BEFORE TOPPING THE 84^TH OSCAR NOMINATIONS FOR ‘THE ARTIST’ OSCAR-FRONT RUNNERS JEAN DUJARDIN AND DIRECTOR MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS GAVE THE WORLD ITS COOLEST AND MOST CLUELESS SUPER SPY!

‘OSS 117: CAIRO, NEST OF SPIES’ and ‘OSS 117: LOST IN RIO’

The Funniest and Second Funniest Spy Spoofs Ever Made*

Available Now on DVD and VOD

Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo in OSS 117: CAIRO NEST OF SPIES (courtesy of Music Box Films)

Chicago, IL - (January 24, 2012) -  Before topping the 84^th Academy^® Awards with ten nominations for the French silent film, The Artist, Golden Globe^® winner and Oscar-nominee Jean Dujardin (’Best Actor’ - The Artist), Oscar-nominated Director Michel Hazanavicius, and Oscar-nominated actress Berenice Bejo teamed up in the acclaimed and ultra-hip French comedies OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and its sequel, OSS 117: Lost in Rio.  For audiences that may have missed these earlier works by the Oscar-nominated alliance when they were first issued by Music Box Films Home Entertainment, NOW is the time to get in on the action!

Directed by Hazanavicius, both OSS 117 films stars Jean Dujardin, whose “arched-eyebrow perfection” (LA Weekly) caught critics’ attention and praise as the cool, cunning and completely clueless Pride of the French Secret Service. Berenice Bejo also joins the all-star Oscar-nominated cast in OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies. Together the actor/director pair showed off early signs of magic as New York Magazine’s ‘Critic’s Pick’, OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, topped the box office in France, and received 5 Cesar Award nominations including ‘Best Actor.’

Speaking candidly of Dujardin during production, “[Dujardin] and I both felt immediately that we were going to really enjoy ourselves,” says director Hazanavicius of his OSS 117 star, “I became quickly aware of his acting capacity. He has an acting palette few actors possess.”

“We worked in complete mutual confidence,” he added, praising his collaboration with Dujardin.

Both OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies and OSS 117: Lost in Rio are embellished with Sixties-era flourishes, a Bossa Nova-flavored retro score, split-screen cinematography, overwrought gunfights, and an “inspired piece of silliness” (Vogue Magazine). Otherwise known as OSS 117, the womanizing, ethnically insensitive and wholly imbecilic French secret agent, Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, presents a combination of James Bond, Inspector Clouseau, and Matt Helm all rolled into one.

“We are honored to have seen these two incredible talents during their first collaboration together,” says Ed Arentz, Managing Director of Music Box Films. “They are a force to be reckoned with and we hope that audiences will get around to adding their masterful early works to their quo.”

Dujardin has been nominated for ‘Best Actor in a Leading Role’ at this year’s Oscar, after taking ‘Best Actor’ award at the Golden Globes, for The Artist, not to mention his first win at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Director Michel Hazanavicius is Oscar-nominated for Director, while Berenice Bejo picks up a nomination for her Supporting Role in The Artist. Additionally, it has been recently confirmed that French producer, Thomas Langmann, has inked DuJardin in his next film project alongside another French leading man, Vincent Cassel, who previously worked with Langmann in another Music Box Film release, Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Public Enemy #1.

Both films are available on DVD and VOD by Music Box Films Home Entertainment.

OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies - Synopsis

French comedy sensation Jean Dujardin stars as secret agent Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, a.k.a. OSS 117, in this blithe and witty send-up not only of spy flicks and the suave secret agent figure but also neo-colonialism and Western covert action in the Middle East.  It’s 1955 and after a fellow agent and close friend is murdered, OSS 117 is ordered to take his place at the head of a poultry firm in Cairo.  This is to be his cover while he investigates his friend’s death, monitors the Suez Canal, beds local beauties, checks up on the Brits and Soviets, burnishes France’s reputation, foils Nazi holdouts, quells a fundamentalist rebellion and brokers peace in the Middle East…all in spite of his colossal but debonair cluelessness!

Part # MBFHE-21

UPC: 0-30306-40009-9

Production year: 2006

Current SRP: $24.98

Bonus features: a making-of featurette, blooper reel, and deleted scenes.

OSS 117: Lost in Rio - Synopsis

The price of French Intelligence, Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath - code name OSS 117 - has a new mission that takes him to the Bossa Nova Brazil of the 1960s. Teaming up with a sexy Mossad agent, he sets out to capture a Nazi blackmailer with an embarrassingly long list of World War II French collaborators. With a jubilantly retro score and production design, along with flair for the cinematic vocabulary of the 1960s, the filmmakers again have the perfect man to send up Western arrogance, French chauvinism and bigotry in general with biting satire and scathing wit.

Part # MBFHE-06

UPC: 7-05105-74385-1

Production year: 2009

Current SRP: $24.98

Bonus features: behind-the-scenes featurette, and theatrical trailer.

More information can be found online at MusicBoxFilms.com and oss117movie.com

About Music Box Films:

Founded in 2007, Music Box Films has quickly established itself as one of the leading distributors of non-English language feature films in the US in theaters, on DVD and Blu-ray, and via Video-on-Demand. Music Box’s release of Guillaume Canet’s Tell No One was the most popular foreign-language film of 2008. In 2010, the film adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s trilogy of international mega-sellers dominated the foreign-language film market: the first in the series, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, was one of the most popular international releases of the decade with over $10 million in US box office. Music Box Films is independently owned and operated by the Southport Music Box Corporation, which also owns and operates The Music Box Theatre, Chicago’s premiere venue for independent and foreign films.

