Wednesday, October 31--------Truth be told, I left the London Film Festival on Monday morning, October 29th (also my birthday in case anyone wants to send me a belated box of chocolates). So, unfortunately, I missed an event that I truly wanted to cover. But through the art of the press release, I am able to report that on that same Monday evening (when I was blowing out I won't tell you how many candles), the Times BFI London Film Festival along with trade publication Variety presented the 20...

From 6th – 11th November, interfilm Berlin presents the International Short Film Festival, the most important short film festival in Berlin.The Festival is a showcase of all that’s new and mentionable in the area of international short film. Established veterans, newcomers and shooting stars compete alongside each other for the coveted Short Awards. Of the approximately 3,800 submitted works from 88 countries, 542 films from 50 countries (148 from ) and from diverse genres – fiction...

The London Film Festival is not necessarily against the idea of premiering controversial films......in fact, they generate good press and audience interest. But two such films had their premieres just hours apart on Friday, making it a red-hot day for the press and opinionmakers. Locally, it was BRICK LANE, the adaption of the best selling novel by local author Monica Ali, that generated the most media buzz. The film had its world premiere last evening and was the subject of much discussion in t...

 Saturday, October 27----------The London Film Festival is not necessarily against the idea of premiering controversial films......in fact, they generate good press and audience interest. But two such films had their premieres just hours apart on Friday, making it a red-hot day for the press and opinionmakers. Locally, it was BRICK LANE, the adaption of the best selling novel by local author Monica Ali, that generated the most media buzz. The film had its world premiere last evening and was the...

 Saturday, October 27----------The London Film Festival is not necessarily against the idea of premiering controversial films......in fact, they generate good press and audience interest. But two such films had their premieres just hours apart on Friday, making it a red-hot day for the press and opinionmakers. Locally, it was BRICK LANE, the adaption of the best selling novel by local author Monica Ali, that generated the most media buzz. The film had its world premiere last evening and was the...

The future of 3-D cinema has supplanted digital cinema and piracy as the hot topic at this year's ShowEast exhib confab, which just wrapped.At a packed house Wednesday morning, theater owners slipped on special glasses and checked out trailers for 3-D films including Robert Zemeckis' "Beowulf" from Paramount-Warner Bros.; New Line's "Journey 3-D"; and Summit Entertainment's "Fly Me to the Moon." Also unspooled: an extended clip from "U2 3D," shot ...

 Friday, October 12--------As the New York Film Festival enters its final weekend, there are still ample opportunities to sample a very tasty smorgasboard of international film offerings. The mix of titles includes modern film noir, an instant animation classic, a contemporary American farce, and some intriguing films from Asia and south of the border. If you've been delaying getting to Lincoln Center for this year's event, it is now last call.Don't be daunted by the 163 minute running time o...

FilmFestival Cottbus - Festival of East European Cinema In around a month's time, the 17th FilmFestival Cottbus – Festival of East European Cinema will be opened. It will be offering a representative overview of the feature film production from all of the Central and East European area from November 6th to 10th. From the Baltic states to the Balkans, from Poland through to Central Asia, the festival will be inviting cinema-goers to explore fascinating film landscapes and lively cinematographie...

The Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam has selected four film projects to receive in its ‘digital production’ category. Liu Jiayin and Wang Bing (both from China), Paz Encina (Paraguay) and Eugenio Polgovsky (Mexico) receive grants to produce their low budget digital projects. The other categories, including script development and postproduction grants, will be announced in two weeks. Wang Bing’s CAI YOU RI JI (THE JOURNEY OF CRUDE OIL) documents in non...

Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announced today that Charles Durning, the quintessential character actor and highly decorated World War II veteran, will receive the Guild’s most prestigious tribute—the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. Durning will be presented the Award, given annually to an actor who fosters the “finest ideals of the acting profession,” at the “14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®,” which premieres live...

Lloyd Kaufman of Troma Entertainment, Inc. has been elected Chairman of the Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA) during the organization’s annual meeting today, it was announced by Jean Prewitt, president and chief executive officer of IFTA. Kaufman begins his two-year term, effective today.IFTA hip also elected new Executive Committee to two-year : Michael Ryan (Handmade Films International and former IFTA Chairman) to Vice Chairman and Paul Hertzberg (Ci...

The Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the distribution of the World Soundtrack Awards on 20 October. Theodorakis has written the music for Zorba The Greek, Z and Serpico. The Flemish Radio Orchestra conducted by Dirk Brossé will play music from Zorba The Greek . Mikis Theodorakis was born on the Greek island Chios on 29 July 1925. Still being a child he became acquainted with Greek folk music and after hearing Ludwig von Beethoven's Ninth Symphony he ...

The annual MV International Film Festival kicked off last evening under blue skies atop the Mansion House Inn with more than 200 participants enjoying the acoustic sounds of Phil DaRosa and fabulous food provided by Zephrus Restaurant and Net Result.  The spirits of the opening night reception were heighten by serving of Charles de Fere champagne (provided by Bossiet America), Stella Artois, and sparkling water provided by San Pellegrino.   And then movie-goers were treated to the sights and ...

