The action camera market, previously dominated by GoPro now has new products pouring in from Sony, Contour, and JVC that are smaller in size and action-ready than ever before. The film industry has recently discovered the value of the smaller, more convenient DSLR cameras, which enable shooting from small cramped spaces or compromising locations – for the action camera crowd, however, size has always been a non-negotiable. When free-skiing powder in Utah, snowboarding in Verbier...
I must honestly say that this is the happiest film festival in Los Angeles. I should tell executive director, Kirsten Schaffer, to rename it, “The Happy film festival” from all the smiling faces of the packed audiences and participants.Everyone is in the happiest frame of mind to be there which translates into the real meaning of the word”Gay”. This year they hit the pinnacle of their success in my opinion.The opening night film “Vito” was the most perfect and touching film to pre...
KVIFF 47, AWARDS AND COMMENTS, A TALE OF FOUR WOMAN
by Alex Deleon
SUSAN SARANDON AT KARLOVY VARY
The 47th Karlovy Vary Film Festival closed shop on Saturday July 7 with the customary gala awards ceremony and a screening of Woody Allen's "To Rome With Love" in the vast 1,500 seat Grand Hall (Velky Zal) of the Thermal Hotel. This was followed by the usual swanky closing reception at the stately Hapsburg era Hotel Pupp (Pronounced "poop&quo...
MANHATTAN SHORT today announced The Feature Film Project, a new program that will discover and launch one feature film each year, with the help of over one hundred cinemas and the interactive opinions of movie goers across the United States.
On March 21 2013 the winning feature film selected from a global call for entries will screen in over one hundred cinemas across the USA. Audiences at each venue will receive a voting card at each cinema and be asked, ‘Should this film retur...
Article published in the NY Times
"I'm not an unkind person," says Trudie Styler, "but by the same token, I'm not a people-pleaser."
DURING a visit to India to celebrate her 50th birthday, Trudie Styler consulted a seer. Recently, she recalled the episode, highlighted by a reading of her Vedic chart, with mock incredulity. "Oh, madam, by golly, this chart is very unique,' " she was told. " 'By 2012, you could be asking for the Taj Ma...
KVIFF CAPSULE REVIEWS by Alex Deleon
The competition film “Zabic Bobra" (To Kill a Beaver) by Polish director Jan Jakub Kolski is a grisly psychological drama that tries to show what it is like inside the head of a returning professional soldier who cannot readjust to everyday life. Kolski, 56, has been described as a master of Polish “magical realism” and is certainly one of the few directors of his generation who can be called an auteur. At his press conference Kolski said ...
Helen Mirren and István Szabó (The Door)
by Alex Deleon, for <filmfestivals.com>
Dame Helen Mirren, patently the dominant figure of the first two days, held court on Saturday morning at the first official festival press conference. As Helen Mirrenová she is getting front page coverage in the Czech daily press in the manner of visiting royalty and her gracefully smiling visage adorns the cover of the widely read TVstar weekly with a bold gold lettered caption reading ...
The usual hustle and bustle of Paris starts to slow in July as Parisians head off on les vacances. But that does not mean that Paris is left at a stand still – it’s quite the contrary in fact…
Event: Paris Fashion Week (Mode à Paris)
Details: For all you fashionistas out there -- this is an event you, surely, will not want to miss. Come check out the haute couture fall and winter 2012/2013 collections from all the famous and luxury brands, like Christi...
Two full decades after the fall of the wall, and German political and cultural changes suggest an increasing desire for German people to be perceived without mentioning the fall of the wall in the back. This year Cinema City festival in Novi Sad showed a film retrospective of one of the most important contemporary German authors, Dresen Andreas, the honored guest of Serbia. Andreas was also guest on Master Class at Kusterndorf Festival of Emir Kustrurica and this is not his first time in Ser...
The 66th Edinburgh International Film Festival announced the winners of its awards today at a prestigious ceremony held at Filmhouse, hosted by Grant Lauchlan of STV Moviejuice. Scottish stars presenting awards included Kate Dickie and Jury member Ewen Bremner. The ceremony took place ahead of the Closing Night Gala of the European premiere of BRAVE which closes the 12-day Festival.
The Award for Best Film in the International Feature Competition, supported by Innis & Gunn, was ...
After nearly eight hours of programming and in front of a capacity crowd of more than 10,000 people, Tropfest – the world’s largest short film festival - concluded in New York with Josh Leake of Portland, Oregon claiming the top prize for a film called “Emptys,” made for merely $1,300 dollars. The aspiring filmmaker beat out seven other hopefuls in the first ever U.S. Tropfest competition, and earned $20,000 from the Motion Picture Association (MPA). Alexander Poe came in second and Ma...
The Queen before her unfinished palace
Anyone who thinks this will be about the famous palace of "Le Roi Soleil" Louis XIV on the outskirts of Paris is in for a big surprise.
The Versailles of this incredible true story will be the largest private family residence in the word when it is finished and the queen who will rule the roost is Jacquie Siegel, busty 43 year old trophy wife of 74 year old Real Estate tycoon David Siegel, who is building this monstrosity of a dwell...