* Box Office Magazine hailed OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies “the funniest spy spoof ever made”, and proclaimed OSS 117: Lost in Rio, “the second funniest spy spoof ever made.”

VIRGIL FILMS & ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES

AYN RAND & THE PROPHECY OF ATLAS SHRUGGED

THE ESSENTIAL NEW DOCUMENTARY EXPLORES THE RESURGING INTEREST IN AYN RAND’S EPIC AND CONTROVERSIAL 1957 NOVEL AND ITS DIRE PREDICTION FOR THE FUTURE OF AMERICA

Available on DVD, VOD, and All Digital Platforms

April 3, 2012

“I am challenging the moral code of altruism, the precept that man must sacrifice

himself to others, which is the present day morality.” - Ayn Rand

New York City (January 17, 2012) — “Who is John Galt?,” is the question that propels writer and philosopher Ayn Rand’s epic and controversial 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, which depicts an America in crisis, brought to its knees by a corrupt establishment of government regulators and crony businessmen who prey on individual achievement. A far-more urgent inquiry-Is America heading for the disastrous outcome that Rand predicted?-is at the center of the remarkable new documentary AYN RAND & THE PROPHECY OF ATLAS SHRUGGED.

Directed and produced by acclaimed documentary filmmaker Chris Mortensen (Sworn to Secrecy: Secrets of War, American Gangster), AYN RAND & THE PROPHECY OF ATLAS SHRUGGED explores how Rand’s book-a philosophical manifesto in the form of an epic novel-and her own philosophy of “Objectivism,” which trumpets rational self-interest over altruism, is perceived by many as a prescient blueprint of what is happening in America today.

Virgil Films & Entertainment will release AYN RAND & THE PROPHECY OF ATLAS SHRUGGED on DVD, VOD, and all Digital Platforms, for the first time on April 3 (pre-book March 6) following its highly-publicized digital cinema premiere by D&E Entertainment in over 50 cities across the country earlier this year.

Just as many think Atlas Shrugged’s view is being frighteningly mirrored in America today, so is the 55-year-old book itself rising to never-before-reached heights of success and popularity, a cultural wave that crests with AYN RAND & THE PROPHECY OF ATLAS SHRUGGED. Despite a critical pummeling upon its publication, Atlas Shrugged became a best seller and has remained in print ever since, selling a healthy 75,000 copies a year. But with the dawn of the new millennium, momentum began to increase dramatically, culminating in sales of more than one and a half million in the past five years, with over 500,000 copies in 2009 alone. And it’s not just cash registers that are making noise: Never before has the novel had such a strong presence in the media and public consciousness, referenced in news stories, op-ed pieces, business publications, political talk shows - even to the highest levels of governmental discourse and debate.

During the financial crisis of 2008, filmmaker Mortensen noted the resurgence of Atlas Shrugged, which he had read in college, and that people were talking about Rand and Atlas more than ever. “Because people saw events from the novel happening in real life-housing bubble, stock market crash, Mississippi River bridge collapses, banks collapse, bailouts, nationalizing auto companies - all that happened in the book,” says Mortensen. “And how spooky is that? Suddenly Rand’s ‘unlikely’ plot didn’t seem so far-fetched.”

Through exclusive footage of Rand and scores of interviews with critics, writers, biographers, friends and titans of the modern business world, including legendary Hollywood producer Albert Ruddy and Philadelphia Flyers’ owner Ed Snider, AYN RAND & THE PROPHECY OF ATLAS SHRUGGED reveals that an increasing number of Americans - right or wrong - see their society devolving into a nightmare scenario like the one Rand projected over a half century ago.

AYN RAND & THE PROPHECY OF ATLAS SHRUGGED provides and even-handed examination of Rand’s background for the ideas and philosophy that inspired and shaped Atlas Shrugged and seeks to determine whether America is indeed headed for the catastrophic outcome she proposed.

More information on AYN RAND & THE PROPHECY OF ATLAS SHRUGGED can be found on the Virgil Films & Entertainment website at www.VirgilFilmsEnt.com and the film’s website at http://atlasshruggeddocumentary.com/.

AYN RAND & THE PROPHECY OF ATLAS SHRUGGED — Synopsis:

AYN RAND & THE PROPHECY OF ATLAS SHRUGGED is a feature-length documentary film that examines the resurging interest in the epic and controversial 1957 novel and its writer, Russian-American philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand. The film explores how Rand’s philosophical manifesto in the form of an epic novel, a portrayal of a corrupt American establishment of government regulators and crony businessmen, exemplified her own philosophy of “Objectivism,” which trumpets rational self-interest over altruism and argues that self-sacrifice is as heinous an act as murder. Just as Atlas Shrugged’s view is being frighteningly mirrored in the world today, so is the 55-year-old book itself rising to new heights, with its frequent acknowledgement in the popular media and explosive sales of more than one and a half million copies in the past five years (and over 500,000 copies in 2009 alone). Through exclusive footage of Rand and scores of new interviews with critics, writers, Rand biographers and friends and titans of the business world, AYN RAND & THE PROPHECY OF ATLAS SHRUGGED proposes that an increasing number of Americans - right or wrong - see their society devolving into a nightmare scenario like the one Rand projected over a half century ago.

