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Center Stage with Mark Gordon

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Coming Tuesday August 10, 2010

Tune in Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 7PM (PST) as KXLU Los Angeles proudly presents Center Stage with Mark Gordon featuring special guests: Bruce McDonald, Mary Ann Smothers Bruni, Shannon Rowland with J. Wesley Brown and Calethia DeConto.

Bruce McDonald will be talking about his documentary Music from the Big House.

The film follows Rita Chiarelli, an award-winning recording artist, as she takes a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the blues: Louisiana State Maximum Security Penitentiary, a.k.a Angola Prison.

Mary Ann Smothers Bruni will be talking about her documentary Quest for Honor.

The film examines the alarming rise in honor killing, the heinous act of men killing daughters, sisters and wives who threaten "family honor," endangers tens of thousands of women in Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and adjoining countries.

Shannon Rowland with be joined by photographers J. Wesley Brown and Calethia DeConto to discuss Vignettes.

Bleicher/Golightly announces it's debut photographic exhibit Vignettes, a collection of innovative contemporary photographers whose works evoke narrative intrigue. The exhibit focuses on enigmatic figurative works that lead to internal narratives similar to those found in memory, daydream, nostalgia and sleep.

Reception: Saturday, August 21st 6-9pm Show Runs: August 12-26; Artist Talk: August 14th, 8pm Cost: Free

Coming Tuesday August 3, 2010

Tune in Tuesday, August 3, 2010 at 7PM (PST) as KXLU Los Angeles proudly presents Center Stage with Mark Gordon featuring special guests: Joel Schumacher, Yael Hersonski and Kimberly Reed.

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Writer, producer and director Joel Schumacher has created some memorable moments in cinema with films such as St. Elmos Fire, Falling Down and Flatliners. His latest film TWELVE is an adaptation of the Nick McDonell novel Twelve. In 2002, then 17-year-old McDonell wrote a novel that starkly depicted teenage drug use and decadence on the Upper East Side. The story follows a high school dropout-turned-drug dealer. His lucrative life sours when the dealer's cousin is brutally murdered on an East Harlem playground and his best friend is arrested for the crime.

Israeli filmmaker Yael Hersonski will be discussing her documentary A Film Unfinished. At the end of World War II, 60 minutes of raw film, having sat undisturbed in an East German archive, was discovered. Depicting everyday life in the Warsaw ghetto, the footage quickly gained traction as an important historical document. The found footage, in four small reels, had been used by archivists and documentary filmmakers over the past several decades to show what life was like in the ghetto. The images - accepted as reality - have now been proven to be a cinematic deception, as the Nazis had staged nearly all the scenes.

Filmmaker Kimberly Reed will be talking about her documentary Prodigal Sons. The film is an intensely personal documentary that follows the filmmaker, a transgender woman, as she returns home to Montana for her high school reunion. Kimberly, previously the school's star quarterback, hopes to reestablish old friendships and to reconcile with her long-estranged adopted brother, Marc. While working through their intense sibling rivalry, the family uncovers stunning revelations (including a connection to Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth), and experiences unforeseeable twists of plot and gender that challenge them in ways no one could imagine.

Coming Tuesday July 27, 2010

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Tune in Tuesday, July 27th at 7PM (PST) as KXLU Los Angeles proudly presents Center Stage with Mark Gordon featuring special guests:

Rachel Grady will be talking about her new documentary 12 & DELAWARE. The seemingly sleepy intersection of Delaware Ave. and 12th St. in Fort Pierce, Fla. is ground zero for the ferocious abortion rights battle raging in America. On one corner stands the abortion clinic A Woman's World; across the street is the Pregnancy Care Center, an ambiguously named pro-life outpost dedicated to heading off abortion seekers at the pass.

David Colvard will be talking about his documentary FAMILY AFFAIR. In the film, Colvard takes us on a deeply personal and uncompromising journey, where we discover that at the age of nine he accidentally shot his sister; believing she would die from her injuries, she revealed to the mother and police that the father had sexually molested her and her sisters for years.