The spirit and policies of socialism are sweeping across South America. Cuba's President, Fidel Castro has been at the forefront of this movement since assuming power in 1959. With the recent reforms instituted by Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, the movement is again gaining momentum at the regional level. Now, with the 2006 election of Evo Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous President, the continent serves host to a trilateral bloc that seeks to challenge the mores of capitalism and Americ...

A central program in the first annual Middle East International Film Festival – Abu Dhabi (October 14-19, 2007) is the Film Financing Circle (FFC), taking place October 15-17, 2007. Located at the luxurious Emirates Palace, the event is comprised of several extraordinary elements guaranteed to optimize networking connections for industry insiders and power players attending from around the world.“Since the conception of the festival, I have wanted to offer an arena where global financiers, e...

The first edition in Apulia Region from 26th to 30th NovemberThe visual media as an occasion of dialogue and meeting Inter – religiousAt the beginning of 3000 men and people discover and recover the values of the faith that has marked the end of their civilization and the history of their places. A film festival with a documentary subject is the occasion for utilizing the visual media as an iconographic recall to places and characters that have marked a thousand-year history of faith, as sugge...

The popular roving Wine Country Film Festival presented another stellar program of movies in three communities - Sonoma, American Canyon and Napa - north of the Golden Gate Bridge. In addition to world and American films, the fest offered Arctic Tale and No Reservations which made their regional debuts in the festival. WCFF’s approach to programming singles out the best in domestic and international titles in unique groupings such as Cinema of Conscience – films addressing social and pol...

 Friday, September 7--------September is a month of decision for the US policy in Iraq. Next week, General Petraeus, the head army honcho supervising the "surge" of additional troops on the ground in Iraq, will make his long awaited report to the US Congress about the state of the War. As has been noted in newspapers and on television programs both in the US and around the world, the patience of the American people is at its breaking point, and politicians from both the opposition and...

 Monday, September 3----------European Film Promotion (EFP), the pan-European agency of the continent's film promotion boards, again returns to the Toronto International Film Festival with a program of for European filmmakers and sales agents. For this year's edition, 39 European films will benefit from the Film Sales (FSS) initiative sponsored by EFP. 26 different European sales agents and production companies are receiving  for the promotion of 39 European films in ...

The 34th Telluride Film Festival celebrates the best in film, past, present and future, from all around the globe, the Festival kicks off another exciting weekend packed with tributes, features, documentaries, shorts, conversations and discussions. The Festival opens today Friday, August 31 and runs through Monday, September 3.The Festival will pay tribute to three film luminaries including Daniel Day-Lewis, who captivated filmgoers with his performances in ROOM WITH A VIEW, THE UNBEARABLE...

Eighteen films from different Latin American countries will compete in the Horizontes Selection at the San Sebastian Film Festival, to take place from 20-29th September. This showcase of movies made throughout the year in Latin America consists of films not released in Spain, some of which have won awards at international festivals, such as El asaltante, Baixio Das Bestas, A casa de Alice, Párpados azules and La sangre iluminada. Eleven of these titles come from Films in Progress.Films include...

The New York AIDS Film Festival will dedicate the 2007 NY AIDS FILM FESTIVAL to the life of Mr. Jack Valenti. A er of the festival and 2004 Honoree, former President of the MPAA and head of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Valenti was a kind er of their work and the fest will celebrate his life. The Festival will open at the United Nations with a moment to honor the former Hollywood luminary and lobbyist, and will continue to give the Jack Valenti...

Chaim Pevner, Film CriticFILM NOTES TO THE BARBICAN YIDDISH FILM RETROSPECTIVE(London, October 12-24, 1996) THE YIDDISH language cinema is nearly unique among world cinema cultures in that it had no specific homeland.  Yiddish films, including “silent Yiddish” films, were produced wherever there were major Yiddish speech communities and a Yiddish theatrical circuit  from which  talent could be recruited.  The majority of Yiddish language films were therefore made in New York or in P...

NOIR BY NORTHWEST, SEATTLE FILM NOIR WEEK"NOIR CITY SEATTLE" OPENS WITH TWIN BILL OF RARITIES by Alex Deleon, for <filmfestivals.telechargervous.com> Tuesday, July 9, 2007 The traveling all-Film-Noir festival known as "Noir City", introduced personally by the San Francisco based "Czar of Noir", Eddie Muller, opened here at the SIFF theater in the Space Needle dominated Seattle Center on Friday, July 6, with a pair of seldom seen and hard-to-find dark films of the late for...

"NOIR CITY SEATTLE" OPENS WITH TWIN BILL OF RARITIES by Alex Deleon, for <filmfestivals.telechargervous.com> Tuesday, July 9, 2007 The traveling all-Film-Noir festival known as "Noir City", introduced personally by the San Francisco based "Czar of Noir", Eddie Muller, opened here at the SIFF theater in the Space Needle dominated Seattle Center on Friday, July 6, with a pair of seldom seen and hard-to-find dark films of the late forties, "Thieves' Highway&quo...