VIRGIL FILMS & ENTERTAINMENT

Virgil Films & Entertainment, formerly Arts Alliance America, was founded in 2003 as Hart Sharp Video by Joe Amodei to develop, acquire, market and distribute DVD product in the theatrical feature film, documentaries, special interest and sports categories.  The company has built partnerships with OWN, Sundance Channel Home Entertainment, National Geographic Cinema Ventures, ESPN, MLB Productions, Morgan Spurlock’s Warrior Poets and other high-profile entertainment brands since their inception.  Recent releases from Virgil Films & Entertainment include the documentary, My Run; the Sci-fi thriller Lunopolis: The Wildest Dream, narrated by Liam Neeson; the hit film, Forks Over Knives; Michael Imperioli’s directorial debut The Hungry Ghosts; and National Geographic’s Oscar® nominated documentary Restrepo. For more information, please visit: www.VirgilFilmsEnt.com

DVD Bonus Features:

• Featurette including Extended Interviews

For Immediate Release:

MUSIC BOX FILMS HOME ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES

Mozart’s Sister

A GORGEOUS, MUSIC-FILLED TALE OF THE EARLY LIFE OF MARIA ANNA ‘NANNERL’ MOZART, WOLFGANG’S OVERSHADOWED OLDER SISTER AND A MUSICAL PRODIGY IN HER OWN RIGHT

Available on DVD, Blu-ray, VOD, Digital Download

February 14, 2012

Chicago, IL (January 12, 2012) - Maria Anna ‘Nannerl’ Mozart was first held forth as her legendarily talented family’s infant musical prodigy. But being the elder sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart meant that she would be overshadowed and sidelined as an accompanist by her brother’s growing fame. A re-imagining of Nannerl Mozart’s early years-of a young life of music, family and exceeding talent that is never fully realized-provides the story for the sumptuous period drama MOZART’S SISTER, written, directed and produced by internationally acclaimed filmmaker René Féret (Solemn Communion, The Story of Paul).

An accomplished singer, harpsichordist and violinist, Maria Anna “Nannerl” Mozart (Marie Féret) is originally her family’s featured performer. But Nannerl gives way to her five-years-young brother Wolfgang (David Moreau) as the main attraction, as their strict but loving father Leopold (Marc Barbe) tours his talented offspring in front of the royal courts of pre-French Revolution Europe. It is as Nannerl approaches marriageable age that her father bows to social strictures and forbids her from violin playing or composing, while privately conceding her talent to his wife. Though she is restrained by the limitations imposed by her time and gender, Nannerl’s friendship with the son and daughter of France’s Louis XV offers her ways to challenge the established sexual and social order of the day.

Music Box Films Home Entertainment will release MOZART’S SISTER on VOD, Digital Download, DVD and Blu-ray for the first time on February 14 (prebook January 10, 2012). Released theatrically to acclaim around the world and in the U.S.’s top markets, MOZART’S SISTER DVD and Blu-ray discs will carry the suggested retail price of  $29.94 and $38.94 respectively.

A pair of singular women stand out among the talented artists and performers who collaborated with filmmaker Féret to bring MOZART’S SISTER to the screen. First is young Marie Féret (the director’s daughter), whose empowering yet sensitive portrayal of the aspiring Nannerl Mozart was lauded by critic Roger Ebert as being “luminous in the role.”

Next is composer Marie-Jeanne Séréro, whose musical score is an essential character in MOZART’S SISTER. As there were no surviving examples of Nannerl Mozart’s music to adapt, it was necessary for Séréro to compose music that Nannerl might have written during her lifetime. The creation of a Baroque score that could possibly belong to the Mozart family but that would clearly be of Nannerl’s voice and not Wolfgang’s is a challenge that Séréro takes on brilliantly.

A lavish, costumed saga that re-imagines a remarkable story about an even more extraordinary young woman, MOZART’S SISTER will be music to the ears of any lover of French cinema, period re-creations or classical music.

The film will be available onDemand via Comcast, Cox, Time Warner, RCN, and Metrocast, as well as select independent providers.  Digital Downloads of the film will be available on iTunes, Vudu, and Amazon VOD.

More information on MOZART’S SISTER can be found on the MUSIC BOX FILMS website at http://www.musicboxfilms.com/mozarts-sister the film’s website at http://www.mozartssister.com/.

MOZART’S SISTER — Synopsis:

Europe, 1763: Maria Anna “Nannerl” Mozart (Marie Féret) is an accomplished singer, harpsichordist and violinist and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (David Moreau) elder sister by five years. Though she first held forth as the family’s infant prodigy and was originally the family’s featured performer, Nannerl has given way to Wolfgang as the main attraction, as their strict but loving father Leopold (Marc Barbe) tours his talented offspring in front of the royal courts of pre-French revolution Europe. As Nannerl approaches marriageable age, her father bows to social strictures “for her own good” and forbids her to continue with the violin or composition, while privately conceding her talent to his wife. No longer a precocious child, Nannerl chafes at the limitations imposed by her gender. But a friendship with the son and daughter of Louis XV offers her ways to challenge the established sexual and social order.

About Music Box Films:

Founded in 2007, Music Box Films has quickly established itself as one of the leading distributors of non-English language feature films in the US in theaters, on DVD and Blu-ray, and via Video-on-Demand. Music Box’s release of Guillaume Canet’s Tell No One was the most popular foreign-language film of 2008. In 2010, the film adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s trilogy of international mega-sellers dominated the foreign-language film market: the first in the series, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, was one of the most popular international releases of the decade with over $10 million in US box office. Music Box Films is independently owned and operated by the Southport Music Box Corporation, which also owns and operates The Music Box Theatre, Chicago’s premiere venue for independent and foreign films.

