2006 PHILADELPHIA FILM FESTIVAL RUNS MARCH 30-APRIL 11 WITH PROGRAMMING FOR ALL AGES The 2006 Philadelphia Film Festival is expanding its programming to the eyes and ears of film lovers of all ages as it introduces a section tailored specifically for families and another that explores music in film for its 15th anniversary season. Produced by the non-profit Philadelphia Film Society, the Festival will run from March 30-April 11 and will show a total of 231 films from 41 countries: 115 feature ...
The European Independent Film Festival 2006The ÉCU festival will take place on the weekend 25th and 26th of March 2006 at La Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. The Festival is bringing worldwide exposure to European independent films and independent filmmakers and the quality of the films submitted to the festival has been outstanding.ECU’s mission is to showcase the very best independent films from European independent filmmakers but there are also four categories open to Non-Euro...
Filmfestivals correspondant Claus Mueller sat down with Dieter Kosslick head of the Berlin festival for an open discussion on the festival changes. Claus Mueller What is the most important change compared to last year?Dieter Kosslick The most important change of course is that we finished out five year plan, including the change of the market, that is the move to the Martin Gropius Bau. That was a big move, and there is another little change, that we give the awards at the end of the festival on...
New Directors/New Films, one of the most anticipated film events on the New York film calendar, celebrates its 35th year, presenting the works of new directors from around the world. The festival will unspool 25 feature films and 5 shorts from March 22 through April 2, 2006. The program is presented jointly by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Department of Film and Media of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Screenings will be held at the Walter Reade Theater, the Film Society’s year-r...
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Celebrates Its 3rd Annual February 16-22Missoula, MontanaThe Big Sky Documentary Film Festival announces program highlights at its third annual event with seven days full of screenings, panels, filmmaker Q & As, and public and VIP events. Big Sky brings the best new and classic documentaries to the Rocky Mountain West, with 96 films, as well as special screenings. Now in its third year, Big Sky continues to attract many of the most compelling films from around ...
Blog and Podcast from Sundance to Santa BarbaraThe 10 day indie extravaganza from Sundance Park City wrapped last Sunday and marked the launch of filmfestival.com new blogging approach.Filmfestivals is preparing a major shift in the web technology of your favourite film festival site. Our new blog platform currently under beta test will allow thousands of indie filmmakers to interact with festival organisers, media sales agents and film fans at large. Early 2006 some 40 000 film pros are receivi...
The 25th Sundance Film Festival wrapped here Sunday with screening of the award winning films. For the first time in the festivals history two films took both the audience and jury prizes in the narrative and documentary categories. “Quincenara”, which offers insight into Hispanic family culture through the eyes of teenagers living in Los Angeles, earned the best dramatic film honor from the Sundance jury of five film industry veterans as well as the top drama prize from audience members. Ma...
Luc Jacquet's Marche de l'Empereur just got nominated for best documentary by the Academy. The film has been seen by 20 Millions viewers and took a cumulated 77M$ at the US Box Office.Director: Luc JacquetScreenwriter(s): Luc Jacquet, Michel FesslerCinematography: Laurent Chalet, Jérôme MaisonProducer(s): Yves Darondeau, Christophe Lioud, Emmanuel PriouNarrators: Charles Berling, Romane Bohringer, Jules SitrukNominations for the 78th Annual Academy Awards were announced on Tuesday, January 31 ...
Several surprise winners dominated the Sundance Film Festival Awards, which were presented to a packed house of enthusiastic filmmakers, professionals and audience members at a gala ceremony held on Saturday night at the Park City Racquet Club. The concluding awards ceremony and party bring to an end a 10-day film bonanza that drew nearly 40,000 visitors to the Festival.Two films, both surprise choices based on early predictions, won the four top prizes in the American Independent Film competiti...
As the Sundance Film Festival kicks into high gear, Filmfestivals.com Industry Editor Sandy Mandelberger (SM) has an intimate tete-a-tete with Sundance Festival Director Geoffrey Gilmore about this year’s event. SM: What remains the biggest challenge for you in keeping the Festival fresh and a place for new discoveries?GG: It’s a challenge every year as we continue to rethink the Festival and keep up with trends in filmmaking and the industry. We are always questioning the nature of indepen...
22nd Sundance Film Festival Opens with FRIENDS WITH MONEY ALPHA DOG by Nick Cassavetes as Closing FilmAmongst the delicate snow flakes of the ski town Park City, Sundance Film Festival opened on January 19, 2006 with the World Premiere of FRIENDS WITH MONEY, written and directed by Nicole Holofcener and starring an dynamic cast that includes Jennifer Aniston, Scott Caan, Joan Cusack, Catherine Keener and Frances McDormand. With the fresh snow blanketing the filmgoers, Sundance had the exciteme...
Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford and Festival Director Geoff Gilmore took the stage yesterday at the Kimball Art Center in Park City for the first Sundance press conference of this year’s event. Redford and Gilmore were joined by Nicole Holofcener, the director of the Festival opener FRIENDS WITH MONEY.Redford announced a major new initiative for the Institute, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The Sundance Institute Art House Project is collaborating with leading a...
The Sheffield International Documentary Festival is delighted to announce the launch of its UK Tour at the NATIONAL FILM THEATRE from the 2nd – 5th February 2006. Returning for the seventh year, it features the ‘best of the fest’ from the Festival which took place in October 2005. The four day event marks the beginning of a three month UK tour visiting numerous towns and cities including Belfast, Bradford, Bristol, Brixton, Chichester, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hammersmith, Hereford, Lee...
