The 58th Berlin Film Festival closed out a rather unremarkable ten day run with Andrzej Wajda's massive indictment of Russian war crimes, "Katyn". The political significance of this film, especially in Germany, was underlined by the attendance at the final gala of German Prime Minister Angela Merkel and other top level political dignitaries. Eighty year old director Wajda said that he hopes the film will help build new bridges between Germany and Poland. Considering that Poland suffered far mo...
February 15: Austrian director Götz Spielmann’s REVANCHE has won the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European film in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section, it was announced today by the jury of four Europa Cinemas exhibitors. The Label will be awarded this evening. This marks the fourth year that the Europa Cinemas Label has been awarded at Berlin, and complements the Labels awarded at the Giornate degli Autori section in Venice, the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes and Karlov...
A tendency to decline but not everywhere: this sums up the 2007 trend as regards cinema audiences. The exact opposite of 2006, where the plus sign was the general rule, although, there again, with some exceptions.This is the picture that emerges from the data collected by MEDIA Salles who, as last year, have anticipated the announcement of the 2007 figures on cinemagoing in Europe to the Berlin Festival, during the presentation of the "European Cinema Yearbook - 2007 final edition"...
A tendency to decline but not everywhere: this sums up the 2007 trend as regards cinema audiences. The exact opposite of 2006, where the plus sign was the general rule, although, there again, with some exceptions This is the picture that emerges from the data collected by MEDIA Salles who, as last year, have anticipated the announcement of the 2007 figures on cinemagoing in Europe to the Berlin Festival, during the presentation of the “European Cinema Yearbook – 2007 final edition” , whi...
Austrian director Götz Spielmann’s REVANCHE has won the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European film in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section, it was announced today by the jury of four Europa Cinemas exhibitors. The Label will be awarded this evening.This marks the fourth year that the Europa Cinemas Label has been awarded at Berlin, and complements the Labels awarded at the Giornate degli Autori section in Venice, the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes and Karlovy Vary.REVANCHE wil...
2008 is not only the 58th edition of this major European film festival, all old, but it is also the ninth anniversary of the move from West Berlin to Potsdamer Platz in the actual physical center of the new undivided Berlin. The present location, now an ultra-modern stand of new architecture including the space age SONY Center, a film museum, many upscale restaurants and two sets of state-of-the-art cinema multiplexes among its many attractions, was once a No-Man’s-Land hugging the sinister ...
For the first time the European film event Picture Europe! The best of European Cinema is set in Copenhagen. From 12th – 18th March eleven very different films can be seen on the screens of the Grand Teatret, followed by a discussion with the films’ directors and actors. Under the motto “Let’s see what’s happening at the neighbours!” audiences get a unique opportunity to see what is happening film-wise in their neighbouring countries and can take part in an exceptional voyage through...
ALEX'S FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS -- ANNO 2005 WITH A MERRY X-MAS TO ALL! 1.TROMSO, January -- A fantastic place to open the festival year if you love snow and don't mind fifteen minutes of daylight, MAX ...in January. That was just a joke, folks -- by late January you get almost a whole hour of sunlight -- around eleven AM -- but really, who needs it? ...when fest topper, irrepressible Norskie-American MARTHA OTTE, is guaranteed to provide a slate of such interesting films that you'll spend th...
HAUGESUND, AUGUST 2003by Alex Deleon After two visits to Tromso (2002 and 2003) and two as well to the the Rouen Festival du Cinema Nordique in Northern France, I have been developing a taste for Nordic Cinema, so, based on these connections I applied for accreditation to the Haugesund ferstival in the Fjord country of Western Norway, which takes place in August, and was accepted -- probably because Signe Overgaard, a major figure of the Norwegian Film Institute knew me from these other No...
GDYNIA, SEPTEMBER 18, 2007ALEX DELEON FOR www.filmfestivals.com"KATYN FEVER” IN POLAND AS THE WAJDA VERSION OPENS GDYNIA FESTAndrej Wajda’s new film “KATYN” concerning the mass murder of Polish Prisoners of War perpetrated by the Russians in 1940 and for years either hushed up or cynically blamed on the Germans, is more than just another film by a famous director. It has become a “cause celebre” and a national event stirring up the collective Polish memory of this incredible Rus...
Items to Watch for at the Festivals in 2008 by Alex Deleon Harvey Milk by Gus Van Sant Tom Cruise as German Officer with Eye-patch Bollywood version of Casablanca A Polish version of Don Giovanni The Earth Stands Still Once Again ... Macho actor Sean Penn (47) is set to play gay San Francisco mayor, Harvey Milk, who was murdered by a rabid gay-baiter in 1978 -- the assassin, by Matt Damon! The Milk affair has been milked nearly dry before in various documentaries, but this wi...
Thessaloniki day 9 : A Clamorous Reception for “Honeydrippers” And a Stream of Walkouts on “Jesse James” -- November 25, 2007 PHOTO: Georges Corraface, festival president, and Despina Mouzaki, artistic director of the festival, looking on at Glover/Sayles joint press conference for ”Honeydripper” Day number nine was largely dominated by the Dynamic Duo, director John Sayles and actor Danny Glover. The day started with a Master Class by Glover (attended by Sayles) whic...