Henry Rollins Narrates The Turbulent Story of

Punk Legend Marian Anderson
Featuring Interviews with Rancid’s Tim Armstrong

LAST FAST RIDE
The Life, Love, and Death of a Punk Goddess

On DVD Feb 21st With Special Bonus Features

New York City (January 10, 2012) -   On stage, people knew her as a wild-child who fell into a life of drugs, prostitution, mental illness, and arrests. Behind the controversy, provocative acts, and addiction, lay a visionary artist who found comfort only in music. There was much more to Marian Anderson than sex, drugs, and punk rock.  Last Fast Ride: The Life, Love, and Death of a Punk Goddess is a cautionary tale of a beautiful soul born into a life of torment and tragedy.  Blended with interviews, photos, and archival footage, the absorbing documentary features pop culture icon Henry Rollins, Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, Daniel deLeon, Danielle Santos Bernal, and more.

Marian Anderson penetrated the San Francisco’s underground punk scene in the early 90’s where she pushed the limits with tawdry acts on stage.  After fronting various punk bands, Marian and Daniel deLeon formed an all girl hard core punk band, ‘The Insaints’ - and so began the demise of her intense tumultuous path.

The film, which premiered at the 2011 Slamdance Film Festival, Last Fast Ride: The Life, Love, and Death of a Punk Goddess, will make its nationwide premiere on DVD, February 21, 2012 by Virgil Films & Entertainment.  The disc is accompanied with bonus features including: deleted scenes; making of; and extended scenes.

Working closely with Anderson’s partner, Danielle Santos Bernal, filmmaker Lilly Scourtis Ayers presents a carefully constructed tribute to the legendary punk rocker.  ”Marian lived each moment fearlessly, as though it were her last.” said Ayers. ”She was extremely well loved by her friends. She was described as generous, sweet and kind. I hope I have shed light on a very complicated person.”

Generated by an abusive childhood, Marian channeled her pain while writing songs that encompassed feminism, and female empowerment. The stage was her only escape and it provided a sense of freedom, thereby causing more dilemma, as she often performed topless and indulged in lewd sexual acts leading to headlines, arrests, and court cases. Although she is best known as a provocateur, Marian Anderson’s brief moment in music history helped paved the way for female rockers to come.  Last Fast Ride is her story.

Last Fast Ride – Synopsis

LAST FAST RIDE - The Life, Love and Death of a Punk Goddess, is the first and only feature-length documentary film about the infamous bay-area punk rock performer Marian Anderson. Singer, model, prostitute, bisexual, drug addict, insane, beautiful, talented, selfless, violent… all words used to describe Marian Anderson. Plagued by sexual abuse, mental illness and self-destruction, Marian’s story is a cautionary tale of hope, broken dreams, and shattered endings.

Through a combination of concert footage, photographs, and interviews with key people in Marian’s life, director Lilly Ayers pieces together the portrait of a fragmented and damaged girl who was left to fend for herself in a world of danger and exploitation. Narrated by punk rock legend and actor Henry Rollins, this riveting film covers Marian’s idyllic youth, her tormented adolescence, and her tragic adult life, climaxing in an unforgettable ending.

VIRGIL FILMS & ENTERTAINMENT

Virgil Films & Entertainment, formerly Arts Alliance America, was founded in 2003 as Hart Sharp Video by Joe Amodei to develop, acquire, market and distribute DVD product in the theatrical feature film, documentaries, special interest and sports categories.  The company has built partnerships with Sundance Channel Home Entertainment, National Geographic Cinema Ventures, ESPN, MLB Productions, Bombo Sports and Entertainment, Morgan Spurlock’s Warrior Poets and other high-profile entertainment brands since their inception. Recent releases from Virgil Films & Entertainment include the documentary,

My Run; the Sci-fi thriller Lunopolis; The Wildest Dream, narrated by Liam Neeson; the hit film, Forks Over Knives; Michael Imperioli’s directorial debut The Hungry Ghosts; and National Geographic’s Oscar® nominated documentary Restrepo. For more information, please visit: www.VirgilFilmsEnt.com

—

Last Fast Ride-Trailer from Lilly Scourtis Ayers on Vimeo.

This is the trailer for the feature film I directed and edited. Trailer by Fritz Feick.

Masterful Director, Raul Rúiz, Leaves Behind One of The Best Films of 2011​

MYSTERIES OF LISBON ​

Within the same year of his passing, Chilean-born Director, Raul Rúiz left a superlative stamp on 2011 with ”one of the first cinematic masterpieces of this century” (Film Comment). With over 100 arthouse gems under his belt, including Genealogies of a Crime, Comedy of Innocence,  Klimt, Shattered Immage, and Time Regained, the great auteur deliberated one of his last masterful works and bestowed cinephiles with ”a brilliant piece of filmmaking” (Vogue Magazine). Mysteries of Lisbon, an exquisite film adaptation of the 19th Century Portuguese novel, has been noted as a magnificent milestone in the distinguished career of Ruiz, and has graced numerous ”Best of 2011″ film lists nationwide including NY Times, NPR, and ’At the Movies’, just to name a few. ​

On January 17, 2012, Mysteries of Lisbon, will be available on Digital Download, and VOD, as well as a fantastic special 3-disc DVD and Blu-ray collector’s set that any aficionado will not want to miss.  Music Box Films has accompanied the DVD and Blu-ray discs with rare momentus supplements including: collector’s booklet with photos and essays by Jonathan Rosenbaum; 35 minute interview with Raul Rúiz; roundtable discussion of the film; Radio interview with Rúiz; and much more.

