News

At Idfa, Distrify and the Scottish Documentary Institute have announced today a new ‘film gifting’ scheme called Pay-It-Forward.

The new initiative kicks off with the online release of Maja Borg’s Future My Love (website here), about futurist Jacque Fresco’s new economic and social model.

This scheme is a continuation of the online distributor’s ‘portable fundraiser’ project – a collaboration with Scottish Documentary Institute with backing from Nesta.

People will be able to pay a small fee to send a link to a friend or stranger to watch a film for free.

Distrify noted: “Viewers may buy for one or more people, or even an open invitation for viewers around the world to see the film if the ‘giver’ feels it is a film that should be shared and seen by many.”

Peter Gerard, CEO of Distrify, said: “This is the first time the Pay-it-Forward concept has been used for film distribution. We are excited...

New releases disappoint while Philomena quietly thriving – is UK box office keeping its powder dry before Hunger Games 2?

• More on the UK box office

• Gravity - review

• The Counselor - review

The winner

With a dip of just 14% from the previous weekend, Gravity easily resisted the challenge of a bunch of mid-level newcomers, retaining the box-office crown with £4.84m. After 11 days, Alfonso Cuarón's space-set drama has grossed an impressive £14.71m, with 3D contributing 90% of the tally.

Although Gravity has a long way to go to match the year's very biggest live-action hits such as Les Misérables, Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel, the film is a dead cert to be the top grosser for a film not based on an existing property or established characters. Currently, the top live-action non-sequel that is not based on familiar elements is Django Unchained, with £15.7m, although some might argue that Quentin Tarantino...

Don Jon | The Butler | The Counsellor | Dom Hemingway | In Fear | Utopia | Future My Love | Pandora's Promise | Battle Of The Year | Ram-Leela

Don Jon (18)

(Joseph Gordon-Levitt, 2013, Us) Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett Johansson, Julianne Moore, Tony Danza, Glenne Headly. 90 mins

Never one to shy away from a risky project, Gordon-Levitt dives into sexual politics and pornography addiction for his first directing job, and just about pulls it off. He's charming as ever, playing a cocksure Italian-American casanova who secretly prefers online onanism to real sex – until dream girl Johanssen prompts him to take a hold of himself. It's snappy, funny, and pertinent, though the Noo Joisey stereotyping is an unnecessary let-down.

The Butler (12A)

(Lee Daniels, 2013, Us) Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, David Oyelowo. 132 mins

Old school but illuminating take on American history and the civil rights struggle, viewed through the eyes of a black White House butler who served eight presidents. The dazzling cast is almost a distraction,...

★★☆☆☆

Offering an abstract glimpse of a distant utopia which might just be within humankind's reach, experimental Swedish filmmaker Maja Borg's Future My Love (2012) will almost certainly struggle to put "bums on seats" over this new release-packed weekend, but may reward a small sub-section of open-minded viewers with the patience and perseverance to join Borg on her futurist foray. Narrated throughout by the documentary's director, who laments the loss of her first love whilst musing over our collective fates, there are sadly only occasional flashes of inspiration to be found within this arch demi-installation piece.

Down with Dom or better off with the Butler? We have the answers – plus what's coming up on the site today

What should you watch over the weekend?

In the UK? Lined up for your delectation: a glass of Dom Hemmingway, a dose of Don Jon, a serving of The Butler, or a session with The Counselor. Also up for the watching: In Fear, Utopia, Future My Love and Ram-Leela.

In the Us? Take your pick from The Best Man Holiday, Charlie Countryman, Faust and Nebraska.

In the paper today

• Peter's full compliment of reviews

• An interview with Robert De Niro by Xan Brooks

• A piece of the fallacy of historical accuracy by David Cox

• A feature on the JFK assassination on film by Steve Rose

On the site today

• Andrew Pulver profiles Sandra Bullock

• We've top 10 adaptations

• And Hadley Freeman meets Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker and Lee Daniels on...

Gravity | How To Survive A Plague | Seduced & Abandoned | Love Tomorrow | Behzat C: Ankara Yaniyor

Gravity (12A)

(Alfonso Cuarón, 2013, Us) Sandra Bullock, George Clooney. 91 mins

A movie to restore your faith in special effects, 3D and cinema in general, Cuarón's space movie arrives here already heaped with well-earned adulation. Like, say, Avatar or Toy Story, it really does expand the frontiers of what cinema can do; unlike them, Gravity is set in, or at least around, the real world. The story is admirably minimalist: two astronauts get stranded in space and try to get home. The visuals are out of this world but there's much more: riveting tension, sympathetic performances, and a spiritual undertone that only adds to the movie's transcendent nature.

How To Survive A Plague (15)

(David France, 2012, Us) 110 mins

A true story with all the elements of a mythic struggle, this bracing documentary recounts how Aids activists – many potential...