An official selection of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, 12TH & DELAWARE is the latest documentary from Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, who also directed 2006's "Jesus Camp," which was nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. Their other credits include "Rehab for Terrorists," "Freakonomics: The Movie" and the award-winning "The Boys of Baraka."

On an unassuming corner in Fort Pierce, Florida, it's easy to miss the insidious truth that's raging. But on each side of 12th and Delaware, soldiers stand locked in passionate battle. On one side of the street is an abortion clinic. On the other, a pro-life outfit often mistaken for the clinic it seeks to shut down.

Using skillful cinéma vérité observation that allows us to draw our own conclusions, Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, the directors of JESUS CAMP, expose the molten core of America's most intractable conflict. As the pro-life volunteers paint a terrifying portrait of abortion to their clients, across the street, the staff members at the clinic fear for their doctors' lives and fiercely protect the right of their clients to choose. Shot in the same year when abortion provider Dr. George Tiller was murdered in his church, the film makes these fears palpable. Meanwhile, women in need become pawns in a vicious ideological war with no end in sight.

12TH & DELAWARE provides a compelling, fly-on-the-wall view of the ideological trench warfare that takes place daily at this crossroads, where women struggle to deal with unwanted pregnancy.

The intimate documentary debuts MONDAY, AUG. 2 (9:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO. Other HBO playdates: Aug. 5 (1:30 p.m., 12:30 a.m.), 7 (10:30 a.m.), 9 (noon) and 15 (2:30 p.m.) / HBO2 playdates: Aug. 4 (8:00 p.m.), 22 (1:30 p.m.) and 31 (1:00 p.m.)

FAMILY AFFAIR

FAMILY AFFAIR had its world premiere at the Sundance 2010 Film Festival and became the talk of the festival. Screening to sold out audiences and standing ovations, this riveting film goes deep into family secrets and the need to hold on to family after horrendous things happen. Using a verité approach, this film paints a truer reality of the father-daughter relationship, which our imaginations are often unable to consider, while exploring how pedophilia can manipulate and control an entire family for life.

As I grew older and came to understand the full magnitude of what my father did to my sisters, I began to detest the man I once admired as a kind of "G.I. Joe" action hero. As a result, I cut off contact with my father for more than fifteen years. Surprisingly, all three of my sisters continued seeing my father immediately after he was released from prison, spending weekends and holidays at his home and even leaving their children (his grandchildren) alone with him from time-to-time. In 2002, while visiting one of my sisters in Kentucky, my father arrived at a Thanksgiving dinner and was warmly welcomed by a number of adoring family members, my sisters and friends. Although I did not know it at the time, this would be the start of my documentary FAMILY AFFAIR.

FAMILY AFFAIR - A film by CHICO COLVARD Theatrical openings: July 30 - Los Angeles - ARCLIGHT HOLLYWOOD August 13 - New York - IFC CENTER National roll out - August and September to select cities

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Coming Tuesday July 13, 2010

Tune in Tuesday, July 13th at 7PM (PST) as KXLU Los Angeles proudly presents Center Stage with Mark Gordon featuring special guests:

With COUNTDOWN TO ZERO, acclaimed filmmaker Lucy Walker takes us on a fascinating and frightening exploration of the dangers of nuclear weapons, exposing a variety of present day threats and featuring insights from a host of international experts and world leaders who advocate total global disarmament.

In the documentary WINNEBAGO MAN, Ben Steinbauer searches for RV salesman Jack Rebney whose hilarious, foul-mouthed outbursts circulated on VHS tapes in the 90s before turning into a full-blown Internet phenomenon.

Every town has its peculiar urban legends - scary stories passed down through the generations that warn children not to wander into dark alleys or abandoned woods. But what if these urban legends become real? Joshua Zeman's documentary CROPSEY looks for answers to that question by peeling back the layers of fact and fiction behind one of America's most disturbing unsolved mysteries.

Vampires meet Hamlet in Jordan Galland's new film ROSENCRANTZ & GUILDENSTERN ARE UNDEAD!

