The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema in association with Japan Society has announced today that Jay Chou’s THE ROOFTOP has been selected as the Closing Night presentation of the 2013 New York Asian Film Festival. Also announced were 22 additional titles, including several notable premieres, highly anticipated titles and salutes to Hong Kong Cinema, Taiwan Pulp and the Well Go USA distribution company. The 12th edition of The New York Asian Film Festival will take place June 28 – July 15, with screenings at The Film Society of Lincoln Center (June 28 – July 11), Japan Society (July 11 – 14) and Asia Society (July 15).

Chou’s THE ROOFTOP will make its North American Premiere as the Closing Night selection for NYAFF. Shot on location in Taiwan, Beijing and Shanghai, Cho’s second film behind the camera, following SECRET (2007) is a romance combining elements of martial arts and special effects in a musical extravaganza. The film stars Chou with Eric Tsang, Wand Xueqi and Alan Ko in a story set in a fantasy world comprised of two distinctly contrasting communities and lifestyles. One group lives on rooftops, where they dance and sing, passing their days without a care in the world, while below them are the people living under the rooftops, who possess more money and power. Chou has described the film as the first in a new genre, “A musical action movie, (where) love is the main axis, combining fantasy, romance, dancing, action, special effects and many other elements, so that there will be romantic scenes and classical taste.” Chou also wrote ten songs for the film’s soundtrack.

Highlights include the North American premieres of Sion Sono’s and Tokyo GAGAGA’s long awaited sci-fi gang war epic, BAD FILM, Hideo Nakata’s chilling descent into a much darker family drama with THE COMPLEX, Nattawat Poonpiriya’s COUNTDOWN, about a deadly New Year’s Eve outing, Takashi Miike’s return to blood and guts with LESSON TO THE EVIL, and the latest entry in the popular Ip Man series, IP MAN: THE FINAL FIGHT, with director Herman Yau in attendance. Mika Ninagawa’s HELTER SKELTER, a horror film dealing with celebrities and plastic surgery, will make its New York debut, and Andrew Lau will be on hand to present the first two films from his YOUNG AND DANGEROUS series.

NYAFF has also announced three planned focuses for this year’s edition of the popular festival: Hong Kong Cinema Now & Beyond!; Taiwan Pulp! – Tales of Gangsters, Female Avengers and Ninjas!; and a spotlight on distributor Well Go USA.

CODE BLACK gives audiences unprecedented access into the ER at Los Angeles County Hospital, the birthplace of emergency room medicine, through the eyes of several idealistic and adrenaline-seeking ER residents.

First time filmmaker Ryan McGarry is also a doctor at the hospital and took his camera to work during the four years of his residency. With CODE BLACK, he provides deeply personal insight into the triumphs and difficulties he and his fellow residents who train and work at LA County Hospital face on a daily basis. As they are forced to confront the unexpected realities of life and death in a safety net hospital and a healthcare system at the brink of overload, many of them question their own sense of identities as doctors and what it means to practice medicine within the bureaucracy of modern medicine.

CODE BLACK is directed by Ryan McGarry and written by Joshua Altman and Ryan McGarry. The film is produced by Linda Goldstein Knowlton. Executive Producers are Mark Jonathan Harris, Marti Noxon, Edward Newton, M.D., William “Billy” Mallon, M.D., Jan Shoenberger, M.D., Matt Damron, and Diku Mandavia, M.D. Co-producers include Andrew C. Richey and Thomas G. Miller. With cinematography by Nelson Hume, editing by Joshua Altman, and music by James Lavino.

Tonight the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) announced the winner of the first ever TFI Sloan Filmmaker Prize, Newton’s Laws of Emotion. The project will receive a $10,000 cash prize that will be used to help bring the film closer to completion. The prize was awarded by a jury comprised of film and science luminaries in order to further support a project that has the most potential to succeed in fulfilling the program’s mission of advancing a greater public understanding of science.

The project was chosen from the four 2013 Sloan Filmmaker Fund recipients. Those recipients were awarded a total of $140,000 in grants earlier in the month. Each of the projects integrates science and technology themes and characters into their storylines. The grant recipients will also receive year-round mentorship from science experts and members of the film industry in order to complete their projects.

