Press Release
Jaman hosts online showcase of international feature films from the Tribeca Film Festival
International Showcase premieres select Tribeca Film Festival Films worldwide on Jaman.com
SAN MATEO, Calif. and NEW YORK, May 2 /PRNewswire/ — Jaman.com, Inc., the leading online community for world cinema, and Tribeca Film Festival today announced the final lineup of films to premiere in the International Showcase hosted online at http://www.jaman.com during the 6th annual Tribeca Film Festival. Several full-length feature films screening in the International Showcase will be made available to a worldwide audience during a seven-day, online screening running simultaneously with the Festival. A complete catalogue of films and screening times is available at http://www.jaman.com/tribeca.
"The International Showcase is part of a partnership between Jaman and the Tribeca Film Festival to premiere international films from the Tribeca Film Festival online," said Gaurav Dhillon, CEO and founder of Jaman.com, Inc. "Fans of the Tribeca Film Festival from around the world will be able to view the showcase films on their computer or home entertainment system in better-than-DVD quality. In addition to discovering the festival online, viewers will be able to use Jaman's social network for world cinema to connect and share their Tribeca experiences with other film enthusiasts."
While other festivals have used the Internet to host trailers and shorts, the International Showcase brings selected international feature films showing at the Tribeca Film Festival to a worldwide audience via Jaman's unique technology and social network. The films highlighted in the International Showcase will also use Jaman to integrate the film's on-site premiere and marketing activities to create buzz for a worldwide audience of industry buyers and critics through the Internet.
"We are very excited about offering international filmmakers participating in the Tribeca Film Festival an expanded platform to share their work," said Jon Patricof, Chief Operating Officer of Tribeca Enterprises, parent company of the Tribeca Film Festival. "Our partnership with Jaman leverages the Internet to help level the playing field for international films to reach the widest possible audience."
The films available in the 2007 International Showcase include:
Between Heaven & Earth (available for download Apr 27 - May 3)
2006, Netherlands. Directed by: Frank van den Engel, Masha Novikova
In the heart of the Eurasian continent, the ancient center of the world
where the Silk Road connected China to Europe, the circus is a deeply
rooted cultural phenomenon. This film focuses on two circus artists, whose
lifelong friendship is affected by the differing political choices they
make under the dictatorship in Uzbekistan. In Russian and Uzbek.
Razzle Dazzle world premiere (available for download Apr 28 - May 4)
2007, USA. Directed by: Ken Jacobs
A frequently returning TFF filmmaker presents the world premiere of his
new experimental narrative opus. Razzle Dazzle: The Lost World, confirms
Jacobs' mastery of digital filmmaking in which he treats the image as a
painterly canvas, exploring the depths of Cubism and abstract expressionism
from source material comprising turn-of-the-century stereopticon slides and
an early Edison film.
A Guest of Life (available for download Apr 28 - May 4)
2006, Hungary. Directed by: Tibor Szemzo
In 1819, a Transylvanian traveler set out on foot for Asia, convinced
that there he would discover "the original Hungarians." What he found, at
the foot of the Himalayas, introduced Tibet's rich culture and the practice
of Buddhism to the world at large. A first film by one of Hungary's leading
film composers, narrated in English by Susannah York.
The Tree (available for download May 1 - 7)
2006, Argentina. Directed by: Gustavo Fontan
Returning to his childhood home, filmmaker Gustavo Fontan documents his
parents' deliberations over a tree planted the day he was born. Simple
questions that pass between them — Is the tree dead? Should we cut it
down? — become meditations on history, memory, knowledge and the sensory
symphony of daily life.
The Optimists (available for download May 3 - 9)
2006, Serbia. Directed by: Goran Paskaljevic
One of Central Europe's leading filmmakers follows his unforgettable A
Midwinter Night's Dream (2005 Tribeca Film Festival) with this new film
whose five episodes conjure up a world where people have trouble
distinguishing truth from illusions. Each segment reflects the motto of
Voltaire's Candide: "Optimism is insisting everything is good, when
everything is bad."
The Pelican (available for download May 5 - 11)
1973, France. Directed by: Gerard Blain
Dubbed "the French James Dean" for his roles in films by Claude Chabrol
(Le beau Serge, Les cousins) and Howard Hawks (Hatari), Gerard Blain's work
as a director never surfaced in the U.S. This is his masterpiece, a moving
account of parental love and obsession, filmed in a rigorous style that
recalls Bresson or Dreyer — sans religion.
About Jaman:
Jaman.com is the way people discover, enjoy and share world cinema. The
company is pioneering social cinema on the Web by delivering
better-than-DVD quality films to a growing online community of fans and
filmmakers from around the world. Jaman.com, Inc. is headquartered in San
Mateo, California, and is backed by luminaries in technology and media (more
at http://www.jaman.com/about). The company is led by founder and CEO Gaurav
Dhillon, co-founder and former CEO of Informatica..
About the Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival was founded in 2002 by Robert De Niro, Jane
Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff after the attacks on the World Trade Center to
help economically and culturally revitalize Lower Manhattan through an
annual celebration of film, music, and culture. The Festival's mission is
to assist filmmakers to reach the broadest possible audience, enable the
international film community and the general public to experience the power
of film, and to promote New York City as a major filmmaking center.
In its first five years, the festival attracted over one and a half
million attendees from the US and abroad and created more than $325 million
in economic activity for New York City.
The sixth annual Tribeca Film Festival will run from April 25 to May 6, 2007. The festival is anchored in Tribeca with additional venues throughout Manhattan, and includes film screenings, special events, concerts, a family street fair, and Tribeca Talks panel discussions. For more information on this year's festival, as well as for highlights on the festival and filmmakers as it takes place, please visit http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org.
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