daniel Arnold & Matthew Kowalchuk, the script received story editing from Kyle Hunter & Ariel Shaffir (Seth Rogen’s co-writer/producers on 50/50, This is the End), and story consultation from Daniel Petrie Jr (Academy Award nominated writer of Beverly Hills Cop and The Big Easy).

Starring: Ben Cotton, Daniel Arnold, Katharine Isabelle, Amy Matysio
The film stars four-time Leo Award-nominated BEN COTTON (Battlestar Galactica, Stargate, The Killing) who for this role has won Rising Star Actor (EIFF) and Best Comedic Acting (BNFF); Gemini and Leo Award-winning KATHARINE ISABELLE (American Mary, Ginger Snaps) who was also nominated for a Leo Award for this role; 7-time Canadian Comedy Awards nominee AMY MATYSIO (Single White Spenny, inSAYSHAble); and introduces the internationally acclaimed theatre actor DANIEL ARNOLD in his debut starring role in a feature film, for which he has been nominated for “Best Actor” (Leo Awards) and won “Best Actor in a Comedy” (VTXIFF).

Executive Producers Mary Anne Waterhouse & Andrew Currie of Quadrant Motion Pictures have produced numerous features including Donovan’s Echo starring Danny Glover, The Thaw starring Val Kilmer, and FIDO starring Carrie Ann Moss, while producer Paul Armstrong of Ameland Films, Crazy8s Film Event and the Celluloid Social Club has produced the multi award-winning features See Grace Fly, Ill Fated, and Moving Malcolm starring Elizabeth Berkley, and co-producer Robyn Wiener has co-produced or line produced numerous films including Amazon Falls, The Wingman, and American Mary. Don Thompson of Finale Editworks is the Associate Producer.

The film was funded by Telefilm Canada, Super Channel and OUTtv and developed with the participation of Creative BC, Astral the Harold Greenberg Fund and Movie Central. Support also from Finale Editworks, Bridge Studios and William F White.

Distributor John Bain of Search Engine Films is the former Senior VP of Distribution at Lions Gate Films and Maple Pictures, and has overseen the Canadian release of movies such as Drive, Our Idiot Brother, Winter’s Bone, Hurt Locker, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Hunger, and Biutiful.

Search Engine will be releasing Lawrence & Holloman theatrically in at least 3 Canadian cities, starting in the film’s hometown of Vancouver.

We encourage you to get your tickets, and invite your friends! If you saw it at VIFF, try seeing it again for the very first time …

Social Media Handles

Website: lawrenceandholloman.com, firstweekendclub.ca, searchenginefilms.com
Twitter: @LHthemovie
Facebook: facebook.com/lawrenceandholloman

Contact The Promotion People

Lesley Diana – Founder, President and Publicist
lesley@thepromotionpeople.ca
604.726.5575

Website: thepromotionpeople.ca
Twitter: @PromotionPeople
Facebook: The Promotion People

Vancouver Feature Film LAWRENCE & HOLLOMAN at THE 2013 EDMONTON INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Vancouver Feature Film
LAWRENCE & HOLLOMAN
Directed by MATTHEW KOWALCHUK
based on the stage play by MORRIS PANYCH

AWARDED
THE CANADIAN FEATURE AWARD
& THE RISING STAR AWARD: FILMMAKING
to MATTHEW KOWALCHUK
& THE RISING STAR AWARD: ACTING to BEN COTTON
at
THE 2013 EDMONTON INTERNATIONAL
FILM FESTIVAL

STARRING
BEN COTTON & DANIEL ARNOLD
with KATHARINE ISABELLE & AMY MATYSIO

Ameland Films and Quadrant Motion Pictures are proud to announce that the Telefilm Canada funded dark comedy LAWRENCE & HOLLOMAN which premiered October 1^st to a sold out audience at the Vancouver International Film Festival has received the Canadian Feature Award; The Rising Star Award: Filmmaking to director Matthew Kowalchuk and The Rising Star Award: Acting to Ben Cotton at the 2013 Edmonton International Film Festival. The film will screen in Edmonton on Friday, October 4^th at 6:30pm and again on Saturday October 5^th at 12:00pm at Empire City Centre 9.