Madeinusa/ClaudiaLlosa Madeinusa is a sweet girl who lives in an isolated religiously zealous village in mountainous Peru. Everything changes when a geologist from Lima arrives and unknowingly reshapes Madeinusa's destiny. Kinky Boots/Julian JarroldIn an effort to save his father's small town shoe factory, a man finds an unlikely ally in Lola, a brassy cabaret singer. DeNADIE/Tin DirdamalThe story of Maria, a Central American immigrant forced to leave her family in search of a better life. O...
The Independent Feature Film Competition is the heart of the Sundance Film Festival program and has introduced audiences to many of the best American independent films and filmmakers of the past 22 years. Launched in 2005, The World Cinema Competition reflects the Festival’s commitment to international film and to stimulating creative dialogue among cultures. The dramatic and documentary sections of the Independent Film and World Cinema Competitions each present 16 films, for a total of 64 f...
14TH PORTLAND JEWISH FILM FESTIVALSAT JAN 14 7 PM WHITSELL AUDITORIUMSUN JAN 15 4 PM GUILD THEATRELIVE AND BECOMEFRANCE/ISRAEL 2005DIRECTOR: RADU MILHAILEANUWinner of (cheering) Audience Awards at the Berlin and Vancouver International Film Festival, LIVE AND BECOME is an epic, emotional story of one boy's chance survival amidst the Ethiopian famine of the mid-1980s. A mother conspires to place her nine-year-old, non-Jewish son with a group of Falashas (Ethiopian Jews) bound for Israel as par...
Jorgen Leth interview by Wendy Dent Festival dei Popoli, Florence 7 December 2005WD: This festival was very unique in that it expanded my definitions of what documentary is and this is what stunned me about your films, is they were staged and it really broadened my idea of what documentary is but made me wonder where is the line, where is the definition? Once you start to have actors and you make a comment about society, but even drama is a comment on humanity so I am wondering what you feel abo...
The second Dubai International Film Festival begins on Sunday, December 11, and will feature 98 films including features, retrospectives and short films until Saturday, December 17The award-winning films are from a variety of genres and traditions, from American independent to African contemporary, Chinese drama to German-Lebanese documentary. An additional seven films are also on the short-list for next year’s Academy Award (Oscar) nominations. The Festival’s Opening Gala film, Paradise Now...
The award-winning designer Todd Oldham will lend his experience and creativity to the 2006 Sundance Film Festival as designer of the Opening Night, Music on Main, and Awards Night parties. Applying his experience as a graphic designer, photographer, and filmmaker, Oldham plans to create an environment that personifies the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, while simultaneously bringing to life the Festival’s history. The Sundance Film Festival takes place in and around Park City, Utah from January...
RICHARD PENA ON HIS WORK III Do you think that the continued expansion of film festivals is indication of the growing cinematic interest by the audience?I wish it were that. I don’t know. It is probably an indication of more people looking for ways of having jobs that are more glamorous. I am not sure how much it helps films. The vast majority of the festivals have no impact on the films at all. In the best possible of all worlds it is a nice cultural activity, but they do not really affec...
Sundance Institute today announced the line-up of films for the Independent Feature Film and World Cinema Competitions in the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, taking place January 19-29, 2006, in Park City, Utah. The Competition categories provide audiences with first look at the most compelling new dramatic and documentary films from emerging independent filmmakers. As the premier showcase for the best new work of American independent and international filmmakers, the Sundance Film Festival screen...
Organizers Deliver on Promise of Bigger, Better Second Dubai International Film Festival: DIFF team announces 6 world premieres Seven days, 98 films from 46 countries and a galaxy of the film elite from the Arab world, Asia, Europe and the Americas – the building blocks of the second Dubai International Film Festival generated much excitement today when Festival organizers unveiled the entire 2005 line-up for the first time at DIFF epicenter Madinat Jumeirah. Building rapidly on the success of...
Juan Solanas' Nordeste won the Best Film award at the Stockholm International Film Festival (Novemeber 17-27). Solanas received the Bronze Horse award at a star-studded ceremony at Lydmar Hotel in Stockholm, the hub of the festival for the press and visiting directors and actors including Park Chan-wook, whose film Sympathy for Lady Vengeance closed the festival. The award was presented to Solanas by Eva Fröling, acclaimed dramatic actress from Ingmar Bergman films and actor Sven Wolter. Solana...
The National Screen Institute – Canada (NSI), in association with Telefilm Canada, has chosen five filmmaking teams for the 2005-2006 NSI Features First Program – a training initiative for filmmakers ready to develop their first or second feature. The teams include participants from Toronto, Yellowknife, Saskatoon and Winnipeg. The selected participants are:Bang Bang Baby (Toronto, ON) Larissa Giroux, Producer; Jeffrey St. Jules, Writer/DirectorChroma (Winnipeg, MB) Timo Puolitaipale, Produc...
The Fifth Annual Anchorage International Film Festival(AIFF) is one of the last opportunities for independent filmmakers to add to their list of awards and accolades in order to attract distributors for their films. The festival begins on Friday, Dec. 2, and runs through Sunday, Dec. 11. "As each year comes to a close, filmmakers seek out just one more festival to try and obtain another set of laurels for their films," said Tony Sheppard, founder of AIFF. "Distributors do consider a film's succe...
