Follow the Money
In the wake of the worldwide financial crisis, a particularly fascinating group of films has emerged that might help explain the mess we're in. In the Vancouver International Film Festival's Follow the Money series, various sectors of the economy (and aspects of human nature) are examined in illuminating, scarifying and perversely entertaining detail.
It's worth remembering that last year's VIFF took place in the midst of the very worst stret...
From 24th September to 3rd October 2009 the 17th Filmfest Hamburg will be presenting film enthusiasts and professionals with young Turkish cinema. The eight author-directors come from different Turkish cities and regions, bringing with them intense and explosive tales of Turkish and Kurdish life. Festival Director Albert Wiederspiel is impressed "by the cinematic poetry of these stories as well as by the filmmakers' courage. The imagery used in all of these films relies on serene tranquillity, m...
The heart of the 9th edition of the ERA NEW HORIZONS International Film Festival, which begins its 11-day marathon of film premieres, special events and music concerts on July 23, is the NEW HORIZONS International Competition. This year’s program includes a selection of 14 premieres of a truly international roster of filmmakers, covering a mix of genres and styles to offer a survey of the best in international cinema. This year, three awards will be granted: the Grand Prix for Best Film, award...
HELEN (UK)
by Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor
The heart of the 9th edition of the ERA NEW HORIZONS International Film Festival, which begins its 12 day marathon of film premieres, special events and music concerts on July 23, is the NEW HORIZONS International Competition. This year’s program includes a selection of 14 premieres of a truly international roster of filmmakers, covering a mix of genres and styles to offer a survey of the best in international c...
DEKALOG 3: ON FILM FESTIVALS
Richard Porton (ed.)
In an increasingly ‘event-driven' cultural environment, film festivals are now regarded as indispensable. Yet are festivals such as Cannes, Sundance and Toronto being sabotaged by their own success? Do they truly serve the needs of cinephiles, as well as the larger public? These are among the questions explored in essays, memoirs and impassioned polemics by a distinguished array of critics and programmers. This timely anthology begins w...
Of the forty-three documentaries in this year's DIFF, twenty-one are from or in co-production with South Africa , and eight are from or in co-production with African countries. Politics and history feature prominently. Iseta - Beyond the Roadblock covers the return to Rwanda of the filmmaker who shot the only known footage of killings during the Rwanda genocide, remarkable considering that over a million people were murdered. Zola Maseko explores ancient African civilization in The Manuscripts ...
DEKALOG 3: ON FILM FESTIVALSRichard Porton (ed.)http://www.wallflowerpress.co.uk/product/dekalog/Dekalog03_on_film_festivals In an increasingly ‘event-driven' cultural environment, film festivals are now regarded as indispensable. Yet are festivals such as Cannes, Sundance and Toronto being sabotaged by their own success? Do they truly serve the needs of cinephiles, as well as the larger public? These are among the questions explored in essays, memoirs and impassioned polemics by a distinguish...
Independent web TV service Babelgum and The Fish Film Company have today announced a landmark deal for the worldwide mobile and online release of Rupert Murray's The End of The Line - The Series, timed to coincide with the traditional release of the feature documentary. George Duffield and Christopher Hird on behalf of The Fish Film Company, and Karol Martesko-Fenster, General Manager & Publisher - Film Division on behalf of Babelgum, negotiated the deal.
Based on the...
About the film:
The Cannes Festival Official Selection is glad to welcome Pedro Almodóvar to the Competition with Broken Embraces. After Volver (Best Screenplay, in 2006) and All About my Mother (Best Director, 1999), the filmmaking Spaniard is returning with a new homage to the seventh art.
"I feel it's the first time I've made such an express declaration of love to cinema," Almodóvar says. "Not with a specific sequence, but with a whole film. To cinema, its materials, to...
Cineaste Alain Cavalier will be screening his new film-confession, Irène, at Un Certain Regard. It explores the same inner terrain as his 2005 film Le Filmeur, which garnered the Prix de l’Intimité that year.
Small digital camera in hand, Cavalier dives into the memories he set down in his diaries from the early 1970s, in search of the essence of Irène, the love of his life, who was killed in a car crash…
"She's at the door," Alain Cavalier confesses. "For years, I’ve...
Rockwell the Inspiration for Duncan Jones' 'Moon'
WHOA! This movie is a mind-blow.
Let
me start by saying that I am quite unfamiliar with the genre of science
fiction. When I read about this movie I didn't think, 'Oh what a cool
sci-fi this movie will be.' SO it was a surprise to me when during the
Q&A at the West Coast premiere of the movie at the SFIFF Sunday
night so many questions and answers had to do with the sci-fi genre
(themes borrowed from other movies, etc...
At the Opening Night party for Independent Film Festival Boston 2008, I asked Managing Director Brian Tamm about the festival’s selection process and whether they keep any themes in mind when filling out the schedule. His response was: “We just try to select the best films we can. You guys [the press] tell us what the themes are.”
Well, let’s see what they came up with.
With the Opening Night thriller’s frostbitten Siberian north (Transsiberian) and the Closing Nig...