The film will screen again at the 2013 Vancouver International Film Festival on October 9 at 3:45 pm at SFU Woodwards.

At the BC Spotlight Awards, VIFF was thrilled to present the BC Emerging Filmmaker Award ($7,500 cash prize sponsored by UBCP/ACTRA and AFBS and $10,000 equipment rental credit from William F. White) to LAWRENCE & HOLLOMAN, directed by Matthew Kowalchuk.

Lawrence & Holloman in this darkly ridiculous buddy comedy, Lawrence, an ever-optimistic suit salesman, lives a happy-go-lucky, charmed life, in which everything goes right — until he meets Holloman, a cynical and pessimistic credit collector, and everything starts to go wrong. Very wrong.

Is happiness determined by our outlook on life? Or can our destiny be changed … by another.

Based on the play ‘Lawrence & Holloman’ by two-time Governor General Award-winning Canadian playwright Morris Panych (Vigil, Girl in the Goldfish Bowl), the screenplay was co-written by Daniel Arnold (The Janitors) and Matthew Kowalchuk (The Janitors, Penguins). This is Kowalchuk’s feature film directorial debut whose short films and stage direction have garnered him several awards.

“Lawrence & Holloman is the culmination of a lot of hard work and sacrifice, from an amazing team. And when you start out on this journey to make a film, you never know how or even IF you’ll find an audience. To be recognized in this way, in my hometown, is an incredible honour. Growing up in Edmonton, the community of artists and audience taught me to take risks and to follow my heart; lessons I haven’t forgotten, and that have helped make this film a reality.” –Director Matthew Kowalchuk

The film stars Ben Cotton (Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome, Cinemanovels) and Daniel Arnold (The PI Experiment, Penguins) with Katharine Isabelle (American Mary, Ginger Snaps, Cinemanovels) & Amy Matysio (inSAYSAble, Single White Spenny).

Heading up the Producing team are Paul Armstrong (Moving Malcolm, See Gray Fly, Ill Fated), Daniel Arnold & Matthew Kowalchuk. Mary Anne Waterhouse (Fido, The Thaw, Donovan’s Echo, That Burning Feeling) & Andrew Currie (Fido, The Delicate Art of Parking, Mile Zero) of Quadrant Motion Pictures serve as Executive Producers. Completing the team are Co-Producer/Line Producer Robyn Wiener (American Mary, The Wingman, Amazon Falls) & Associate Producer Don Thompson of Finalé Editworks.

The project attracted a talented team including story editors Kyle Hunter & Ariel Shaffir (producer/story editors on 50/50, Goon, This is the End), story consultant Daniel Petrie Jr (Academy Award nominated writer of The Big Easy and Beverly Hills Cop), and award winning twin Cinematographers Nelson Talbot & Graham Talbot (Primary), Production Designer Guy Roland (Backmask), Costume Designer Jojo MacDowall (The PI Experiment), Composer Don Macdonald (Camera Shy, Kissed) & Editor David Legault (Kink). The film was cast by Emmy-nominated Candice Elzinga Casting.

The film received production funding from Telefilm Canada and development funding from The Astral Media Harold Greenberg Fund, Corus Entertainment & Creative BC. Super Channel & OutTV will broadcast the film following a film festival run and a theatrical release.

Social Media Handles

Website: lawrenceandholloman.com
Twitter: @LHthemovie
Facebook: facebook.com/lawrenceandholloman

Contact The Promotion People

Lesley Diana – Founder, President and Publicist
lesley@thepromotionpeople.ca
604.726.5575

Website: thepromotionpeople.ca
Twitter: @PromotionPeople
Facebook: The Promotion People

Lawrence & Holloman to Premiere at the 2013 Vancouver International Film Festival

Telefilm Canada funded Feature Film
LAWRENCE & HOLLOMAN
to PREMIERE at
THE 2013 VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Directed by MATTHEW KOWALCHUK
based on the stage play by MORRIS PANYCH

STARRING
BEN COTTON & DANIEL ARNOLD
with KATHARINE ISABELLE & AMY MATYSIO

Ameland Films and Quadrant Motion Pictures are proud to announce that the Telefilm Canada funded dark comedy LAWRENCE & HOLLOMAN which filmed November 5-28, 2012, in Vancouver, Mission, Maple Ridge & Abbotsford, BC, Canada will have its world premiere at the 2013 Vancouver International Film Festival on October 1 and screen again Oct 9, 2013.

