In recognition of his contributions to the world of film, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is honored to present the fourth annual KIRK DOUGLAS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN FILM to the legendary, Academy Award-winning writer/director/producer/actor Quentin Tarantino. The black-tie Gala dinner, sponsored by Chopin Vodka, will take place at The Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara on Thursday, October 22.
"We are beyond excited to be able to honor a man who has tur...
Mickey Rourke in between the process of undergoing the knife almost too unrecognizable familiar face of Hollywood sex symbol of 80s had no means to conceal the damage caused to his face, but only to rise above all in rather flirty matter, with addressing the Sarajevo Press Audience. Something that you can check out on official festival site www.sff.ba
Born in New York in 1952, Rourke's teenage years were more aimed towards sports than acting. He took up self-defense training at the Bo...
From 24th September to 3rd October 2009 the 17th Filmfest Hamburg will be presenting film enthusiasts and professionals with young Turkish cinema. The eight author-directors come from different Turkish cities and regions, bringing with them intense and explosive tales of Turkish and Kurdish life. Festival Director Albert Wiederspiel is impressed "by the cinematic poetry of these stories as well as by the filmmakers' courage. The imagery used in all of these films relies on serene tranquillity, m...
The Canadian director Atom Egoyan will open the competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival with his film Chloe, starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried. Egoyan, one of the great renovators of modern film language with movies like Exotica (1994), The Sweet Hereafter (1987) or Ararat (2002), will compete for the first time at San Sebastian.Another outstanding name in contemporary cinema, Rodrigo García, will close the Festival with the North American film Mother and Child, st...
The 18th Brisbane International Film Festival has just wrapped, marking the end of Australia’s busy festival season. BIFF Executive Director and APSA Nominations Council member Anne Demy-Geroe has developed a strong tradition of bringing a rich slate of Asia-Pacific films to BIFF and 2009 was no exception. Film critic and FIPRESCI Juror Tim Milfull was APSAs correspondent for BIFF withdaily updates through the APSA Festival Log. Join us online in the Multimedia Lounge to see Tim’s wrap of th...
The winners have been announced of the UNICEF UK FILM AWARDS. The Awards is an international competition for short films which look at the rights of children and young people. Festival Director Kathy Loizou said: ‘The UNICEF UK FILM AWARDS is the only film competition in the UK which focuses solely on films about kids’ rights. 20 short films were screened during the Showcomotion Young People’s Film Festival in Sheffield and the Jury, made up entirely of young people, spent the afternoon wa...
16. Internationales Filmfest Oldenburg16th to 20th September 2009 Brazilian director, writer and producer Bruno Barreto’s will be presented in the festival’s retrospective. This year’s tribute goes to American directing duo Scott McGehee and David Siegel.Retrospective Bruno BarretoHis first short film was done at the tender age of 10, aged 17 he finished his feature debut (“Tati, The Girl”) and only four years later the enthusiastic director had his international break-through with the...
Seventeen films to compete for the
Kutxa-New Directors Award
Directors from 13 countries will contend
with their first or second movies
for this award carrying 90,000 euros
8/11/2009
Seventeen films from 13 countries will compete for the Kutxa-New Directors Award at the 57th San Sebastian Festival. Fourteen of these titles compose the Zabaltegi-New Directors section, while the other three, 11’e 10 kala / 10 to 11, La mujer sin piano and Yo también (Me too), will participate in...
by Sandy Mandelberger, Online Dailies Editor
“Night And The City” (1950) is a neglected film noir masterpiece by the American-born director Jules Dassin. The film, a cult favorite among cinephiles but largely unknown by the public, has taken on renewed currency as the inspiration for “Broken Embraces”, the latest film from Spanish superstar director Pedro Almodóvar, which screened at the ERA New Horizons International Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland. Almodovar himself...
Sebastian Lelio (Chilean director)
by Sandy Mandelberger, Online Dailies Editor
The hardest working band of professionals at this year’s ERA New Horizons International Film Festival, which closes today in Wroclaw, Poland, are undoubtedly the juries that have been viewing films from all over the world in the main Festival competitions. As the Festival headed into its final days, the juries moved from viewing and evaluating the films into the rigors of that favorite bl...
by Sandy Mandelberger, Online Dailies Editor
The Swedish master filmmaker Jan Troell is the subject of a major retrospective tribute at this year’s ERA New Horizons International Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland. The 78-year-old film auteur has amassed a string of film jewels over a career that stretches back five decades. Many of these gems, including his latest masterpiece “Everlasting Moments”, nominated this past year for the Oscar, will be screened.
&nbs...
by Sandy Mandelberger, Online Dailies Editor One cannot contemplate the accomplishments of Polish cinema without acknowledging the singular contribution of Krzysztof Zanussi, who is the subject of a retrospective tribute at the ERA New Horizons International Film Festival, taking place in Wroclaw, Poland this week. Not only will the master director’s best-known films be screened, but the Festival programmers have unearthed early short films and television works that have not been seen i...