THESSALONIKI FORTY-EIGHT THE GRAND OPENING WITH BALLOONS ON HIGH. By Alex Deleon for www.filmfestivals.com Barely recovered from the road fatigue suffered on an arduous 26 hour bus trip through six intervening countries down from Poland, 2000 Km. north of here and -- Whiz-Bang -- we're already three days into the festival. Friday, opening night, was a mighty gala with good vibes inside and outside of the stately cavernous OLYMPION theater, in spite of a heavy sprinkle from the skies above Πλ...
Anima 2008 is taking place in the Flagey centre (Brussels) from 1st to 9th February. This year’s event will be marked by diversity as spectators once again take their annual dose of new, funny, quirky and curious images and discover the latest trends in international animation.The Futuranima forum will also take place in Flagey on the 7th, 8th and 9th February and is for animation professionals, students and enthusiasts interested in discovering what goes on behind the scenes of selected produ...
Further supporting its ongoing campaign to promote European films, Europa Cinemas will return once again to this year’s Berlinale/Berlin Film Festival, awarding its Label prize to the best European film in the Panorama section (February 7 to 17).This marks the fourth year that the Europa Cinemas Label will be awarded at Berlin, and complements the Labels awarded at the Giornate degli Autori section in Venice, the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs in Cannes and Karlovy Vary.A jury of four Europa Cine...
ANIMA 2008 : Brussels Animation Festival: from 1st to 9th February 2008Anima 2008 is taking place in the Flagey centre (Brussels) from 1st to 9th February. This year’s event will be marked by diversity as spectators once again take their annual dose of new, funny, quirky and curious images and discover the latest trends in international animation.The Futuranima forum will also take place in Flagey on the 7th, 8th and 9th February and is for animation professionals, students and enthusiasts int...
The 23rd installment of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) presents its film line-up for 2008, featuring 215 films including 20 World Premieres, 22 U.S. Premieres and a rich selection of films representing 49 countries. The Festival takes place over 11 days beginning Thursday, January 24, through Sunday, February 3.“The Festival has continuously grown in stature,” commented SBIFF Director Roger Durling, “and this year’s film slate certainly reflects that. We’re ver...
Launching it’s 12th Year The New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival continues To Explore the Cinema of this Rich and Diverse Culture:February 7-14, 2008The American Sephardic Federation/Sephardic House, in association with Yeshiva University Museum, announces the 2008 New York Sephardic Jewish Film Festival line up, celebrating a dozen years of exciting and thought provoking films. With the expansion to multiple locations, this one-of-a-kind event running February 7 – 14, 2008 will offer a...
Wednesday, December 12---------It's one of the frustrating feelings of the true buff......a film you were hoping to see in theaters that disappears about its first week's run. In this age of the rapid release, where specialty titles often don't have much staying power, unless you catch them in their first week of release, it's possible to miss out on them until them turn on pay television or DVD. This is true not only of the smallest indie titles but of some major releases as well that, for re...
The International Festival of Animated Films AniFest has announced the format for the competition of the festival’s 7th edition, which will be held from 7 through 13 May 2008 in Třeboň, south Bohemia. Those who participated in the festival in recent years will notice some minor changes to both the structure and the names of the competition categories. Also new to the festival is a non-competition presentation of Czech, Slovak and Austrian films with active participation by the author...
More than 2,000 short films from over 40 countries were submitted to the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival, and 67 have been selected to screen by the Shorts Programming Committee, which is comprised of Slamdance alumni filmmakers. Each of the 67 shorts is now in competition and eligible for a Grand Jury Award. As always, the Slamdance Film Festival will run concurrently with the Sundance Film Festival, January 17-25, in Park City, Utah. Slamdance and the box-office will be headquartered and its fil...
Day number nine was largely dominated by the Dynamic Duo, director John Sayles and actor Danny Glover. The day started with a Master Class by Glover (attended by Sayles) which was followed by a massive lunchtime press conference for the new Sayles film, "Honeydripper", and the main event of the evening in the Olympion Auditorium was a ceremony bestowing an Alexander statuette (lifetime achievement award) on Glover, folllowed by a screening of "Honeydripper" in which Glover is the leading actor, ...
GOA, India, Nov 24, 2007: The 38th International Film Festival of India (IFFI-07) got off here with Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan inaugurated the event late Friday. Politicians also pledged that India's premier festival would continue to be hosted in this small coastal state that New Delhi wants to build into an "Indian Cannes". Shahrukh Khan called IFFI a pride of the nation. Recognizing the contribution of the common citizen in raising the popularity of cinema, he said, "Let's d...
GOA, India, Nov 24, 2007: The 38th International Film Festival of India (IFFI-07) got off here with Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan inaugurated the event late Friday. Politicians also pledged that India's premier festival would continue to be hosted in this small coastal state that New Delhi wants to build into an "Indian Cannes".Shahrukh Khan called IFFI a pride of the nation. Recognizing the contribution of the common citizen in raising the popularity of cinema, he said, "Let's dedicate the 38th...
Panjim, GOA INDIA, November 23: The 38th International Film Festival of India (IFFI-07) takes off later today in the former Portuguese colony of Goa, on the west coast of India.Mainstream Indian Bollywood film actor Shahrukh Khan will be the chief guest, scheduled for Friday evening (India is five-and-half hours ahead UTC).The inaugural lamp -- a traditional mark of inaugurations done in India -- will be lit with the assistance of Priyamani, a rising star of southern cinema. Inaugural function ...