The film will also screen at the Edmonton International Film Festival Oct 4 and 5, 2013.

Lawrence & Holloman In this darkly ridiculous buddy comedy, Lawrence, an ever-optimistic suit salesman, lives a happy-go-lucky, charmed life, in which everything goes right — until he meets Holloman, a cynical and pessimistic credit collector, and everything starts to go wrong. Very wrong.

Is happiness determined by our outlook on life? Or can our destiny be changed … by another.

Based on the play ‘Lawrence & Holloman’ by two-time Governor General Award-winning Canadian playwright Morris Panych (Vigil, Girl in the Goldfish Bowl), the screenplay was co-written by Daniel Arnold (The Janitors) and Matthew Kowalchuk (The Janitors, Penguins). This is Kowalchuk’s feature film directorial debut whose short films and stage direction have garnered him several awards.

“We are very excited to premiere Lawrence & Holloman to the ‘hometown’ crowd first at the Vancouver International Film Festival. We shot the film here, nearly all our cast and crew are all local, Morris Panych (who wrote the play) lived in Vancouver; it’s homegrown in every way. With our industry in crisis, now is a time more than ever to showcase our own work. And with so many high quality productions coming out of Vancouver right now, we are honoured to be chosen among them.” – Director Matthew Kowalchuk

The film stars Ben Cotton (Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome, Cinemanovels) and Daniel Arnold (The PI Experiment, Penguins) with Katharine Isabelle (American Mary, Ginger Snaps, Cinemanovels) & Amy Matysio (inSAYSAble, Single White Spenny).

Heading up the Producing team are Paul Armstrong (Moving Malcolm, See Gray Fly, Ill Fated), Daniel Arnold & Matthew Kowalchuk. Mary Anne Waterhouse (Fido, The Thaw, Donovan’s Echo, That Burning Feeling) & Andrew Currie (Fido, The Delicate Art of Parking, Mile Zero) of Quadrant Motion Pictures serve as Executive Producers. Completing the team are Co-Producer/Line Producer Robyn Wiener (American Mary, The Wingman, Amazon Falls) & Associate Producer Don Thompson of Finalé Editworks.

The project attracted a talented team including story editors Kyle Hunter & Ariel Shaffir (producer/story editors on 50/50, Goon, This is the End), story consultant Daniel Petrie Jr (Academy Award nominated writer of The Big Easy and Beverly Hills Cop), and award winning twin Cinematographers Nelson Talbot & Graham Talbot (Primary), Production Designer Guy Roland (Backmask), Costume Designer Jojo MacDowall (The PI Experiment), Composer Don Macdonald (Camera Shy, Kissed) & Editor David Legault (Kink). The film was cast by Emmy-nominated Candice Elzinga Casting.

The film received production funding from Telefilm Canada and development funding from The Astral Media Harold Greenberg Fund, Corus Entertainment & Creative BC. Super Channel & OutTV will broadcast the film following a film festival run and a theatrical release.

Social Media Handles

Website: lawrenceandholloman.com
Twitter: @lawrenceholoman
Facebook: Lawrence & Holloman

Contact The Promotion People

Lesley Diana – Founder, President and Publicist
lesley@thepromotionpeople.ca
604.726.5575

Website: thepromotionpeople.ca
Twitter: @PromotionPeople
Facebook: The Promotion People

Writer/Director Jesse James Miller’s “The Good Son” screens at The Hamptons International Film Festival and “Becoming Redwood” screens at VIFF

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Award Winning Writer/Director Jesse James Miller Unveils Feature Documentary “The Good Son” at The Hamptons International Film Festival. Jesse also recently wrote the feature “Becoming Redwood”, which will be screening at VIFF October 11th & 12th.

