The panel will take place:  May 21: 3pm  to 4pm Short Film Corner: Screening RoomInvitation event RSVP press@filmfestivals.com From Janet Murray's Holodeck to Lev Manovich's Database Cinema, the interactive narrative represents the "holy grail" of the interactive medium. For some, the pleasure derived from interactive stories is found in the theorizing of them. For others such pleasure has yet to be found in mainstream practice. Indeed, today, most traditional entertainm...

  Festival du Cinéma Brésilien de Paris 25 April through 8 May, 2007 FESTIVAL DE CINEMA DO BRASIL IN PARIS The first week of this 9th two-prong event (feature competition and then documentaries) has ended at the L’Arlequin Cinema in Paris 'trendy Quartier Latin with the presence of top-knotch Brazilian filmmakers, actors and producers, flown over for the event to present each of the two doze...

WANT MORE SCOOP ON THESE FILMS?  CHECK OUT OUR MOVIE TALK RADIO SHOW "MOVIE GEEKS UNITED!" HEAR EXCLUSIVE FILMMAKER INTERVIEWS (see below)! Go now to www.blogtalkradio.com/moviegeeksunited and listen now!  And call this Sunday at 6pm eastern / 5pm central to ask questions concerning these films!The recent 9th annual Sarasota Film Festival was the biggest yet, hosting around 210 films from all over the world.  This event has become increasingly popular with both film fans and industr...

The previous articles provided the context for the growing film festival tourism phenomenon.  In this last installment, more specific information is provided about the participants in festival tourism, the services  provided by the few agencies in this new niche market, and the characteristics of the film festivals that would most likely benefit from film festival tourism.As noted before, comprehensive Canadian research on US festival tourism enthusiasts, including those groups who reported 60...

The International Film Festival Summit IFFS Europe will bring together leading film festivals and professionals from around the world to network, innovate, and share ideas. The summit will address the proliferation of festivals, sponsorship strategies, operations & management, technology, programming, and the distribution of film. Join your peers and colleagues for an event you can't afford to  miss!SPEAKERS INCLUDE:Henri Behar,Press, Toronto & Cannes Film Festival Despina Mouzaki...

I will be reporting from the Cuberland in London next week at the Festival Summit Europe. ...

Ce soir, la cérémonie d'ouverture du Festival aura lieu à Genève au Palais Eynard dès 18h15. Les spectateurs pourront ensuite rejoindre les invités pour la projection du film d'ouverture au CAC-Voltaire à 20h15. La Chienne de vie de Juanita Narboni, une adaptation du roman d'Angel Vasquez, inaugurera le festival, en présence de la réalisatrice Farida Benlyazid. La soirée se poursuivra avec des courts-métrages libanais tournés pendant l'été 2006 et sélectionnés par...

by Alex Deleon, for <www.filmfestivals.com> March 20, 2007 After the opening weekend at the expansive Cinerama theater downtown the Festival has now moved over to more modest quarters in the auditorium of the Seattle Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) on the edge of the University of Washington campus. The museum  lobby is quite interesting itself with an exhibit of old Seattle photos currently on display featuring celebrity visitors to Seattle in the good old days. Among them, ...

The Berlin Film Festival is traditionally one of the most star studded events on the annual Festival calendar and this 57th edition is no exception.  Among stars and celebrities already spotted either on the red carpet entering gala screenings, at press conferences, or at events in other parts of town away from Marlene Dietrich square, in just the first four days; Richard Gere, Sharon Stone, Clint Eastwood, Antonio Banderas, Catherine Deneuve, Judie Dench, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Carl...

1. ROTTERDAM -- FIRST TIME -- TIGER IN YOUR TANK (ERASMUS YOUTH HOSTEL, good GRASS available at local cafe)--started JAN. 20  -- First time ever there and dug the city.  See my full report elsewhere, In any case, it was a jolly good way to start out the festival year. And the Chinese year of the Hound as well. 2. BUDAPEST -- SZABO FLAP, NO SHOW FOR REX MILLER --TAXIDERMIA  BEGIN SZEMLE WED. FEB. 1 -- a pretty interesting szemle as these yearly Hungarian film weeks go, and lottsa good fo...