RECENT ACCOLADES INCLUDE:

Top 10 Films of 2011 (#1): Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, Ebert Presents: At the Movies

Ella Taylor, NPR, Top Ten Best Films 2011 (#7)David Edelstein’s 10 best list, NPR

Best Films of 2011 (AO Scott, Manohla Dargis), NY Times

Best Director, Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay - Oscar Issue’s Critics Picks 
(Manohla Dargis), NY Times

​Best Films of 2011 (#6), Film Comment

Satellite Award for Best Foreign Film, International Press Academy

New York Film Critics Circle Special Award - Raúl Ruiz

Top 25 films of 2011 (# 3), Slant Magazine ​

Best Films of 2011 (#7), IndieWIRE​

​​​​​Best of the Year in Movies - New York Magazine (David Edelstein)

Jim Hoberman’s Personal Best List (#3), Village Voice

Best Film (#5), 2011 Village Voice Film Critics’ Poll

Best Director, Raul Ruiz (#3), 2011 Village Voice Film Critics’ Poll​

#1 Best Film, Best Director, 2011 Village Voice, NY Film Poll (Sean Axmaker)

Top 10s of 2011 (#20-tie), Movie City News

Top 10 Films of 2011 (#7), Matthew Lucas, The Dispatch (Lexington Co., NC)

2011: The Year’s Best Films (#9), Combustible Celluloid (Jeffrey M. Anderson)

Director Raúl Ruiz and Producer Paulo Branco

MUSIC BOX FILMS HOME ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES

Queen of the Sun:
What Are the Bees Telling Us?

ONE OF THE MOST ACCLAIMED DOCUMENTARY FILMS OF THE YEAR OFFERS A PROFOUND AND UPLIFTING CHRONICLE OF MAN’S HISTORIC AND SACRED RELATIONSHIP WITH BEES AND THE INTEGRAL ROLE THAT THE HONEY-FUELED INSECTS HOLD AROUND THE WORLD

Available on DVD and VOD

January 24, 2012

Chicago, IL (November 14, 2011) - The acclaimed documentary Queen of The Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us? is a profoundly affecting film about one of the most urgent and crucial environmental issues of our time: the disappearance of honeybees from their hives with no clear single explanation, a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder. Examining this dire global bee crisis through the eyes of biodynamic beekeepers, scientists, farmers and philosophers, Queen of The Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us? unveils the 10,000-year history of beekeeping, highlighting how man’s sacred relationship with bees has been lost due to highly mechanized industrial practices.

Director and producer Taggart Siegel (The Real Dirt on Farmer John) was inspired to make a film about the honeybee crisis after reading the reported Albert Einstein quote, “If bees disappear from the earth, then man will only have four years of life left.” Taking viewers on a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of bees and the mysterious world of the beehive, the engaging and ultimately uplifting Queen of The Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us? offers an unusual, unique and startlingly dramatic story of the heartfelt struggles of those around the globe who are taking on the problem and seeking solutions in renewing a culture in balance with nature.

Music Box Films Home Entertainment will release Queen of The Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us? on DVD VOD, and Digital Download (Amazon and iTunes) for the first time on January 24 (prebook December 13). Released theatrically in more than 100 theaters in the U.S.’s top markets the Queen of The Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us? DVD will carry the suggested retail prices of $29.95.

Among the concerned experts who appear in Queen of The Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us? to present their insights into this critical issue are biodynamic beekeeper Gunther Hauk, founder of the Spikenard Farm & Honeybee Sanctuary and the author of the beekeeping guide Toward Saving the Honeybee; New York Times bestselling writer Michael Pollan, author of 2006’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, who talks about  industrialized beekeeping practices in the Central Valley of California and the fascinating evolutionary relationship between bees and flowers; and Indian activist and physicist Vandan Shiva,  who speaks of the development of chemical agriculture and the effects of pesticides and genetically modified food on bees.

Queen of The Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us? is also filled with dazzling footage of honeybees in all their glory, as well as equally remarkable visions of the people whose lives revolve around the humble, honey-producing insects. So get ready for some unbelievable shots of beekeepers fully covered in swarms of their buzzing buddies!

Reviewed by Mark Holcomb of the VILLAGE VOICE as “Visually sumptuous…lovingly shot, near-psychedelic imagery, which serves as an unusually visceral reminder of the rich variety in nature-and what’s at stake if bees bug out for good,” Queen of The Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us? is the environmental documentary that everyone is buzzing about!

More information on Queen of The Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us? can be found on the MUSIC BOX FILMS website at http://www.musicboxfilms.com/queen-of-the-sun and the film’s website at http://www.queenofthesun.com/.

Queen of The Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us? –Synopsis:

Queen of The Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us? is an in-depth investigation to discover the causes and solutions behind Colony Collapse Disorder; a phenomenon where honeybees vanish from their hives, never to return. The film examines the dire global bee crisis through the eyes of biodynamic beekeepers, scientists, farmers, and philosophers, unveiling the history of 10,000 years of beekeeping as it highlights how our historic and sacred relationship with bees has been lost due to highly mechanized industrial practices. Taking viewers on a journey through the catastrophic disappearance of the bees and the mysterious world of the beehive, Queen of The Sun: What Are The Bees Telling Us? presents a dramatic story that uncovers the problems and solutions of man’s attempts to renew a culture in balance with nature.

About Music Box Films:

Founded in 2007, Music Box Films has quickly established itself as one of the leading distributors of non-English language feature films in the US in theaters, on DVD and Blu-ray, and via Video-on-Demand. Music Box’s release of Guillaume Canet’s Tell No One was the most popular foreign-language film of 2008. In 2010, the film adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s trilogy of international mega-sellers dominated the foreign-language film market: the first in the series, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, was one of the most popular international releases of the decade with over $10 million in US box office. Music Box Films is independently owned and operated by the Southport Music Box Corporation which also owns and operates The Music Box Theatre, Chicago’s premiere venue for independent and foreign films.