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During the Cold War, nothing loomed as large in the public mind as the bomb. When the Iron Curtain fell, the bomb became a symbol of another era. Naively we felt the danger had passed. In recent years, the threat of nuclear proliferation has grown more urgent, and the political will to eliminate nuclear weapons is greater than ever in our history.

We have now entered a second nuclear age. Nuclear weapons have proliferated to nine nations, and that number could continue to grow as over 40 nations have the knowledge to construct nuclear weapons. Terrorists are actively securing nuclear weapons and fissile material, not to use as political leverage, but rather as tools of mass destruction. Equally as great a threat is human error; the possibility of an accident increases every day.

COUNTDOWN TO ZERO is a fascinating and frightening exploration of the dangers of nuclear weapons, exposing a variety of present day threats and featuring insights from a host of international experts and world leaders who advocate total global disarmament.

Jack Rebney is the most famous man you've never heard of - an RV salesman whose hilarious, foul-mouthed outbursts circulated on VHS tapes in the 90s before turning into a full-blown Internet phenomenon in 2005, seen by 20 million people worldwide.

Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer goes in search of Rebney - and finds him living alone on a mountain top, unaware of his fame. WINNEBAGO MAN is a laugh-out-loud look at viral culture and an unexpectedly poignant tale of one man's response to unintended celebrity.

Every town has its peculiar urban legends - scary stories passed down through the generations that warn children not to wander into dark alleys or abandoned woods. But what if these urban legends become real? The spine-tingling documentary Cropsey looks for answers to that question by peeling back the layers of fact and fiction behind one of America's most disturbing unsolved mysteries.

In Cropsey, filmmakers Joshua Zeman and Barbara Brancaccio present a riveting true-crime drama with a personal investigation of a well-known local myth, uncovering a reality more terrifying than any urban legend. Growing up on Staten Island, New York, Zeman and Brancaccio had often heard the legend of "Cropsey" - the escaped mental patient who lived in the abandoned tunnels of the local mental hospital and came at night to snatch children off the streets. "Cropsey" remained just that, an urban legend, until the summer of 1987 when a 13-year-old girl with Down syndrome disappeared from her neighborhood. Five weeks later, she was found buried in a shallow grave on the grounds of Willowbrook, a psychiatric ward that was shuttered after its abuses were profiled in Geraldo Rivera's 1972 expose.

Investigators soon linked Jennifer's case to four other missing children in the area - none of which had been found. Cropsey follows the filmmakers as they return to Staten Island to undertake their own investigation, connecting the dots on the unsolved cases and examining the startling parallels between the legend of "Cropsey" and the real-life boogeyman linked to the missing children-convicted kidnapper Andre Rand.

Living in the back room of his father's doctors office, broke, frustrated ladies man Julian (Jake Hoffman) scores his big break when he lands the job directing an off Broadway version of Hamlet. Except it's a bizarre adaptation written by a pale Romanian impresario named Theo (John Ventimiglia) who is actually a master vampire! Theo hopes to lure the real Hamlet (Kris Lemche) out of hiding so the two can end a century's long feud over Shakespeare's Ophelia. Meanwhile, Julian pines for his ex-girlfriend, Anna (Devon Aoki) who is dating a Mobster Bobby Bianchi (Ralph Macchio) who is intent on creating the next great invention - "Whack a Germ". Added into the mix is a dimwitted Detective (Jeremy Sisto), the Holy Grail, the Rosicrucian Society, a bunch of Sexy Vamps, God and a score by Sean Lennon.

Coming Tuesday July 6, 2010

Tune in Tuesday, July 6th at 7PM (PST) as KXLU Los Angeles proudly presents Center Stage with Mark Gordon featuring special guests:

Angela Ismailos will be discussing her film GREAT DIRECTORS which is a celebration of films and filmmaking starring ten of the worlds most acclaimed, provocative, and individualistic living directors.

The Neistat brothers will be talking about their first leap into episodic television. It's an HBO series about the art-world duo known for pioneering the world of online video content.

Rob Rowatt will be talking abut his first feature film THE HONEYMOON. It's a low budget thriller shot in the Canadian wilderness with a skeleton crew and no access to electricity or running water.

