One of the most celebrated American Independent films of the past year has opened the American Independents Competition at Festroia: Troia International Film Festival last evening. STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING, a character drama set in the literary world of New York City, features an award-winning performance by veteran stage and screen actor Frank Langella, who won the Best Actor prize from the Boston Film Critics last year. Langella's performance was critically hailed by major critics groups and also by the Independent Spirit Awards. Starring as a literary lion who is past his prime, Langella finds the right level of poignancy, anger and frustration as he becomes aware that his kind of literary pursuit may be out of date in a world of e books, where young people do not seem to read at all.

The excellent cast also features Lauren Ambrose, the precocious daughter on the HBO hit series SIX FEET UNDER, as a young graduate student who tries to resuscitate the older writer's career, as well as his capacity for human feeling. Also featured are indie darling Lili Taylor and British actoirs Adrian Lester and Michael Cumpsty. The film's director Andrew Wagner was in Portugal for the film's premiere screening, participating in a lively question-and-answer session following its projection. The writer/director was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his screenplay. The American Independents Competition here features eight films....more on these later this week.

The Troia International Film Festival (Festroia), known as the "Cannes of Portugal" opened last evening with a Gala Screening of the Oscar nominated Polish film KATYN. The film, directed by European screen legend Andrezj Wajda, is a dramatic recreation of the one of the great human crimes of the Second World War.....the mass slaughter of Polish army officers by the Russians in the beginning days of the conflict. Wajda brings his customary sweep mixed with intimacy to the heartfelt drama that was nominated this year for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Aside from launching the 10 day long festival, KATYN opens a special program of new Polish cinema that will be featured throughout the next week.


Sandy Mandelberger, Festroia Dailies Editor

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