Bonus Features*

• Audio Commentary with Director & Producer
• Interview with Director
• 3 Bonus scenes
• English, German and Spanish captions
• Trailers
• Amazing Bee Facts

*subject to change

Presented by Virgil Films & Entertainment and National Geographic Entertainment
NARRATED BY OSCAR^® WINNER JEREMY IRONS
A PROUD LIONESSS STRUGGLES TO SURVIVE AGAINST ALL ODDS AND PROTECT HER CUBS IN HEART OF THE JUNGLE

THE LAST LIONS

Available on Blu-ray and DVD January 2012

New York, NY (October 25, 2011) - From the lush wetlands of Botswana’s Okavango Delta comes The Last Lions, the acclaimed new wildlife adventure that follows the epic journey of the proud and determined lioness Ma di Tau (”Mother of Lions”) as she battles to protect her three cubs against a daunting onslaught of enemies in order to ensure their survival.

Ma Di Tau's Cub

Made by the South African husband-and-wife team Dereck and Beverly Joubert, veterans of wildlife moviemaking, and narrated by Academy Award^® winner Jeremy Irons (Reversal of Fortune, Dead Ringers), The Last Lions is as gripping and suspense-filled as any “human” saga. Filled with dazzling views of the African jungle and eye-opening adventure scenarios pitting Ma di Tau and her cubs against such formidable foes as crocodiles, buffalo and a rival pride of big cats, The Last Lions is both a first class entertainment and a fascinating document of the day-to-day lives of lions in the wild.

Described by Ty Burr of the Boston Globe as “an astonishing visual experience and at times almost profoundly suspenseful,” Virgil Films & Entertainment has teamed up with National Geographic Entertainment to present the DVD and Blu-ray disc premiere of The Last Lions on Tuesday, January 3, 2012, with special bonus features, for a suggested retail price of $19.99 and $29.99 respectively.

The gripping real-life saga of Ma di Tau and her cubs unfold inside the stark reality that lions are vanishing from the wild. In the last 50 years, lion populations have plummeted from 450,000 to as few as 20,000. With The Last Lions, the Jouberts weave their dramatic storytelling and breathtaking footage around a resonating question: are Ma di Tau and her young to be among the last lions? Or will we as humans, having seen how courageous and poignant their lives in the wild are, be moved make their preservation our moral duty?

With cinematography and footage that is heralded as “stunning” by both The Wall Street Journal and Entertainment Weekly, and “jaw-dropping” by The Washington Post, The Last Lions is a feast for the eyes, a treasure for the heart and a strong reminder that the most powerful force is nature is indeed a mother’s love.

Bonus Features on the disc includes: Behind the scenes, Deleted scenes, Filmmaker interviews, Information about the Big Cat Initiative

Synopsis - The Last Lions

In the lush wetlands of Botswana’s Okavango Delta, the proud lioness Ma di Tau (”Mother of Lions”) is ready to try anything-and willing to risk everything-to keep her family alive. Fleeing a raging fire and a rival pride headed by the dangerous lioness Silver Eye, Ma di Tau and her three fragile cubs must make their perilous escape by swimming a crocodile-infested river. Remote Duba Island is both a refuge and a strange new world for Ma di Tau and her cubs to conquer. On Duba, Ma di Tau must face off with the island’s herd of fierce buffalo whose huge, slashing horns are among the most dangerous weapons in Africa. Although the buffalo are one of her biggest threats, they are also one of her best hopes for survival if she can prevail over them. Yet, even as Ma di Tau faces devastating loss and escalating perils, she becomes part of a stunning turning point in the power dynamics on Duba Island, bringing together a competitive rival pride in a titanic primal bid to preserve the thing that matters most: the future of their bloodlines.

VIRGIL FILMS & ENTERTAINMENT

Virgil Films & Entertainment, formerly Arts Alliance America, was founded in 2003 as Hart Sharp Video by Joe Amodei to develop, acquire, market and distribute DVD product in the theatrical feature film, documentaries, special interest and sports categories.  The company has built partnerships with Sundance Channel Home Entertainment, National Geographic Cinema Ventures, ESPN, MLB Productions, Bombo Sports and Entertainment, Morgan Spurlock’s Warrior Poets and other high-profile entertainment brands since their inception.  Recent releases from Virgil Films & Entertainment include the documentary, My Run; the Sci-fi thriller Lunopolis; The Wildest Dream, narrated by Liam Neeson; the hit film, Forks Over Knives; Michael Imperioli’s directorial debut The Hungry Ghosts; and National Geographic’s Oscar® nominated documentary Restrepo. For more information, please visit: www.VirgilFilmsEnt.com

National Geographic Entertainment
National Geographic Entertainment is part of National Geographic Global Media and combines into a single operating group National Geographic Films, National Geographic Cinema Ventures, Kids Entertainment and Music & Radio. National Geographic Global Media brings together all of the National Geographic’s editorial platforms to streamline collaboration and support the Society’s mission.   Founded in 1888 to “increase and diffuse geographic knowledge,” National Geographic works to inspire people to care about the planet.   It reaches more than 400 million people worldwide each month through magazines, books, digital media, television, radio, music, film and live events. It funds more than 250 research scientific research, exploration and conservation projects each year and supports an education program promoting geography literacy.   For more information, visit www.nationalgeographic.com.

Daniel Battsek is president of NGF; Lisa Truitt is president of NGCV; and Mark Katz is president of NGCV Distribution.

