LA premiere of NOW & LATER and the retrospective, UNRATED: A WEEK OF SEX IN CINEMA

NOW & LATER

Premiering February 18 at NY’s QUAD and on February 25 at LA’s Laemmle’s Sunset 5

Accompanied by the retrospective

UNRATED: A WEEK of SEX IN CINEMA
When Now is All You’ve Got

Los Angeles – NOW & LATER (99 minutes) written and directed by award-winning filmmaker and producer, Philippe Diaz (THE END OF POVERTY?; THE EMPIRE IN AFRICA; RUE DU DEPART; MAUVAIS SANG) will have its American premiere at NY’s QUAD Cinema on February 18, and at the Laemmle’s Sunset 5 in Los Angeles on February 25.  NOW & LATER marks Diaz’s directorial debut in feature-length fiction as he explores the theme of liberation – political, social and sexual. This provocative mix of cerebral and sexy is part of a weeklong retrospective curated by Cinema Libre Studio, titled UNRATED: A WEEK OF SEX IN CINEMA, a showcase which allows audiences to revisit popular and controversial films that push buttons and boundaries for their frank and explicit portrayals of sex.  (Program titles and descriptions detailed at bottom of release.)

NOW & LATER is the story of a brief encounter of two unlikely lovers: Bill (James Wortham) a former international banker, now a fugitive, and Angela (Shari Solanis), a beautiful, altruistic Latina who shelters him.

At the top of his game, trading debt of emerging countries, Bill was part of a team of bankers who arbitraged Argentinean bonds for quick profits. When Argentina’s elections didn’t go as planned, Bill’s bank dropped their strategy. But Bill, a “Master of the Universe”, went rogue and continued to trade the bank’s funds. Sentenced to eight years in prison, abandoned by his wife and friends, and nearly suicidal, Bill jumps bail with the help of his former driver, Luis, who helps devise his escape route to Central America. On the first leg of his journey Bill is taken to East Los Angeles where Luis’ friend, Angela, hides him in her squatter’s loft, a space she’s transformed into a kind of magical oasis – ironically, just blocks from his former office building.

Health care volunteer by day, waitress by night, Angela is an illegal immigrant and a full-time free spirit, whose political views were formed by her traumatic childhood in Nicaragua. Orphaned and on her own—her parents, educators by profession, were killed by the Contras—Angela’s learned to grab life’s fleeting moments and get as much pleasure from them as she can. But she is far from a hedonist. Comfortable in her own skin, she believes that physical pleasure and freedom are human rights.

Though Angela sees Bill’s life as an example of everything she detests, she feels sympathy for him and offers to enlighten him about his deferred gratifications and the ripple effect of his life of excess. He accepts, as he has “nothing to loose”. Step by step Bill is stripped of his inhibitions and confronts his own self-loathing. He becomes addicted to Angela’s freedom and by the end of their encounter he is able ask for and reach a kind of intimacy he’s never had.

Director Philippe Diaz was raised in Europe, studied philosophy at the Sorbonne and was inspired by Wilhelm Reich’s work on sexuality and politics, specifically noting that societies where natural sexual impulses are repressed tend to exhibit more violent tendencies. Since moving to this country Diaz has been “shocked to see how everything about sex is banned or taboo yet violence, even extreme violence, is available for anyone to see at anytime…. How is it,” he asks, “that something so vital to life – sex – is bad. I wanted to make a film about a real, passionate relationship where sex is portrayed on screen as a natural part of life…like it should be.”

In an advance review, MOVIEMAKER MAGAZINE’S Tim Rhys agrees, “NOW & LATER takes free, uninhibited sexuality to a new level…one of the most passionate pieces of cinema I’ve ever seen.”

Official Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBj3QJvBDTM | website: www.nowandlaterthemovie.com

ABOUT CINEMA LIBRE STUDIO:
Cinema Libre Studio a leader in distributing social issue documentaries and features by young, up‐and‐coming filmmakers is a haven for independent filmmakers offering a complete array of production and distribution resources. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the Cinema Libre team has released over one hundred films, best known for the award‐winning OUTFOXED, UNCOVERED:THE WAR ON IRAQ, Participant Media’s ANGELS IN THE DUST, the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award Winner, CONVENTIONEERS,  the Sundance Audience Award‐Winning FUEL and the studio’s highly acclaimed production, THE END OF POVERTY?.  The company is currently releasing Oliver Stone’s documentary SOUTH OF THE BORDER with films from Haskell Wexler and Rachid Bouchareb slated for 2011 releases. The company is producing THE LAST DAYS OF KARL MARX in Fall 2011 in Algeria and Belgium as well as developing John Perkins’ best‐selling memoirs, CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN, into a major feature film. For more information, please visit: www.cinemalibrestudio.com

DETAILS:
New York | NOW & LATER premieres February 18 at the Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th Street, New York, New York 10011, p: 212-255-2243, quadcinema@aol.com in conjunction with a mini-retrospective UNRATED: A WEEK of SEX IN CINEMA, which includes:  9 SONGS; ANTICHRIST; BETTY BLUE; NOW & LATER, THE PRICE OF PLEASURE; THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED; and SHORTBUS. Show times are available at www.nowandlaterthemovie.com

>>In NYC, the week is being kicked off with a panel on Thurs. 2/17 @ 7pm at the Museum of Sex with Diaz (director, NOW & LATER), Shari Solanis (actress, NOW & LATER), John Cameron Mitchell, (director, SHORTBUS), Howard Gertler (producer, SHORTBUS), Lisa Vandever (Co-Founder, Cinekink Film Festival), NYU Professor Eliot Borenstein, author of ‘OVERKILL: Sex and Violence in Contemporary Russian Popular Culture’. Details on panel: http://cinemalibrestudio.com/clsblog/?p=1249

Los Angeles | NOW & LATER premiers February 25 at Laemmle’s Sunset 5, 8000 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, California 90046, ph:(323) 848-3500, www.laemmle.com in conjunction with

UNRATED: A WEEK of SEX IN CINEMA, LOS ANGELES 2/25 –3/4 which includes:  9 SONGS; ANTICHRIST; BETTY BLUE; HUSTLER WHITE,  NOW & L ATER, THE PRICE OF PLEASURE; THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED; and SHORTBUS.

NOW & LATER screens daily at 1:30, 7:00* and 9:55
Director and cast Q&As on Fri 2/25 and Sat 2/26 following 7:00pm show and Sunday

• UNRATED: A WEEK OF SEX IN CINEMA films  screening one time daily at 3:50pm:
• Fri. 2/25 – This Film Is Not Yet Rated |Sat. 2/26 – Hustler White |Sun. 2/27 – The Price of Pleasure|Mon. 2/28 – Shortbus |Tues. 3/1 – Antichrist |Weds. 3/2 – Betty Blue|Thurs. 3/3 – 9 Songs
• Link: http://cinemalibrestudio.com/clsblog/?p=1349

Media Contacts:
Beth Portello
bportello@cinemalibrestudio.com
Cinema Libre Studio
818-349-8822

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