Yesterday afternoon I was lucky enough to be handed an invitation to the final screening of the documentary, "Punk's Not Dead," directed by Susan Dynner, showing in a small viewing room at the Grey d'Albion Hotel around the corner from the Palais des Festivals. Somewhat reminiscent of vh1's 3Behind the Music" shows, the film was well paced, informative, humurous, and of course had an awesome soundtrack. Starting with the roots of Punk Rock in the late 70's/early 80's, they analyze the history of...

Well, if one needed further proof of how far apart most film critics are from the cinematic tastes of the general public, you need look no further than THE DA VINCI CODE. The film, which famously opened this year’s Cannes Film Festival, was practically laughed at by assembled critics on the Croisette, who had come to bury the film, not praise it. When the film opened internationally this past weekend, more film critics joined the chorus of nay-sayers, calling the film everything from “borin...

There may not have been much to chew on in Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code but there are stronger signs of female power at Cannes making this festival one of the best. First of all there is the veteran actor- the magnifique Gena Rowlands featured in Paris, Je T'Aime in Un Certain Regard and gave a Master Class on acting commencing with a standing ovation. Almost everything that comes out of the mouth of this veteran actor is inspirational and provocative: "We actors do not need to die to be r...

During my current experiment of trying to "do" Cannes while not actually being there (in others words, virtually if not physically), it is quite astonishing to me that so little actual coverage is available to the average American consumer. Yes, we did catch a glimpse of Tom Hanks on the red carpet, and read much speculation about the fate of THE DA VINCI CODE, but it seems that anything that is not part of the tyranny of celebrity gossip finds scant space in American newspapers or television s...

Cannes was in full swing Friday with the regulars – old ladies and their dogs – having all but disappeared, and swarms of tourists and film types taking their place for the twelve-day event. Police were everywhere, as were the blue-suited men and women on hand to check badges and manage the herds of people streaming in and out of festival center, The Palais. Regular sunbathers were relegated to the far end of the beach with lines of pristine tents, housing private clubs, taking up much of th...

Had director Ron Howard been a woman, how would “The Da Vinci Code ...

BANGKOKIANS are due to get a special pre-festival screening of the classic Robert Wise Academy Award© winning film, West Side Story, on Sunday, February 12 (2006). The movie will be shown free of charge on outdoor screens set up in public areas outside the massive new Siam Paragon retail and entertainment complex which will be used as the centre for the upcoming Bangkok International Film Festival (Feb 17 - 27). The screening will feature musical performances of songs from West Si...

THE 10th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) gets under way this evening (Friday December 09, 2005) with the promise of record-breaking attendance following a new surge of interest in pure cinema here. Officials told filmfestivals.com they expect last year’s figure of 6,300 delegates to be surpassed, despite the fact that the budget for organizing, running and promoting the festival has remained more or less the same for the past three years. Some 180 titles, including 1...

HOTELS are filling up and local people are beginning to get excited at the prospect of this year’s event, the 10th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK), which will open here 24 hours from now (08 December, 2005). US$32,000 to be awarded in the 10-day event The Kerala festival takes place in Trivandrum just a couple of hours drive from the southernmost tip of this vast continent. Kerala is one of the country’s 28 states and boasts one of the most cine-literate and discer...

THE 36th annual International Film Festival of India (IFFI) got of to a colourful start this afternoon (Thursday 24 November 2005) with a huge carnival that included a seemingly endless parade of floats, cultural pageantry and other festivities. The parade was the prelude to the inaugural film ‘Olga’, a Brazilian film directed by Jaime Monjardim, which chronicles the true story of the German revolutionary Olga Benario Prestes. Olga is one of some 200 films from India and abroa...

November 15, 2005 THE 11th annual Kolkata(Calcutta) Film Festival (KFF) is in full swing this week with more than 125,000 people expected to see a total of 138 films at 240 screenings in eight venues. The festival got off on a high note with the showing of Christophe Barratier’s Les Choristes for the inaugural evening, marking the first time the French box-office hit has been shown in the sub-continent. The film was shown in the largest of the three halls that make up Nanda...

October 16, 2005 BANGKOK ~ The 3rd annual World Film Festival got under way in Bangkok today (Saturday 15 Oct) following Friday night’s grand opening at which Roman Polanski was guest of honour for the Asian premiere of his latest film, Oliver Twist. The veteran director, who is no stranger to Thailand and who even speaks a smattering of Thai, introduced the film as his first attempt to produce work that will appeal to children as well as adults. “I have children of my ow...