Best Documentary Winner BEYOND ERUV
Sunday, October 15---The "fiercely independent" Woodstock Film Festival announced the winners of its Maverick Awards at a special ceremony on Saturday evening at the Colony Cafe. Eleven awards were given out to films in competition, as well as special tribute awards to distinguished honorees.
The Maverick Award for Best Feature Film was awarded to director Julia Loktev, for her provocative DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT. The film tells the story of a 19-year old girl, ...
The Open Society Institute and Sundance Institute today announced a series of 19 international documentaries that will be screened at Film Forum in New York City, October 26-29, 2006. The Soros/Sundance Documentary Fund: A 10th Anniversary Film Series, showcases provocative social justice and human rights documentaries made with support from the fund. These works attest to the rich artistic and political expression of the filmmakers and demonstrate the power of cinematic storytelling to bring a...
The Times BFI 50th London Film Festival celebrates the cutting edge in artists’ filmmaking by dedicating a special event to Kenneth Anger, a legendary pioneer of independent cinema.The Festival’s Avant-Garde Weekend (28-30 October), will also celebrate the influential work of Jack Smith, another filmmaker distinguished for his uncompromising creative vision, and will welcome back James Benning (One Way Boogie Woogie/27 Years Later), attending the festival for the fifth time.Kenneth Anger’s...
One of the kickoffs to the new film season in New York is the annual IFP Market, which celebrates its 28th edition from September 17 to 21 at the Angelika Film Center and other downtown New York venues. Over the years, the Market has introduced leading films that have become acknowledged indie film classics and have launched the careers of many young filmmakers. The IFP, which stands for Independent Feature Project, is the leading national organization devoted to the art and industry of indepen...
With this his second (and last) Festival, Artistic Director Lynden Barber has again shown an astute ability to mix the provocative with the seductive, the challenging with the entertaining, giving patrons a snapshot of the concerns and amusements of filmmakers from around the world. Andrew L. Urban samples the menu.In a world troubled by violence, defeated by poverty, racked by intolerance and engulfed in conflict, it’s appropriate that a major film festival such as Sydney’s should gather fi...
During the San Francisco International Film Festival, Susan Tavernetti spoke with Alan Berliner about his intriguing new documentary, WIDE AWAKE. The first-person film offers an understanding of insomnia in cinematic terms, inventively tossing and turning through the sleepless nights and bleary days of Berliner’s world while he ruminates on the topic. Nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, the multi-layered work is a delightful collage of interviews, dream interpretation, quirky arcs of ...
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney joins the director of American Blackout for the closing night of the alive! Deep Focus Film FestivalOrganizers of the second annual alive! Deep Focus Film Festival, Columbus’ own festival of great independent film, are happy to announce that Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney will be a guest at the festival’s closing night screening of American Blackout. She’ll join a previously announced guest, director Ian Inaba, in introducing the film to Columbus audi...
SUNDANCE INSTITUTE NAMES NEW DIRECTOR OF DOCUMENTARY FILM PROGRAMCARA MERTES, HEAD OF PBS SHOWCASE P.O.V., TO OVERSEE INSTITUTE’S DOCUMENTARY FUND AND INITIATIVESSundance Institute announced today the appointment of Cara Mertes as the new Director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. Mertes, who is currently the Executive Director of American Documentary, Inc., andExecutive Producer of the PBS documentary showcase P.O.V., has an extensive background in independent non-fiction fi...
The Florida Film Festival, one of the most respected regional festivals in the US, kicks off this evening, bringing more than 141 films over to the next 10 days to its home city of Orlando, Florida. The Festival is headquartered at the Enzian Theater, a not-for-profit arthouse cinema that brings adventurous independent and international programming to Orlando audiences throughout the year.This year, the Festival is presenting 51 feature films (33 narrative films and 18 documentaries) and a stagg...
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...
Industry Editor Sandy Mandelberger sat down with veteran documentary filmmaker Kirby Dick, whose lastest film, THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED, is one of the most talked about at the Festival. The film is an eye-opening investigation into the secret works of the Motion Picture Association of America, the official ratings board for films that are released in theaters. THIS FILM IS NOT RATED features spectacular (and sometimes spectacularly funny) interviews with such prestigious filmmakers as John Wat...
Movie theater audiences have steadily shrunk over the past 50 years. This brings a very important concern to the forefront: will movie theaters continue to exist among all the new media and technology? With so many different ways to distribute a film, it is a matter of sociology as to why one would want to go into a dark movie theater and experience a film with a group of strangers or even alone in the dark.Several of these topics were addressed at a recent Sundance Film Festival panel I attende...
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 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...