Bonus Features:

• Behind the scenes
• Deleted scenes
• Filmmaker interviews
• Learn more about the Big Cat Initiative

MUSIC BOX FILMS HOME ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCES

Mysteries of Lisbon

ONE OF THE FINAL WORKS BY LEGENDARY FILMMAKER RAUL RÚIZ, THIS ACCLAIMED ADAPTATION OF THE EPIC PORTUGUESE NOVEL TELLS A SWEEPING AND TIMELESS TALE OF ROMANCE, WAR, PASSION AND BETRAYAL

Available on VOD and Special 3-disc DVD and Blu-ray

January 17, 2012

Chicago, IL (November 2, 2011 ) - An orphan boy in Portugal sets out on a quest to learn the story behind his origins, his parents and his own identity in MYSTERIES OF LISBON, the acclaimed epic film by legendary Chilean-born filmmaker, Raúl Ruiz. Adapted from the 19^th Century novel by Portugal’s Camilo Castelo Branco, the film covers three decades, four countries and a host of rich characters-all sparked by one man’s search for the truth-and is filled with all manner of adventures and escapades, coincidences and revelations, sentiments and violent passions, and vengeance and romance.

MYSTERIES OF LISBON is a large-scale film of such scope and complexity that it could only be mounted by a true cinematic genius like Ruiz, whose nearly 50-year career has yielded more than 100 movies, including such masterpieces as Time Regained, On Top of the Whale and Three Lives and Only One Death. One of Ruiz’s final works (he died this year at the age of 70), MYSTERIES OF LISBON is a saga that evokes the artistry, intricacy and richness of the sprawling intertwined narratives of such giants as Victor Hugo and Charles Dickens. It’s truly a magnificent milestone in the career of one of the cinema’s most ambitious and visionary directors.

Music Box Films Home Entertainment presents MYSTERIES OF LISBON on Digital Download, VOD, and 3-disc DVD and Blu-ray collector’s set w/special booklet, for the first time on January 17, 2012.  Released theatrically around the world and in the U.S.’s top markets following its premiere at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival, the MYSTERIES OF LISBON Blu-ray and DVD will carry the suggested retail prices of $34.95 and $43.95, respectively.

Set in Portugal’s capital city of Lisbon in the 19^th Century, the story at the heart of MYSTERIES OF LISBON centers on the 14-year-old João (portrayed as a child by João Luis Arrais and as an adult by premiere Portuguese actor Afonso Pimentel), an orphan in a boarding school who’s compelled to discover the truth behind his parents, his origins, and thus, himself.  Setting out on a quest that will span more than 30 years, João encounters a collection of inimitable characters in the Portuguese aristocracy who are all somehow connected to him. Questions are answered and secrets are revealed as the years go by and João’s voyage takes him from Portugal to France, Italy, and even Brazil. Over a journey filled with war, romance, passion and betrayal, João sees that his life and destiny are connected to those of the people he meets. And the truth for one man, he learns, isn’t always the truth for all.

The film was immediately praised at prominent film festivals around the world and Raúl Ruiz received honorable accolades noting MYSTERIES OF LISBON as one of the finest works he ever made, winning the Silver Shell for Best Director at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and France’s prestigious Louis Delluc Prize.

Audiences and critics uniformly agree, with LA WEEKLY describing MYSTERIES OF LISBON as “an utterly absorbing masterwork” and SALON.com gushing that, “Once you start to ride with the rapturous, gorgeous, digressive symphony of images and words and music in this film, it’s completely absorbing and unlike anything you’ve ever seen.” VOGUE’s John Powers’s review of the film perfectly sums ups its excellence:  “…Moment after moment, shot after shot, [MYSTERIES OF LISBON] shows a level of attention to detail that is never less than magisterial. Every location is perfect. Every camera placement is perfect. Every performance is perfect.“

A hypnotically engrossing motion picture experience and a landmark film by one of the international cinema’s most respected storytellers, MYSTERIES OF LISBON demands to be seen.

More information on MYSTERIES OF LISBON can be found on the MUSIC BOX FILMS website at www.musicboxfilms.com/mysteries-of-lisbon and the film’s website at http://www.mysteriesoflisbon.com

MYSTERIES OF LISBON — Synopsis:

In 19^th Century Lisbon, Portugal, João, an orphan in a boarding school, sets out on a quest to discover the story behind his origins, his parents and his true identity. From this city of intrigue and secrets emerges a collection of characters who are all somehow linked to João’s destiny: Father Dinis, a descendant of the aristocratic libertines who later becomes a hero who defends justice; a countess maddened by her jealousy and obsessed with vengeance; and a prosperous businessman who mysteriously made his fortune as a bloodthirsty pirate. João’s questions are slowly answered-while others are raised-over the course of three decades and a personal voyage that takes him from Portugal to France, Italy, and even Brazil. But as secrets are revealed and João’s life begins to intertwine with those of the people he meets, he slowly learns that the truth for one isn’t always the truth for all.

About Music Box Films:

Founded in 2007, Music Box Films has quickly established itself as one of the leading distributors of non-English language feature films in the US in theaters, on DVD and Blu-ray, and via Video-on-Demand. Music Box’s release of Guillaume Canet’s Tell No One was the most popular foreign-language film of 2008. In 2010, the film adaptations of Stieg Larsson’s trilogy of international mega-sellers dominated the foreign-language film market: the first in the series, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, was one of the most popular international releases of the decade with over $10 million in US box office. Music Box Films is independently owned and operated by the Southport Music Box Corporation which also owns and operates The Music Box Theatre, Chicago’s premiere venue for independent and foreign films.