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GREAT DIRECTORS

GREAT DIRECTORS is a celebration of films and filmmaking starring ten of the worlds most acclaimed, provocative, and individualistic living directors. The documentary, which had its world premiere at the 2009 Venice Film Festival, is a deeply personal and intimate look at the art of cinema and the artists who create it, and features original, in-depth conversations with world-class filmmakers Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Stephen Frears, Agnes Varda, Ken Loach, Liliana Cavani, Todd Haynes, Catherine Breillat, Richard Linklater and John Sayles. These interviews more than just chronicle Ismailos' encounters with ten remarkable men and women.

Extensively illuminated by clips and historical archives from the subjects' works, they also reveal the distinctive personalities who created the timeless images that have long inspired Ismailos-and all of us. Intercutting among the filmmakers in a freely associative way, Ismailos explores each director's artistic evolution; the role of politics and history on their work; their feelings about the other great directors who inspired them (with Bertolucci paying homage to Pasolini, Breillat to Bergman, and Haynes to Fassbinder, etc.); and the agony and ecstasy of being an artist in a medium that is, paradoxically, also an industry.

THE NEISTAT BROTHERS

THE NEISTAT BROTHERS, a genre-busting, eight-episode series consisting of experimental short films from the art-world brothers of the same name, debuts FRIDAY, JUNE 4 (midnight-12:30 a.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO, with other episodes debuting on subsequent Fridays at the same time. A mix of comedy and drama, each episode spans six weeks in the lives of Van and Casey Neistat.

The Neistats' first leap into episodic television, the series is by, and about, the art-world duo known for pioneering the world of online video content. The brothers primarily use consumer-grade shooting and editing equipment, refining the inventive and resourceful spirit that is a trademark of their approach to film, pop culture and entertainment.

A mix of biographical vignettes and experiments in curiosity, THE NEISTAT BROTHERS includes such segments as: a nautical challenge of varying proportions; smuggling authentic maple syrup into Amsterdam; a disappointing and revelatory trip to Mexico; studio renovations; and the search for Van's biological father.

THE NEISTAT BROTHERS is executive produced by Tom Scott (founder of Nantucket Nectars beverage company and the Plum TV network) with Christine Vachon (Killer Films) serving as consulting producer.

Casey and Van Neistat have produced over two hundred short films, most notably iPod's Dirty Secret, focusing on Apple's policy on replacing iPod batteries, and Bike Thief, chronicling the ease with which they steal their own bicycle. Their films have been shown in film festivals, art museums and various institutions around the world. Casey and Van have also produced the critically acclaimed feature films THE PLEASURE OF BEING ROBBED and DADDY LONGLEGS.

The Honeymoon is a low budget thriller shot in the Canadian wilderness. This first feature by writer/director Rob Rowatt was shot in the woods of southern Ontario with a skeleton crew and no access to electricity or running water.

Nicole and Mark have just been married and are celebrating at a reception with their family and friends. The next morning the young couple drive to a remote wilderness area and set off on a canoe trip through a vast network of lakes and trails. Nicole spots a rare bird and follows it into the woods where she hears a car in the distance driving down an abandoned logging road. Curious, she follows the car and witnesses a drug deal that suddenly turns violent. When the dealers see her watching, the newlyweds’ carefree romantic honeymoon is shattered and becomes a fight for survival.

Coming March 30, 2010

Tune in Tuesday, March 30th at 7PM (PST) as KXLU Los Angeles proudly presents Center Stage with Mark Gordon featuring special guests Bradley Rust Gray, director of THE EXPLODING GIRL and William Winokur, writer and producer of THE PERFECT GAME.

THE EXPLODING GIRL

In her first leading role, Zoe Kazan plays Ivy, a twenty-year-old college student home for Spring Break. Shes excited about a developing romance back at school and life is seemingly perfect. When her longtime friend Al finds himself without a place to stay during the break, Ivy and her mother take him in and Al and Ivys friendship strengthens while her boyfriend grows more and more distant. Increasingly distressed about her conflicting feelings, Ivy struggles to keep control, not wanting overwhelming her emotions and trigger her epilepsy. Restrained and meditative, THE EXPLODING GIRL is the exquisite portrait of a young girl coming of age and finding a deeper kind of love in New York City.