The 2006 Sundance Film Festival, taking place January 19-29, 2006Independent Feature Film Competition: DramaticAmerican independent cinema yields some of the most exciting and highly anticipated film in the world. These 16 films were selected from 1,004 submissions. From disaffected Latino youth finding family to a southern woman finding love, this section is filled with coming of age comedies and dramas, stories of love and addition with some characters seeking forgiveness for past sins. The...
IDFA International Documentary Festival Amsterdam 200524 November, 4 DecemberLast week, it was announced that a number of documentaries at this year's IDFA will deal with the subject of worldwide terrorism. This year's big festival theme is the environment, however. Under the title Green Screen, IDFA is presenting seventeen recent documentaries exploring aspects of the environment. Each offers insight into the tension between man and his environment. Alongside the films, on Tuesday, 29 November,...
The day has come for celebrating the opening of the 48th International Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, presenting the first two films selected for competition: "The Giant Buddhas" (Christian Frei, Switzerland) and "Element of Light" (Richard Reeves, USA). Numerous international guests are expected, including more than 100 filmmakers, whose productions will be presented during the festival.The following filmmakers are among those expected: Jenny Abel (USA) , Akram Agha (Syria), Jan va...
Academy Award® nominated actor Samuel L. Jackson will receive the prestigious International Achievement in Acting Award from the 25th Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival. “Samuel L. Jackson is truly a remarkable worldwide star,” says Chuck Boller, “He is that rare cross-over actor who can command multi-million dollar salaries and pack seats in blockbusters year after year while still making time to deliver consistently unforgettable performances in groundbreaking, criticall...
THE 13TH ANNUAL HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVALOCTOBER 19-23, 2005 Hiam Abbass ~ Danny Aiello ~ Kevin Bacon ~ Jon Robin Baitz ~ Alec Baldwin ~ Ned Beatty ~ Bob Berney ~ Dyan Cannon ~ Alan Cumming ~ Hope Davis ~ David Dinerstein ~ David Marshall Grant ~ Ted Hope ~ Eugene Jarecki ~ Cherry Jones ~ Marc Levin ~ Claude LeLouch ~ Bill Nighy ~ Martin McDonagh ~ Liza Minnelli ~ Sarah Paulson ~ Zac Posen ~ Paul Reiser Miranda Richardson ~ Charlie Rose ~ Kyra Sedgwick ~ Vivienne Tam ~ Christine Vach...
ROBERT REDFORD was among the guests at the 40th Karlovy Vary IFFThe jubilee 40th Karlovy Vary IFF 2005 will welcome a world film personality of the highest order to its gala opening ceremonies: American actor, director, and producer ROBERT REDFORD. The artist, who has acted in or directed a number of movies considered today to be part of the golden fund of world cinematography, will be honored at Karlovy Vary’s gala opening ceremonies with a Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution ...
The competition-free Maryland Film Festival wrapped up its seventh annual festival in Baltimore, Maryland on Sunday, May 8 with the Closing Night screening of SWIMMERS from writer/director Doug Sadler followed by the Closing Night Party. The film was hosted by Sadler along with cast members Robert Knott, Michael Mosley, and Tara Devon Gallagher; the film also stars Shawn Hatosy, Cherry Jones, and Sarah Paulson. SWIMMERS was developed at the Sundance Labs, won the annual Maryland Filmmakers Fel...
The San Francisco International Film FestivalBence NanayFor decades, the San Francisco Film Festival has been probably the most unusual film festival in the United States. It has been unusual because very few American films have been on display here. American film festivals tend to pitch themselves either as independent film festivals of the Sundance ilk or as Hollywood showcases with lots of special guests one could see at the Oscars gala. In either way, American film festivals are about Americ...
AMERICAN INDIES TANGO IN BUENOS AIRESBy Sandy Mandelberger, Special Events EditorThe 7th edition of the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI) is in full swing, and among the 300 plus films is a heady mix of American independent talents. Known as the Sundance of South America, the Festival is devoted to showcasing quirky, individualistic cinema from Europe, Asia, Latin America and, increasingly, the US.While the focus on indie cinema makes the Sundance reference an e...
INDEPENDENT FILM TANGO IN BUENOS AIRESBuenos Aires---Establishing a reputation as the Sundance of South America, the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema is now in full swing, with an ambitious program of international discoveries and thoughtful retrospectives. But this is not the Sundance of glamour, glitz and goody bags. The Festival is more like the Sundance of ten years ago....a more intimate, less glossy affair where the film faithful come to uncover new talents and abs...
As festival judge Geoffrey Rush announced the winners in front of a 130,000 strong national audience, bursting at the seams to fit into Sydney’s Domain for Sydney’s Tropfest, he proudly declared; “When I look out here at the enormous crowd, and at all the talent up on stage, I see the Australian film industry is not in the doldrums!” It was a night full of surprises; Firstly, because it didn’t rain. (Gloomy weather had threatened to rain on Sydney’s red carpet parade, but just as ...