Bonus Features*

• Collector’s booklet including photos and essay by Jonathan Rosenbaum
• 35 minute interview with Raúl Ruiz from France’s CinéCinéma
• Interview with Screenwriter Carlos Saboga
• Roundtable discussion about MYSTERIES OF LISBON on French TV show “Préférences du Cercle” for Canal+
• Analysis of Portuguese writer Camilo Castelo Branco and the film by José Viale Moutinho from Portuguese TV show “Câmara Clara”
• Radio interview with Raúl Ruiz on France Culture
• Theatrical trailer

*subject to change

Presented by Virgil Films & Entertainment and National Geographic Entertainment

Executive Produced by Ridley Scott and Directed by Oscar®-Winning

Director Kevin Macdonald

YouTube-Generated Film Captures Life

Around the World in One Day

LIFE IN A DAY

Available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Delivery

November 8

“…engrossing and visually remarkable…” - CNN.com

“Provocative, gorgeous…deeply moving” - Wired

“Masterful…Life affirming, uplifting” - The Independent

“***** A thrilling piece of cinema” - The Times

New York, NY (October 25, 2011) - From the creative minds of Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker/producer Ridley Scott (Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, Thelma & Louise) and Academy Award®-winning director Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September, The Last King of Scotland) comes LIFE IN A DAY, the groundbreaking, user-generated, feature-length documentary film shot on a single day by people from all over the world.  Through the Scott Free UK Banner, Scott and Macdonald  asked people around the globe, via YouTube, to capture their lives over the course of one day, July 24, 2010. More than 80,000 videos from 192 countries were submitted, totaling more than 4,500 hours of footage. LIFE IN A DAY presents the most compelling footage from around the globe in a feature-length motion picture.

Virgil Films & Entertainment has teamed up with National Geographic Entertainment to present the DVD, Blu-ray, Digital Streaming and On-Demand premiere of LIFE IN A DAY on Tuesday, November 8, 2011, with special bonus features, for a suggested retail price of $19.99 (DVD) and $29.99 (Blu-ray).

“LIFE IN A DAY is one of the most honest documentaries I’ve seen in a long time,” says Joe Amodei, President of Virgil Films & Entertainment. “This film is a beautiful representation of life on Earth today, and we are excited to add Kevin Macdonald’s film to the Virgil Films catalog.”

The film, described by CNN.com as “a rousing success of an experiment,” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, with Macdonald, editor Joe Walker and invited contributors in attendance for a unique one-time-only YouTube live-streaming event broadcast in conjunction with the premiere. Through a partnership with National Geographic and YouTube, LIFE IN A DAY also enjoyed a limited theatrical release and has generated more than 40 million YouTube channel views to date.

Bonus features on the disc include interviews with Joe Walker and Kevin Macdonald, director commentary, editor commentary and footage from unused submissions.

Synopsis - LIFE IN A DAY

Oscar®-winning film director Kevin Macdonald’s LIFE IN A DAY was born out of a unique partnership between Ridley Scott’s Scott Free UK and YouTube. The film is a user-generated, feature-length documentary shot on a single day - July 24, 2010. Enlisted to capture a moment of the day on camera, the global community responded by submitting more than 80,000 videos to YouTube. The videos contained over 4,500 hours of deeply personal, powerful moments shot by contributors from Australia to Zambia, and from the heart of bustling major cities to some of the most remote places on Earth. LIFE IN A DAY brings together the most compelling footage from YouTube to create a 90-minute film crafted by Macdonald, executive producer Ridley Scott, producer Liza Marshall and their teams. The film offers a unique experience that shows - with beauty, humor and joyful honesty - what it’s like to be alive on Earth today.

VIRGIL FILMS & ENTERTAINMENT

Virgil Films & Entertainment, formerly Arts Alliance America, was founded in 2003 as Hart Sharp Video by Joe Amodei to develop, acquire, market and distribute DVD product in the theatrical feature film, documentaries, special interest and sports categories. The company has built partnerships with Sundance Channel Home Entertainment, National Geographic Cinema Ventures, ESPN, MLB Productions, Bombo Sports and Entertainment, Morgan Spurlock’s Warrior Poets and other high-profile entertainment brands since their inception. Recent releases from Virgil Films & Entertainment include the documentary My Run; the Sci-fi thriller Lunopolis; The Wildest Dream, narrated by Liam Neeson; the hit film Forks Over Knives; Michael Imperioli’s directorial debut The Hungry Ghosts; and National Geographic’s Oscar®-nominated documentary Restrepo. For more information, please visit: www.VirgilFilmsEnt.com.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC ENTERTAINMENT

National Geographic Entertainment (NGE) is part of National Geographic Global Media and combines into a single operating group National Geographic Films (NGF), National Geographic Cinema Ventures (NGCV), Kids Entertainment and Music & Radio. Over the last decade, NGE units have produced or released a number of successful films in both traditional, digital and giant screen theaters, including the Oscar-winning film March of the Penguins, Oscar®-nominated documentaries Restrepo and The Story of the Weeping Camel; giant-screen films Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure, U2 3D and Mysteries of Egypt; and traditional feature-length films The First Grader, The Last Lions, The Way Back and Amreeka. Daniel Battsek is president of NGF, Lisa Truitt is president of NGCV and Mark Katz is president of NGCV Distribution.

Bonus Features:

• Footage from Unused Submissions
• Interviews with Joe Walker and Kevin Macdonald
• Director Commentary
• Editor Commentary

Watch the Trailer here:

Here’s how it went down at the 2011 NYC Fashion Week capsule collection premiere of TUCK by Jamie Rice

TUCK by Jamie Rice 2011 Capsule Collection from Margarita Cortes on Vimeo.