Newton’s Laws of Emotion (Eugene Ramos, Screenwriter; Andeep Singh, Producer) follows a young Isaac Newton as he pursues the affections of a headstrong princess and seeks to uncover the principles of love using his new system of mathematics. However, his equations start to break down when her former lover enters the scene.

The 2013 jury members included actors Clark Middleton (Kill Bill: Vol. II, Sin City), Ron Livingston (Office Space, Band of Brothers), Dean Winters (“Oz,” “30 Rock,” “Rescue Me”), Helen Fisher, PhD, biological anthropologist; and John Quackenbusch, Harvard professor of computational biology and bioinformatics.

“We have selected four amazing TFI/Sloan film projects this year but we are especially thrilled to award the first ever TFI Sloan Filmmaker Prize to Newton’s Laws of Emotion,” said Doron Weber, Vice President, Programs at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “It gives us a brilliant, swashbuckling and romantic Isaac Newton whose personal emotions color his scientific theories –and vice versa—and shows yet again how science is a quintessentially human enterprise that translates into great storytelling and box office magic.”

“Isaac Newton is a remarkable figure in the scientific community and we are proud to champion a project that explores Newton’s brilliance and character,” said Tamir Muhammad, Director of Feature Programming, TFI. “This prize will give the project additional resources to bring an interest in his work to a wider audience.”

In addition to the TFI/Sloan Filmmaker Prize, the TAA Creative Promise Awards and the alumni grants were presented at an evening reception at MEGU in Manhattan on April 24, 2013.

The 11th annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) concluded on Sunday evening (April 14) with a red carpet and gala fete that included the Los Angeles premiere of Deepa Mehta’s MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN, and the presentation of the festival’s Grand Jury and Audience Choice Awards, followed by an after party.

This year the festival showcased more than 35 film features, documentaries, and short films at ArcLight Hollywood, home of IFFLA since its inception. “The awards are always bittersweet for all of us in the programming team as we truly believe in the exceptional talent and relevance of each film which has been so carefully chosen,” said Lead Programmer Terrie Samundra. “That being said, we wholeheartedly share the enthusiasm of the audience and our prestigious jury. A huge congratulations to the winners!”

Ashim Ahluwalia’s MISS LOVELY took home the Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature, with an honorable mention for SHIP OF THESEUS directed by Anand Gandhi. The Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary went to Sushrut Jain for BEYOND ALL BOUNDARIES, and for Best Short to UNRAVEL directed by Meghna Gupta, with an honorable mention for TATPASCHAT directed by Vasudev Keluskar.

GRAND JURY AWARDS
BEST FEATURE: MISS LOVELY directed by Ashim Ahluwalia
HONORABLE MENTION: SHIP OF THESEUS directed by Anand Gandhi
BEST DOCUMENTARY: BEYOND ALL BOUNDARIES directed by Sushrut Jain
BEST SHORT FILM: UNRAVEL directed by Meghna Gupta
HONORABLE MENTION: TATPASCHAT directed by Vasudev Keluskar

AUDIENCE AWARDS
BEST FEATURE: FILMISTAAN directed by Nitin Kakkar
BEST DOCUMENTARY: BEYOND ALL BOUNDARIES directed by Gotham Chopra
BEST SHORT: UNRAVEL directed by Meghna Gupta

The 2013 feature film jurors were International Director of the Feature Film Program at the Sundance Institute Paul Federbush, director/editor/writer Kanika Myer (HALO, HEART OF INDIA), and Assistant Curator of Film Programs at LACMA Bernardo Rondeau.The Best Documentary Award was decided by The Hollywood Reporter and Los Angeles Times film critic Sheri Linden, Senior Programmer at Film Independent Maggie Mackay, and Producer Nadine Mundo (CHELSEA SETTLES). Judging the short films were filmmaker and IFFLA alum Prashant Bhargava (PATANG), Film Curator and Director of Industry Programming at Palm Springs ShortFest Kathleen McInnis, and actress Sheetal Sheth (ABCD, LOOKING FOR COMEDY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD).

The Tribeca Film Institute (TFI) today announced the projects that will receive financial and creative support from the TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund, provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. This year, four projects which were chosen from 127 applicants from around the world, will be awarded a total of $140,000 and will be recognized at the annual Tribeca Film Festival, taking place April 17-28, 2013. The winning films are: 2030, Newton’s Laws of Emotion, Oldest Man Alive and The Doctor. The projects, which all integrate science and technology themes and characters into their story lines, focus on subjects ranging from climate change and genetic engineering to physics, medicine and invention.

The TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund bestows grants to narrative film projects that dramatize science and technology themes in film or that portray scientists, engineers, or mathematicians in prominent character roles. Grant recipients also receive year-round mentorship from science experts and members of the film industry in order to complete their projects. 2013 marks the 12th year of the partnership between TFI and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, a founding sponsor of the Tribeca Film Festival and TFI. The Sloan Foundation will also present a 20th anniversary retrospective screening and discussion of the internationally acclaimed AIDS film And the Band Played On during the Festival.

The winning projects were selected by a jury composed of film and science luminaries including actors Clark Middleton (Kill Bill: Vol. II, Sin City), Ron Livingston (Office Space, Band of Brothers), Dean Winters (“Oz,” “30 Rock,” “Rescue Me”), Helen Fisher, PhD, biological anthropologist; and John Quackenbusch, Harvard professor of computational biology and bioinformatics.

In addition to financial and year-round ancillary support, TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund grant recipients will receive exposure to industry executives, financiers and producers during the Tribeca Film Festival. Grant recipients will have the opportunity to present their projects to industry executives during one-on-one pitch sessions at TFI Industry Meetings. The additional support gives winners and their projects unparalleled access and visibility. 2011 grantee, A Birder’s Guide to Everything (Rob Meyer, director, screenwriter; Luke Matheny, screenwriter; Paul Miller, producer), starring Academy Award® winner Ben Kingsley, will have its world premiere during this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Last year’s grantee, Computer Chess, premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Sloan Feature Film Prize, and has been acquired by Kino Lorber.

Additionally, this year TFI will launch the TFI Professional Partnership, an initiative that will continue TFI’s commitment to supporting the careers and projects of their grantees, including those involved with the Sloan Filmmaker Fund. The initiative will partner leading media companies with a pool of talented filmmakers. The partnership will allow these filmmakers to translate their filmmaking skills into areas such as television, web, marketing, and education. The TFI Professional Partnership will kick off with a professional development panel during the Festival. After the panel, each partnering company will select at least two grantees for further one-on-one development and consideration for their business needs. Partnering companies include NBC Universal and Warner Bros.

“For the past 12 years, TFI has worked in conjunction with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to nurture and promote new projects that merge science and character-driven storytelling in a way that is unique in the industry,” said Tamir Muhammad, Director of Feature Programming, TFI. “In addition, this year marks the fifth anniversary of the Sloan retrospective screening at TFF and this year’s film, And the Band Played On, is a great example of the blending of science and human interest on screen that the TFI Sloan Filmmaker Fund champions.”

“We are thrilled to partner again with Tribeca in supporting filmmakers who engage with science and technology themes and characters in innovative ways,” said Doron Weber, Vice President, Programs at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. “Three completed feature films – Future Weather, Computer Chess and A Birder’s Guide to Everything – have already emerged from this pioneering partnership and we look forward to seeing this year’s winning film in theaters in the coming years.“

Selected projects for funding:

•2030
In a near future Vietnam where seawater has buried a large part of the land and cultivation has to be done on floating farms, a strong-willed woman has to make a critical decision about her ex-lover, a geneticist who could be her husband’s murderer. Nghiem-Minh Nguyen-Vo (Screenwriter, Director), Bao Nguyen (Producer)

•Newton’s Laws of Emotion
As a young Isaac Newton pursues the affections of a headstrong princess, he seeks to uncover the principles of love using his new system of mathematics. However, his equations start to break down when her former lover enters the scene. Eugene Ramos (Screenwriter), Andeep Singh (producer)

•Oldest Man Alive
A suicidal 88-year-old inventor finds a reason to live in the young Romanian woman who saves him from drowning. But when she moves into his Manhattan townhouse, it upsets his son and daughter-in-law, who have waited decades to inherit the multi-million dollar dwelling. Antonio Tibaldi (Screenwriter, Director), Ryan Brown (Screenwriter)

•The Doctor
Salim, a disgraced young doctor from India, will do anything to get back into medicine. But when he takes a job at an illegal clinic in New York, he finds more danger than redemption. Musa Syeed (Screenwriter, Director), Nicholas Bruckman (Producer)

On Monday, April 22, the grant-winning film projects will have scenes from their screenplays performed by an esteemed cast at the invitation-only Sloan Work-In-Progress Readings at The Crosby Hotel.