One of the special events at the forthcoming Locarno International Film Festival will be a special evening devoted to the Polish director Andrzej Wajda, who will attend in person, on Monday August 10 at 8.30 pm at La Sala. Festival goers will have an opportunity to see the world première of an outstanding documentary made by four of Andrzej Wajda’s students – graduates of the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing (Warsaw), Andrzej Wajda: róbmy zdje¸cie! (Andrzej Wajda: Silence on ...
Dailies Editor One cannot contemplate the accomplishments of Polish cinema without acknowledging the singular contribution of Krzysztof Zanussi, who is the subject of a retrospective tribute at the ERA New Horizons International Film Festival, taking place in Wroclaw, Poland this week. Not only will the master director’s best-known films be screened, but the Festival programmers have unearthed early short films and television works that have not been seen in decades. Zanussi was born in Wars...
Johnny Depp, Megan Fox, Tim Burton, Robert Downey Jr, Jeff Bridges, Tron, Super-heros, and Science Fiction are everywhere in downtown San Diego for 5 days. And then there is the man who epitomizes science fiction, Ray Bradbury. Ray wrote about Mars as well as The Illustrated Man little knowing that a future generation would become enamored with decorating themselves to an unprecedented level. Ray attended the very first Comic-Con 40 years ago, and he returned again this year....
by Sandy Mandelberger, Online Dailies Editor
It takes a filmmaker of great daring to successfully combine genres and create a hybrid that is unique and exhilarating. Such is the case with Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, the 47-year-old Thai film director and screenwriter, who is part of a Thai new wave that includes such auteur names Wisit Sasanatieng and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. His singular films have made him one of the more intriguing film stylists of the moment. Pen-Ek beg...
Director: PABLO ORTEGA.
What would you do if your life is centred around a relationship where your partner has forgotten why you are together?
Director: Iris Ponkina.
"HOW LONG WINTER LASTS IN ROMANIA" is an observational travelogue through contemporary romanian cities and countryside in the wintertime.
Fragments of "Mioritza", the romanian national ballade intermingles with Jonas Mekas poetic visions.
Romania, a land of contrasts, on the promising doorstep of European Union still seems to be in a state of post-communist syndrome.
Romania's resemblance to Lithuania intrigues questions and skepticism. Winter as a metaphor is I.Ponkina's debut short film.
Courteney Cox is joining Scarlett Johansson and Kirsten 'Kiwi' Smith to open and attend LA Shorts Fest '09 red carpet, on July 23rd with 'The Monday Before Thanksgiving' which she wrote, directed and acted in. The short movie is part of Glamour Magazine's "Reel Moments Project. 'The Monday Before Thanksgiving' is Courteney Cox' first directing project. Demi Moore first short movie as a director 'Streak', starring Brittany Snow and Rumer Willis, will make its Los Angeles premiere on July 24, at L...
Last night was the closing of the month long 17th annual nationwide Young Playwrights Festival, at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood, CA. The Festival is an opportunity for teenage playwrights to have their work produced, directed and acted out by professional actors from the the Hollywood community. Twelve winning plays were chosen by a panel of theatre professionals from plays submitted by teenaged playwrights, aged 15 -19 from across the United States. Playwrights were then assigned a ...
On 24th September 2009 "Soul Kitchen" will open the 17th Filmfest Hamburg, celebrating its German premiere at Cinemaxx Dammtor. "Soul Kitchen" is the sixth feature film by renowned director and producer Fatih Akin. The film's extraordinary cast reads like a best-of of Akin's films: Adam Bousdoukos of "Short Sharp Shock", Moritz Bleibtreu of "In July" and "Solino" and Birol Ünel of "Head On". For Festival Director Albert Wiederspiel "Soul Kitchen" signifies "a declaration of love for the metrop...
The Swisscom Leopard of Honour for the 62nd edition of the Locarno International Film Festival will be awarded to American director William Friedkin, and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985) starring William L. Petersen and Willem Dafoe will screen on the Piazza Grande to mark the occasion. A masterclass will also take place at the Spazio Cinema (Forum) and is open to the public. Born in 1935 in Chicago, William Friedkin made his directorial début with Good Times (1967), a musical starring Sonny & C...
Last night was the closing of the month long 17th annual nationwide Young Playwrights Festival, at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood, CA. The Festival is an opportunity for teenage playwrights to have their work produced, directed and acted out by professional actors from the the Hollywood community. Twelve winning plays were chosen by a panel of theatre professionals from plays submitted by teenaged playwrights, aged 15 -19 from across the United States. Playwrights were then assigned a wri...
Born in Skopje, Macedonia, Labina Mitevska studied in the faculty of Art and Archaeology at the University of Sts Cyril and Methodius, as well as at the European Film College in Denmark and the University of Arizona's Department of Art History. Ever since she has been chosen by European Film Promotion as one of Europe's sixteen "Shooting Stars" of 1998 at the 48th annual Berlin International Film Festival, she is marking her way up-and-coming actress for the future. Admitted to the Eur...
Today Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, announced its 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival award winners at a special event, presented by Target. The Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by The Los Angeles Times, ran from Thursday, June 18 to Sunday, June 28. “One of our goals at Film Independent is to help filmmakers build an audience for their work, and the Los Angeles Film Festival does just that,” said Film I...