Although the final lineup won’t be announced until early next year, the International
Film Festival Rotterdam has already confirmed some of the films to be screened
at the fest. Among the titles on the program are: Clara Law’s The
Goddess Of 1967, Ang Lee’s Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Sharunas Bartas' Freedom. In addition,
ten filmmakers have been commissioned by the festival to produce a digital video
diary. Rotterdam runs from January 24 through Feb 4 2001....
Kirk Douglas will be honored at the 51st
Berlin Festival for a lifetime of achievement in film. Festival organizers
emphasized the wide range of characters that the actor has played in over 80
feature films that have spanned a 55-year career. The awards ceremony takes
place in February....
Andie McDowell will play alongside Harvey Keitel in Ginostra,
the second feature film by French director Manuel Pradal. The project
comes three years after Pradal's feature debut, Marie Baie des
Anges. Shooting is set to begin December 17 in Italy. Meanwhile,
McDowell can be seen in Elie Chouraqui's Harrison's Flowers.
...
If MGM gets its way, Mike Myers will star as Inspector Jacques Clouseau
in the studio's remake of The Pink Panther, for which Ivan
Reitman is in negotiations to direct. Sources say that Myers was
hesitant to follow in the footsteps of Peter Sellers, who played
the inspector when the film series began in 1963. However, he apparently
agreed to participate in the project after a successful meeting
with ...
Mahamet-Saleh Haroun was born in Chad and now lives in France. His funny
yet telling docu-drama Bye Bye Africa chronicles his journey through his
native land, investigating ruined cinemas and discovering a film community
trying to recover from brutal war. Bye Bye Africa is part of Toronto's
Planet Africa series, a term which Haroun takes on scathingly during his
short film for the 25X25 serie. In 25X25, twenty-five filmmakers from around the world were given digital cameras by The Toronto F...
Renny Bartlett is the Canadian born director of Eisenstein, a
German/Canadian film about the life of famed Russian director Sergei
Eisenstein. Shot in the Ukraine and starring English actor Simon McBurney,
Eisenstein faced many unusual challenges, the least of which was working
with Russian film crews who had not worked for ten years....
John Greyson is an award-winning Canadian filmmaker known for his famous gay musical Zero Patience and the lovely film Lilies. Here he discusses
The Law of Enclosures, about a couple who have been together since
adolescence, based on the book by Dale Peck. This film also stars Sarah
Polley (Go) one of Canada's most promising stars....
Raymond de Feliita is the director and Michael Risopi the star of Two
Family House, a 1950's period piece about a hapless man Budddy (Rispoli),
who refuses to stop trying for success. His latest scheme is to rent a
dilapited house and convert half of it into a bar. His Irish tenant, an old
man and a very pregnant young wife have other ideas. Here De Felitta and
Rispoli discuss the film, it's history and the theme of culture and
Identity....
Raymond del Feliita is the director and Michael Risopi the star of Two
Family House, a 1950's period piece about a hapless man Budddy (Rispoli),
who refuses to stop trying for success. His latest scheme is to rent a
dilapited house and convert half of it into a bar. His Irish tenant, an old
man and a very pregnant young wife have other ideas. Here De Felitta and
Rispoli discuss the film, it's history and the theme of culture and
Identity....
Canadian born Kalesniko discusses his Gala film How to Kill Your
Neighbour's Dog, starring Kenneth Branagh as the curmudgeonly playwright
Peter McGowan and Robin Wright-Penn as his luminous wife Melanie. Peter,
haunted by his failing success, insomnia and a barking dog, works on his
new play as his wife frets about having children. They befriend the little
girl next door and the growing relationship enriches both their lives.
Here, Kalesniko talks about working with Branagh and Wright-Penn...
The London home that Madonna shares with boyfriend Guy Ritchie has
been hit by burglars for the second time. After a failed robbery
attempt last June, thieves succeeded Thursday in entering the Notting
Hill residence and taking, among other things, the keys that allowed
them to steal away with Ritchie's Range Rover. The vehicle was later
recovered in West London. Madonna, her two young children, and Ritchie
...