The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) announced today its 2013 jury, as well as four films that have been added to the program – Toronto Film Festival favorite SHIP OF THESEUS in its U.S. Premiere; the powerful environmental documentary narrated by Darryl Hannah, PAD YATRA: A GREEN JOURNEY; the Walt Disney animated Family Day film ARJUN: THE WARRIOR PRINCE; and short film IRON TRACKS (LOHPATH). In addition, two Panel Discussions have been added to the schedule, which will explore issues of importance to Indian entertainment and cinema today.

Three juries will award prizes to the best of the competition films in the categories of Feature, Short, and Documentary films. In addition to the jury prizes, the audience will have a chance to cast their ballots for the same categories. Award winners will be announced during the festival’s Closing Night, just prior to the Los Angeles premiere of OscarÓ-nominated Deepa Mehta’s MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN.

The 2013 feature film jurors are: International Director of the Feature Film Program at the Sundance Institute Paul Federbush, director/editor/writer Kanika Myer (HALO, HEART OF INDIA), andAssistant Curator of Film Programs at LACMA Bernardo Rondeau. The Best Documentary Award will be decided by The Hollywood Reporter and Los Angeles Times film critic Sheri Linden, Senior Programmer at Film IndependentMaggie Mackay, and Academy Awardâ-nominated filmmaker Jessica Sanders (AFTER INNOCENCE). Judging the short films are filmmaker and IFFLA alum Prashant Bhargava (PATANG), Film Curator and Director of Industry Programming at Palm Springs ShortFestKathleen McInnis,and actressSheetal Sheth (ABCD, LOOKING FOR COMEDY IN THE MUSLIM WORLD).

Four distinguished films have been added to the festival’s already impressive line up: SHIP OF THESEUS, a critical and audience favorite at the Toronto Film Festival last year, reveals an original and razor sharp directorial voice in this feature debut from playwright Anand Gandhi in its U.S. Premiere; PAD YATRA: A GREEN JOURNEY, a stunning documentary about a treacherous journey to spread the word about global warming shot with solar power by Ladakhi monk Ngawang Sodpa and narrated by Daryl Hannah; ARJUN: THE WARRIOR PRINCE, a spectacular animated film from Walt Disney and UTV Motion Pictures that will screen as the centerpiece of the festival’s Family Day activities; and the short film IRON TRACKS (LOHPATH), an ode to the innocence corrupted and humanity lost in the vicious victimization of children.

Two Panel Discussions that will explore issues of importance to Indian entertainment and cinema today will take place on Saturday, April 13. LAUGHING AT OURSELVES: A Conversation with Actors and Creatives features actors Kunal Nayyar (The Big Bang Theory), Sarayu Rao (Monday Mornings), and Hannah Simone (New Girl), as well as Producer Sunil Nayar (Revenge) and writer/producer Luvh Rakhe (New Girl). The panel will be moderated by actor Parvesh Cheena (Outsourced), and is presented by SAG-AFTRA National Ethnic Employment Opportunities Committee, EEO & Diversity Department and SAGIndie.

A second panel, TODAY’S PIONEER VOICES CHANGING THE LANDSCAPE OF INDIAN CINEMA, features some of the most innovative directors leading the independent movement in Indian cinema today, all of whom have films at the festival this year: Vasan Bala (PEDDLERS), Anand Gandhi (SHIP OF THESEUS), Hansal Mehta (SHAHID), and Nitin Kakkar (FILMISTAAN). The panel will be moderated by film critic Lisa Tsering. One $14 ticket grants access to both panels and can be purchased at the IFFLA website.

“This year, as we celebrate the centennial of Indian Cinema, there is an incredibly exciting independent movement flourishing within India,” said IFFLA’s Head Programmer Terrie Samundra. “Our dynamic and diverse line up, panel discussions, as well as the jury, reflects this movement, and provides a platform for the deeply passionate voices of our new story tellers.”

More information about the festival can be found at http://www.indianfilmfestival.org.