Amsterdam At Night Monday, October 30----The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, one of the most prestigious film events devoted to the non-fiction form, will take place this year from November 23 to December 3, 2006 in the beautiful city of Amsterdam in The Netherlands. Known for its acronym of IDFA, the Festival brings together filmmakers, buyers, programmers, critics and the general public in a mix of professional and audience events that highlight the trends and accomplishme...

Saturday/Sunday, October 28/29----If you cannot afford the $350 per ticket to see Barbara Streisand live in concert during her current sold-out tour, the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival offers you a front-row seat to appreciate the enduring vocal, dramatic and directing talents of La Streisand . The Festival will present a four-film mini-retrospective this Sunday, with proceeds benefiting the Streisand Foundation, a not-for-profit agency involved with social and environmental conce...

THE SHAPE OF WATER Friday, October 27----The excitement is certainly revving up at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) this weekend, with a torrent of challenging new films, well-loved classics and enough social events to fatigue even the most energetic party animal. The Festival has a reputation on the festival circuit as one that is high on discoveries, offering its sophisticated audiences a chance to discover new talents and ponder film themes and techniques. This weeken...

Thursday, October 26----As the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) moves into its second consecutive weekend, the schedule for Friday is a full and varied one. Listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as "the world's longest film festival", this year's edition runs for 30 days, with an extra week of programming and special events to be held in the resort town of Key West when the Festival comes to an end in its Fort Lauderdale home on Sunday, November 12. When do these Festi...

The second Thursday of the 50th Times BFI London Film Festival began promisingly with my first if brief visit to the Film-makers' Breakfasts held some mornings in the festival hotel, the St James Sofitel. a converted bank in the heart of clubland.In the small oak- panelled bar, directors du jour were already seated at 9.30am for their 90-minute rounds of interviews, cheerily marshalled by perky PRs.I managed a short but pleasant interview(see it here later!) with Denmark's Pernille Fischer Chris...

The New York International Independent Film and Video Festival (NYIIFVF) proudly announces its return to its hometown Manhattan for eight days of film screenings, world premieres, industry panels and after-parties. The festival, known as "the voice of independent film," will showcase over 200 international and domestic feature films, shorts, documentaries and animations. The festivities kick off on November 9th with a networking party for filmmakers and artists at West Chelsea hotspot ...

Industry panels and professional journals discuss the process of digitisation, distributors consider how to deal with resulting changes as well as the upcoming "e-cinema", and cinemas think about necessary modifications. In short, everybody wonders: What kind of technical standards will be effective in future? Does digitisation guarantee a better quality of picture and sound at lower costs? We pondered over the same questions - and then just started: At DOK Leipzig you'll already have the opport...

Sal de Mar Award Monday, October 23----The first annual Turks & Caicos International Film Festival (TCIFF) announced its winners on Saturday evening at a gala Closing Night Awards Ceremony, held on the Carribean island nation of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Premier Michael Misick joined with his wife, actress LisaRaye Misick to congratulate the night's winners and honorees. Michael and LisaRaye Misick Nearly two hundred guests joined the Premier and First Lady, as well as Festival co-di...

Monday, October 23----A celebration of African dance and film will be the high point on today’s agenda, as the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival moves into its second week of film discoveries and excitement. The Festival will screen the Sundance Film Festival hit SON OF MAN this evening at 8:00pm at the Cinema Paradiso. The special screening tribute to South African film will be preceded by an African Dance performance by the Le Jump Afrique dance troupe. The troupe includes membe...

Hip Hop Artist Kazi Performs Saturday, October 21---As the Turks and Caicos International Film Festival, an event devoted to the relationship between film and music, moves into its final stanza, one of the relevatory aspects of the event has been the remarkably vibrant rainbow of contemporary black music. While rap, hip hop and rhythm and blues (or a mix of all of the above) is clearly the dominant trend, black artists continue to expand the form of jazz, reggae, singer-songwriter and rock musi...

Tam Tam Digifestival sponsors IPSE DIGIT, a competition reserved to digital audio-video productions. If you have realized only by digital a videoclip, an Internet documentary, a mobile movie or a newsreel reportage, please send your work to: Coop. Tam Tam, Via Ugo Niutta 33, 80128 Napoli / Naples - Italy. It can last from one minute to one hour. The competion is from October 1st to December 31st 2006. It will award 5 between the best works in each section (Digi Music, Fahrenheit Planet, Mobile T...

Friday, October 20----The jurors at the Turks and Caicos International Film Festival don't have much time to relax on the beach. They are too busy screening the films in competition, and deliberating in time for Saturday evening's Awards Gala at the swanky Palms Resort on beautiful Grace Bay. The Festival will be honoring a number of categories with the Sal Del Mar Awards. The Awards have been named for the "salt of the sea", which is this island nation's largest export product. The hard-wor...

The Music of Raoul Midon Thursday, October 19----As the Turks and Caicos International Film Festival moved into high gear, a number of provocative and controversial films were unspooled on Wednesday, along with some special events that have already made the event memorable for its core of attendees. The difficult road for black rock-n-rollers is explored in the dynamic feature documentary ELECTRIC PURGATORY, directed by Raymond Gayle. Featuring early clips from such pioneer rockers as Little R...

Writer/Director Dito Montiel and Executive Producer Sting Thursday, October 19---With the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival already in high gear, a number of special guests and VIPs are expected in town over the next few days, bringing some film star power to South Florida audiences. Tonight, writer/director Dito Montiel will be present at the screening of his debut film A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS. The film, which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, was a d...

Wednesday, October 18----The 7th Woodstock Film Festival, which wrapped this past Sunday, has announced its Audience Award winners for this year. Two virtual ties for the 2006 Audience Awards for Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary saw the awards go to four films instead of two this year. The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature was shared by AFTER THE WEDDING, a Danish film that was the Festival's Centerpiece Film and FORGIVENESS, an Israeli film by Udi Aloni. AFTER THE WEDDI...

Wednesday, October 18----The first of several professional panels was held today at the Turks and Caicos International Film Festival, exploring the connection between cinema and music. An intimate group of filmmakers, musicians, industry executives, film critics and cultural officials convened at the Palms Resort for a lively discussion of the challenges and opportunities of mixing the two art forms. The discussion was led by film journalist David Poland, along with film director Sanaa Hamri a...

Tuesday, October 17----The Turks and Caicos International Film Festival, a unique mix of films and music events, hit the beach on Tuesday evening in a series of kick off events that lived up to their hype. The event, which runs through this weekend, will feature the international premieres of over 30 films, as well as offer provocative seminars, special events, live music concerts and, of course, glamorous parties all set in the natural beauty of this Caribbean island archipelago. The Festiva...