The Fog | Seasons In The Sun: The Heyday Of Nikkatsu Studios | UK green film festival | Terracotta Far East Film festival

The Fog, London

As if a screening of a seminal horror movie in a spooky location wasn't enough, this event is also a format-junkie's wet-dream. Cigarette Burns presents a rare chance to watch a 16mm full-Cinemascope print, with mood-enhancing music from "Kab Radio" (it makes sense if you've seen the movie). What's more, punters will be first in line to buy Death Waltz records' new super collectable reissue of Carpenter's own splendidly doomful synth soundtrack, with original cover artwork by Dinos Chapman.

The Nave, N1, Fri

Seasons In The Sun: The Heyday Of Nikkatsu Studios, London

Think of postwar Japanese cinema and you think of Kurosawa, Ozu, and other greats. What you don't think of is girl gangs, go-go dancers and fetishistic hitmen. The west got the arthouse movies, but...

Future My Love

Directed & Written by Maja Borg

Sweden/Scotland, 2012

If there is one thing human beings have mastered, it’s thinking about the future. Theologians, affianced lovers, political theorists, social revolutionaries, TV franchise creators, actuaries and bankers all have that fundamental activity in common. Whether we are entertaining sweeping changes on a global scale, or merely wondering about our own prospects for retirement, we cannot help but beam mental images onto the blank screen of what’s to come. The specific content of these visions may vary widely – and we worry that other people with more power and fewer scruples than ourselves will prevent the things we envision from ever taking physical form – but we live in hope that, somehow, these prismatic projections will harmonize into a solid ray of light capable of illuminating all of our lives. The future, we tell ourselves, has yet to be written – but...

Hot Docs 2013 is just a week away – and Sound on Sight will be providing extensive coverage of the festival this year. Readers can expect a barrage of reviews – beginning well in advance of the event itself and carrying forward until the final showing on May 5th – so interested parties should definitely bookmark the link to our Hot Docs round-up.

After spending many happy hours in consultation with the Official Schedule, we are proud to present our list of the ten most highly anticipated docs on the docket. All of these films (and several more in the bargain) will be discussed at Sound on Sight over the course of the next few weeks. We hope you’ll join us! (And please feel free to let us know which films you’d like to see reviewed.)

(in alphabetical order)

Blackfish

Screenings: Apr 30 (7 pm), May 2 (2 pm) and May 3 (9:15 pm)

Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s...

Left disheartened and motivated to seek out change by the breakdown of a relationship due to the ideals set upon her and her lover by society, Maja Borg embarks upon a personal journey of self-discovery and social, environmental and economic change that leads her, amongst others, to Jacques Fresco: a social engineer and futurist, who is doing everything in his power to set into motion an alternative lifestyle, known as The Venus Project.

Five years after Ottica Zero, a short film that explored her then relationship with Italian actress Nadva Cazan and their desire to find a new, less scrupulous way of living, the Swedish filmmaker releases her feature debut Future My Love, a continuation of sorts that sees her blend elements of documentary, love story and political opinion to further her investigations into how various alternative ways of life could well improve not only the individual, but an entire civilisation.

Cannes is now over which means it’s time to move to Britain as the Edinburgh Film Festival kicks off!

We’ve just been sent the full line-up for the 2012 Edinburgh Film Festival which is now in it’s 66th year. We have our people (Jamie, Steven and Emma) on the ground at the event right now ready to catch as many films as they possible can throughout the next wee or two as we get to see 121 new features and 19 world premieres.

I’ll let the full press release below do the talking but let us know what you’re looking forward to in the comments section below.

World Premieres:

Berberian Sound Studio Borrowed Time Day Of The Flowers Exit Elena Flying Blind Fred Future My Love Guinea Pigs Here, Then Leave It On The Track The Life And Times Of Paul The Psychic Octopus Life Just Is Mnl...

The full programme for the 66th edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff), which runs from 20 June to 1 July, has been officially announced and will feature nineteen World premieres and thirteen International premieres.

The Festival will showcase one hundred and twenty-one new features from fifty-two countries, including eleven European premieres and seventy-six UK premieres in addition to the World and International premieres. Highlights include the World premieres of Richard Ledes’ Fred; Nathan Silver’s Exit Elena and Benjamin Pascoe’s Leave It On The Track and European premieres of Lu Sheng’s Here, There and Yang Jung-ho’s Mirage in the maiden New Perspectives section; and the International premiere of Benicio Del Toro, Pablo Trapero, Julio Medem, Elia Suleiman, Gaspar Noé, Juan Carlos Tabio and Laurent Cantet’s 7 Days In Havana and the European premiere of Bobcat Goldthwait’s God Bless America in the Directors’ Showcase. In addition to the new features presented,...