2012-Multi-award winning writer/director, Jesse James Miller is sparking audience attention with his new feature documentary “The Good Son” (featuring entertainment industry legends Mickey Rourke, Ed O’Neill, Sugar Ray Leonard and Ray Mancini). Working as a writer and director over the past 15 years, Jesse’s labour of love documentary contains plenty of heart; focusing particularly on the resilience and spirit of protagonist Ray Mancini. “The Good Son”, based on a true story about heartbreak and inspiration between a father and son will tug at the heartstrings of captive audiences everywhere.

“The Good Son” follows Ray Mancini, son of the original Boom Boom lightweight contender Lenny Mancini. A national icon in the sport of boxing Ray competes to represent middle class America but most of all, fights to conquer his father’s unfinished business. Lenny’s dreams ended on a battlefield, when fragments from a German mortar shell nearly killed him. Almost four decades later, Ray promises to win the title his father failed to achieve. “The Good Son” focuses on real life perspectives and accounts, detailing the highs and lows of Ray’s boxing career. The documentary discusses a match in 1982 against obscure Korean challenger, Deuk Koo Kim that would alter Ray’s path in life forever. Challenger Deuk Koo Kim never regained consciousness after the fourteenth round and passed away days after the match. Three months later, Deuk’s despondent mother took her own life. These deaths have not only haunted Ray but also tainted his image as an all American boxer.

“The Good Son” uncovers the dimensions of Mancini’s ill-fated career, tracking the Mancini and Kim families across generations and excavating mysteries—from the killing of Mancini’s brother to the fate of Kim’s son. Even as the scenes move from Youngstown to New York, Las Vegas to Seoul, Reno to Hollywood, “The Good Son” remains an intimate history; a saga of fathers and fighters, loss and redemption.

As a director, Jesse poses determination, resilience and passion, qualities that transpire into his work behind the camera. Coming from a family immersed in the arts, Jesse always dreamed of someday becoming a writer. As a child, Jesse was in tune with his creative genes and began writing plays, scripts, songs and poems. Writing was a creative outlet for Jesse that fed his imaginative mind, yet he knew that before he could direct his own film, he would need to learn the ins and outs of the film industry.

While Jesse perfected the art of editing, he also wrote a script titled “Becoming Redwood”. Set in 1969, this film follows the life of Redwood Forest Hanson, who at the age of 2, witnesses his family disintegrate as his mother leaves his father for a new life. At the very moment his mother walks away, Redwood, aided with the background radio news of another Jack Nicklaus victory, has the beginning of a stress induced epiphany: Beat Jack Nicklaus, the world’s greatest golfer, and his family will be back together. This bittersweet film focuses on Redwood`s longing to triumph over the adversities of everyday life. With no easy solutions in this coming-of-age comedy, a sense of hope still prevails for Redwood: a hope for love, a hope for the future, and for a sense of amity in the unsympathetic wheel of life. Recently, “Becoming Redwood” earned the Juried Award for best Canadian film at the Edmonton International Film Festival. “Becoming Redwood” stars Ryan Grantham, Jennifer Copping, Scott Hylands, Derek Hamilton and Chad Willet and is currently screening at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Jesse recently wrote and directed the award winning documentary film My American Exodus (VIFF, OIFF, DOC CITY DOCFEST) and was nominated as Best Director for the critically acclaimed feature documentary Uganda Rising (HotDocs, Discovery Times). Also, he directed the feature film The Seamstress (Lance Hendriksen), helmed the pilot presentation piece Captain Starship (Paul McGillion) and is currently directing commercials for Lancaster Vintage (featuring Snoop Dogg, Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali and Bruce Lee). Jesse credits his family for inspiring him to follow his dreams of becoming a writer and director. He currently resides with his wife and son in Vancouver.

“The Good Son” is set to premiere at The Hamptons International Film Festival on October 6th 2012. It will also play at the Philadelphia film festival on November 19th, 21st and 24th 2012. “Becoming Redwood” is screening at VIFF on October 11 & 12th.

Social Media Handles

Website: jessejamesmiller.com
Twitter: @Backyardbuddha

Contact The Promotion People

Website: thepromotionpeople.ca
Twitter: @PromotionPeople
Facebook: The Promotion People
Email: lesley@thepromotionpeople.ca