 

THE PERFECT GAME

Based on the extraordinary true story of the 1957 Monterrey Industrials Little League Team, THE PERFECT GAME is the inspiring tale of how a sandlot baseball team finds itself on a once-in-a lifetime journey. Originally armed with the dream of playing one Little League game on U.S. soil, the young team members defy a total lack of resources, disapproving parents, and widespread prejudice as they travel across the border to Southern Texas, and beyond. Relying only on their faith and love of the game, the team finally finds it's way to Williamsport, PA, where a miracle will cement their place in history and change their lives forever.

Coming Tuesday December 29, 2009

Tune in Tuesday, December 29 at 7PM (PST) as KXLU Los Angeles proudly presents Center Stage with Mark Gordon featuring special guests: Timothy Grey and Breanne Russell will be talking about their documentary Under the Eightball and Edward L. Rubin, Emmy winning production designer will be talking about his first solo exhibition of paintings.

UNDER THE EIGHTBALL

In the summer of 2006, Grey's sister came down with a mysterious illiness. As her condition worsened, Grey grew frustrated with his sister's doctors and their inability to property diagnose and treat her. It lead him on a journey to uncover the mystery behind his sister's illness which turned out to be Lyme Disease.

UNDER THE EIGHTBALL reveals the shocking yet little-known roots of Lyme Disease in the US Biological Weapons program and their subsequent effort to conceal it. This film uncovers the truth about chronic illnesses, their causes and disease testing on humans!

Edward L. Rubin, Emmy winning production designer will be talking about his first solo exhibition of paintings at the historic Ebell of Los Angeles. The show includes twenty-three works, spanning eighteen years.

Rubin has four Emmy nominations and won for Art Direction for The Wonderful World of Disney's Cinderella, starring Brandy and Whitney Houston. Other Emmy nominations include Andersonville, directed by John Frankenheimer, The Wonderful World of Disney's Annie (with Kathy Bates), and the Disney Channel Movie Return to Halloweentown. He was nominated three times for the Art Directors Guild's Excellence in Production Design Award, winning for Cinderella, and his commercial for Rooms to Go garnered the 2004 Telly Award.

About Center Stage with Mark Gordon

Center Stage with Mark Gordon is a weekly talk show that looks at independent film and the people who make it happen in front of the camera, as well as, behind the scenes. Each week, the program features some of the most inovative and creative people woking in film today. From award-winning actors like Ben Kingsley (SCHINDLER'S LIST) and Adrian Brody (THE PIANIST) to cutting edge directors like Paul Greengrass (UNITED 93) and Darren Aronofsky (THE FOUNTAIN), Center Stage with Mark Gordon gives an audience an inside look at the artist and the artform. Center Stage with Mark Gordon is a showcase for provocative and thought provoking films that explore the human condition. MURDERBALL, DELIVER US FROM EVIL, and ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM are just a few of the films that have been discussed on the program. Center Stage with Mark Gordon also features music from soundtrack recordings, film features, entertainment news, and a calendar of upcoming events.



The video features director Allan Coulter talking about his film "Hollywoodland" which looks at the life and untimely death of George Reeves who in the 50's played Superman. Musician, poet and political activist John Trudell; director Phillip Noyce "Catch A Fire," Amy Berg, director of the academy award nominated documentary film "Deliver us from Evil," which follows Father Oliver O'Grady, a Catholic priest who was relocated to various parishes around the United States during the 1970s in an attempt by the Catholic Church to cover up his rape of dozens of children. Composer Mark Isham talks about creating the score for the film "Crash. Filmmakers Keith Fulton & Louis Pepe discuss their film "Brothers of the Head," an offbeat tale of a fictional 1970s Brit-rock band comprised of conjoined twins who become pioneers of the burgeoning punk rock movement before crashing and burning in a drug- and alcohol-fueled haze." Alex Gibney "Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room," Andrew Douglas "Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus," and Wash Westmorelan and Richard Glatzer "Quinceañera."