Film directors Paul Haggis and Steven Zaillian, Italian actor Christian De Sica and actress Mariagrazia Cucinotta and British actress and producer Trudie Styler are the first artists to join the 3rd Social Cinema Forum of Ischia focused on “children’s right to education”. From July 12th throughout 19th, after the G8 international political summit to be held in Italy, and in a moment characterized by very urgent globalized humanitarian and environmental issues, the “leading” players of ...
Director: Cheng Ding An.
Battling the onslaught of a life threatening stage of diabetics, an entire board of unapproving officials ready to oust him, a record of 12 years of Malaysian football supremacy, Uncle Choo defiantly returns to the Singapore football scene in 1977 restoring Nationalistic pride.
This is a tale about sheer grit, unbreakable will and his deep passion, unyielding struggle with society and oneself, to finally achieve glory for one’s nation thru football and coined one legacy unwittingly, known to all as “The Kallang Roar” which is of nothing to himself at the end of it.
The 15th annual Slamdance Film Festival has announced 16 film and screenplay prize winners in four categories who will share more than $100,000 in cash and prizes. The just-concluded Festival in Park City, Utah, received over 3,000 submissions from 25 countries for 120 programming slots. 2009 marked the 15th anniversary of the Slamdance Film Festival, one of the few remaining movie showcases whose sole mission is to nurture, support and introduce truly independent works from first-time filmmake...
Slamdance, always looking for new and innovative ways to assist emerging artists and to contribute to the film community, has joined forces with Upload Films to annually produce a feature film based on that year’s prize-winning entry from the Slamdance Screenplay Competition, it was jointly announced by Peter Baxter of Slamdance and Todd Williams at Upload Films. It is believed Slamdance is the only film festival to actively produce feature films that emanate from its competitions. The firs...
While best known for its annual film festival, Slamdance will now also serve as a year-round showcase for the discovery of new and emerging musical talent. To launch its celebratory 15th year anniversary, Slamdance is excited to bring the new element of independent music into the fold. The Slamdance Underground Music vs. Film Tour presented by OurStage and Dr. Martens kicks off in Brooklyn on New Year’s Eve and will continue cross-country representing the annual film festival and its commitme...
Culinary Cinema will open with Food, Inc., a spectacular documentary on the food industryOn February 8, 2009 at 3 p.m., the documentary film Food, Inc. will open the 59th Berlin International Film Festival programme Culinary Cinema as a Berlinale Special. This remarkable film premiere will take place at Friedrichstadtpalast and conclude with a top-class discussion and a true culinary treat.In powerful images, producer/director Robert Kenner and the investigative protagonists Eric Schlosser (scre...
Winners at the 19th edition of the 2008 Stockholm International Film FestivalThe jury now presents its selection for the 19th Stockholm International Film Festival. The film that leaves Stockholm with the 16 lb Bronze Horse 2008 comes from the USA, and tells a gripping story of border smuggling across the frozen waters of the St. Lawrence River.The Bronze Horse for best feature 2008 goes to “Frozen River” by Courtney Hunt. Hunt’s story takes place in the days before Christmas near a little...
The Viennale 2008, which will come to an end with today’s screening of the closing film Waltz With Bashir, is proud to present a successful outcome.With a total of 92,100 Viennale-goers the 2008 festival has scored a slight increase in the number of visitors.Last year’s record was 91,700.Due to a larger number of screenings, the capacity sank from 79.20% in 2007 to 76.80% at the Viennale 2008.Out of a total of 332 film screenings, 116, i.e., approximately a third, were sold out.The capacity ...
These are films for kids between the ages of 2 and 18 that KIDS FIRST! believes to have universal appeal, exhibit outstanding attributes in terms of their production values and portray values and have qualities that make them as applicable today as the day they were first released. We know that media has the power to influence children, negatively or positively. The films on this list portray the values and ethics that we, as a culture wish to instill in our children. The idea behind this list ...
11th RIDM (Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montreal)November 13 to 23 2008 The 11th edition of the RIDM (Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montreal) will take place from November 13 to 23. A program of more than 100 films from thirty countries, a long list of special events and the 4th edition of Doc Circuit Montreal - the documentary marketplace, will take over the city. The RIDM is pleased to welcome Madame Louise Beaudoin as spokesperson for the 11th edition of the f...
With International Premiere „The Baby Formula“ and Canadian filmmaker Alison Reid, the 57th International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg will celebrate its opening night in Heidelberg on Thursday, 6 November 2008. The film is one out of 19 feature films by international newcomer directors competing for the Main Award of Mannheim-Heidelberg. The complete selection with an overview of all films in International Competition, in the International Discoveries section and the sidebars will be pu...
The International Cinematographers Film Festival “Manaki Brothers” in Bitola is organized by the Macedonian Film Professionals Association (MFPA).Founded 21 May 1950, MFPA represents the interests of film professionals and film authors in our country. Besides looking after its members’ rights and interests, MFPA fosters the professional development and growth of film creativity in the Republic of Macedonia. The Association aims to strengthen Macedonian cinematography and to ensure its cont...
The annual festival trailer has been one of the Viennale’s special features for quite some time now. This is not a commercial trailer as such, but rather a small, autonomous piece of cinema, standing on its own and for the festival alike. At the Viennale’s invitation internationally renowned directors have created these one-minute films for the festival in the last few years, among them Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas, Leos Carax and Agnès Varda.Festival director Hans Hurch has been trying for q...