La littérature constitue une source d’inspiration essentielle pour le cinéma. Le cinéma d’Orient ne fait pas exception. L’équipe du Festival du Film Oriental a sélectionné plusieurs réalisations tirées d’oeuvres littéraires ou traitant de la création littéraire. Plusieurs films s’inspirent en effet de classiques de la littérature arabe. Au coeur de la nuit, de Atef al-Tayeb, est tiré du livre éponyme de Naguib Mahfouz, décédé en 2006, et à qui le FIFOG rend ainsi homm...

Difficile de ne pas parler de politique lorsqu’on parle d’Orient !Le Festival du Film Oriental a choisi de projeter des films qui peuvent répondre aux interrogations que se posent les spectateurs sur cette région complexe. Des débats viendront approfondir la réflexion autour de ces films. Ainsi, des court-métrages libanais réalisés pendant le dernier conflit seront présentés en partenariat avec le Festival Ayam Beyrouth. Des courts métrages israéliens, comme West Bank Story, d’A...

For its 2007 edition, the Oriental Film Festival has selected a few movies in English or with English subtitles. Asia and society, Nadia Naffa, documentary, Jordan, 5’, DVD. A disabled woman fights for recognition in Jordan. Being Osama, Mahmoud Kaabour and Tim Schwab, documentary, Canada/Emirates, 2004, 42’, DVD. An intimate portrait of six men with different personal histories, interrests and personalities, but which have two things in common: their Arab origin, and a first name, Osama. Wh...

Le Festival du Film Oriental a choisi pour 2007 de mettre en avant le dynamisme des femmes d’Orient, réalisatrices ou actrices sociales. De nombreux films sélectionnés ont ainsi été réalisés par des femmes. Farida Benlyazid, figure emblématique du cinéma marocain, sera ainsi présente pour présenter plusieurs de ses films : La Chienne de Vie de Juanita Narboni, ou encore Ruses de Femmes. Salma Beccar, réalisatrice tunisienne, sera quant à elle présente pour la projection de son fi...

There is always an expectorant buzz surrounding San Jose's Cinequest Film Festival, and this 17th outing is no different. Following Halfdan's rabble rousing, and Mira Nair's stunning The Namesake, it was off to the Paragon for the opening salvoes of vodka laced networking.As a Brit, happily transplanted to California, I am especially interested in the European content on show here this year and, combining this with my love of short films, actively began my hunt for interesting filmma...

The Oriental Film Festival will start in Geneva on March 26, 2007, with the projection of The Wretched Life of Juanita Narboni, in the presence of Moroccan director Farida Benlyazid. It will continue for a week, with a selection of films, most of them never shown in Switzerland. The 3rd edition of the Festival will focus on women, as directors or as subjects of films. Cry no More, by Narjiss Nejjar, Allez Yallah! by Jean-Pierre Thorn, or Women without Shadows, by Haifaa Al-Mansour, all adopt dif...

Le Festival du Film Oriental s'ouvrira le 26 mars 2007 avec La Chienne de Vie de Juanita Narboni, en la présence de la réalisatrice Farida Benlyazid, à qui le festival rend hommage. Il se clôturera le 1er avril 2007avec Fleur d'Oubli, de Selma Beccar.Pendant le Festival, plus de 40 films briseront le silence et les préjugés sur l'Orient, et célèbreront en particulier les femmes, avec des films comme Les Yeux Secs, de Narjiss Nejjar, inédit en Suisse, Allez Yallah ! de Jean-P...

 Wednesday, February 14-----Veteran Berlin Film Festival goers know that the program section that often has the most challenging, invigorating and energetically inventive cinema choices are in the Berlinale Forum, which has only grown in stature under the stewardship of Forum head Christoph Terteche. “We see the Berlinale Forum as a kind of laboratory for the mainstream cinema of the future”, Terteche explained. “We offer our audiences and attending professionals a challenging group of fi...

Monday, February 12----A new film festival has been launched on the beautiful and historic island nation of Malta. The Malta International Film Festival, which will be held from September 15-23, 2007, hosted a press conference and reception this morning  at the Hotel Berlin to introduce the international film community to the festival team and to its ambitious plans for its inaugural event. The Festival is being organized by the AECEO (Association pour l'Echange Culturel Entre l'Europe ...

Monday, February 12----The International Film Festival Summit (IFFS), the first international conference for film festival directors, programmers, fundraisers and sponsors held on the European continent, hosted a reception today at the Vox Bar at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in the heart of Potsdamer Platz, the nerve center for the Berlin Film Festival. IFFS made a number of exciting announcements at the event, for both the International Film Festival Summit Europe, to be held on April 18, 2007 at the ...