Suffering from a rare degenerative brain disorder, British comic
actor Dudley Moore bid farewell in a BBC television interview aired
Monday. The actor, who in 1981 was nominated for an Oscar for his
role in Arthur, said that he faces "a short and uncertain
future" and will soon die. The Parkinson's-related disease produces
symptoms such as falling, imbalance and slowed movements. Moore
lives in New Y...
Ethan Hawke will star in The Jimmy Show, an independent picture
about a failed New Jersey inventor who sets out on the amateur-comedy
circuit as a standup comedian. The film marks the second directorial
venture for Frank Whaley, who also stars in the film and adapted
the screenplay from a play by Jonathan Mark Sherman. Originally
called Veins and Thumbtacks, the play was first directed
by Hawke with ...
DreamWorks studios is looking to line up Robert Redford and Mark
Wahlberg in The Castle, to be helmed by film-critic-turned-director
Rod Lurie. Redford would play a five-star general convicted of a
capital crime. While final negotiations have begun with Redford,
insiders say that Wahlberg's schedule may impede his participation
in the film, which is slated for a mid-March shooting start. Wahlberg
is a...
As the auditorium filled up for the Luminaries Awards Gala, we got in a few words with two of the night's honorees: Peter Falk and George Sidney.
...
An annual event at the Fort Lauderdale Festival, the Luminaries honor motion picture stars, directors and producers. For the year 2000 event, the winner of the Robert Wise Director of Distinction Award was veteran director George Sidney, who has directed over 50 films. Howard Keel, another veteran from the golden age of the Hollywood musical was honored for his Lifetime Achievement in Musical Cinema. The Spirit of Independents Award was given to actor-turned-director Rob Morrow, whose first dire...
Familiar to television audiences for his lead role in Northen Exposure and for his role in Robert Redfords’s Quiz Show, Maze marks his directorial debut. Set in downtown New York, Maze is an uncommon love story starring Rob Morrow, Laura Linney and Craig Sheffer. Rob took a moment to present his film to us
...
This UK director, coming from a music video background, presented his first feature, Sexy Beast, at a Gala Screening in Toronto. The film is a thriller where action takes second place to a good old-fashioned battle of two immovable wills: Oscar-award winning actor Ben Kingsley and British stalwart Ray Winstone. Jonathan talks openly about working with Ben Kingsley and a number of projects in the works....
Arriving for the Gala Screening of Sexy Beast, Kingsley related how he had to « find the Demon within » for his role as Gary in this psychological thriller....
This Australian director brings to the screen an immensely funny spin on the events surrounding man’s first steps on the moon on July 20, 1969. Rob believes that we have much to learn from this monumental event and the film is based on a true story focusing on the scientists who struggled to make the historic broadcast possible....
The 2000 Kennedy Center Honors ceremony was held
in Washington, D.C. this weekend. Rewarding five of
the world's top performing artists from the worlds of
dance, film, music and theater, the two-day ceremony
attracted big names from Hollywood and politics such
as President Clinton. Actress Angela Lansbury and actor-director
Clint ...
The Pope of Trash can now be called Master of Ceremonies; John Waters
has been selected to host the Independent Film Awards, scheduled
for March 24. Who better than the Baltimore-born director whose
toilet-bowl humor and unorthodox approach have made him the one
of the most individual directors not in Hollywood!...
Tim Burton is suing the man who allegedly stole a box containing
the director's personal artwork. Burton, who studied animation at
the California Institute of the Arts, claims that he received a
letter last June in which David Botempo admits to having stolen
a box of original sketches and paintings from the community storage
area of their apartment building in 1991. The director says that
Botempo mad...
Director Amos Kollek can't get enough of a good thing. For the fourth
time, he'll direct Anna Thomson as a lonely woman in search of a
man - only this time the male element is her lost son. Though their
last film together, Fast
Food Fast Women, was a comedy, their new venture, Beirut,
will hark back to the dark humor characteristic of their earlier
films. Shooting begins this January. ...
Nov 23 - 30 (Belgrade, Yugoslavia)
The main prize was a tie between French director Claude
Miller's La
Chambre Des Magiciennes and The Land Of Truth
Love And Freedom, the directorial debut from Serbian
Milutin Petrovic....