By Maria Esteves - June 22, 2012
Ian Rosenberg (IR) is a producer and Award winning documentarian who lives in New York and married to co-director and producer Caroline Laskow. He is co-founder and member of OVO, a not-for-profit New York City arts collective. In 2003, Rosenberg co-produced the Award winning documentary “Ashtanga, NY.” In 2006, he produced “The World's Best Prom"
and directed “Grand Street" documentary short. In 2009, his HBO Documentary “Fin...
21st of June 6th day of Cinema City, went off very quickly. Beside a wonderful party, a lovely lunch with editor Bruno Chatelin and extensive talk with NickPowell about the celebrity world and rather interesting programs on festival there were interesting events to go to and films to see. Powell is a film producer, a co funder of Virgin Group (with Richard Branson), director of National Television and Film School in England and founder of Palace Produ...
“I’m really nervous,” said Duvernay as she introduced the film. “Maybe it’s because this is my hometown. Maybe it’s because there are over 1,000 of us here...But it’s probably the Angela Bassett factor.” Bassett showed up just to support the film.
DuVernay is the first African American to win the Sundance award for Best Directing.
"Stephanie Allain is a doer," said DuVernay. "She said, 'This is a small story, but it&rsquo...
The 59th Sydney Film Festival wrapped on Sunday 17 June 2012 with the Australian Premiere of the US sci-fi comedy, Safety Not Guaranteed, bringing to a close the most highly attended Sydney Film Festival to date.
“This year, attendances at films and talks grew by 10% to 122,000,’ said SFF CEO, Leigh Small. “There was also a 27% growth in Flexipass sales, indicating individuals are attending more films during the Festival. We were elated by the positive festival buzz in the city...
Writer Dimitre Dinev has been living in Austria for years now. As a co-writer of Anja Salomonowitz’ debut feature Spain, he was a special guest at the 16th Sofia IFF. The following are excerpts from the press conference that turned into a cosy conversation between Dinev and the film critic Antonia Kovacheva, and the P.S. for four eyes and two swings in front of the festival center Matti’D.
How did you meet Anja Salomonwitz and how did you work together on the script of Spain?
An...
There's always some glitter of Tinseltown on Broadway; however, the 66th Annual American Theater Wing's Tony Awards had a really important film tie-in. You probably think I'm referring to:
The win for Death of a Salesman produced by Scott Rudin, directed by Mike Nichols, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield, who brought along current girlfriend and Spiderman (2012 movie) co-star Emma Stone.
Or
Once, totally sweeping the Tonys as a Broadway musical! Which firs...
"His work features an undercurrent of faith and malice you just can't shake out of your head." Great film composer Danny Elfman was introduced at the LA Film Festival Saturday night with such ideas as, "His work brings the life of the mind to the screen."
As an 18-year old, Elfman's first performance was in Paris, where he followed his brother. Together they were in Le Grand Magic Circus, an avant-garde musical theater group. "It was a crazy experience that put t...
Novi Sad is a city with an urban story, remarkable cultural tradition and a place where many cultural projects and manifestations came into being. A dynamic and young city, it grows ambitiously towards high European standards while creating new cultural symbols. The liveliness of the city greatly depends on numerous festival manifestations that take place over the year and attract tourists from the region and the world.
Through its volume, ambitions and popularity, certainly the m...
It was announced today at the annual Sheffield Doc/Fest awards ceremony, hosted by Jeremy Hardy, that the 20th edition of Sheffield Doc/Fest in 2013 will see the introduction of The Tim Hetherington Award presented by Dogwoof. Says Oli Harbottle, Dogwoof, “We are delighted to be collaborating with Doc/Fest on this award. Tim’s legacy will forever define what we do at Dogwoof, and his approach will inspire filmmakers for generations to come”. The Tim Hetherington Award will includ...
Game Changers: Where Should Films be Going? A panel including Ceán Chaffin, Michael de Luca, Mark Johnson, Doug Wick, and moderator Michael Shamberg opened Day 2 of the Produced by Conference by attempting to answer that question.
Ceán Chaffin (Producer & partner of David Fincher- Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Social Network, The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo): "We don't have tentpole movies." The audience is harder and harder to find. "We mak...
Christopher Nolan & Emma Thomas were humble and introspective in front of the eager audience at as they opened Produced by 2012 last weekend. Nolan and Thomas worked together in England before bringing their first film Following to the US in 1998, at a time in the US when there was a "movement of cheap films that secured distribution through the festival circuit." They submitted it to the Sundance Film Festival, didn't make it, but there met a programmer from the San Francisco In...
If we are talking about British film shown on Kino Otok Isola, then we are talking about minor English films definitely worth mentioning. That would be Archipelago by Joana Hogg and Two Years at Sea by young film director Ben Rivers. But first thing first!
Joanna Hogg is a woman, a friend of great late British film director Derek Jarman and a filmmaker coming from the middle higher class in England, which is very obvious in her films. This is the second one. So this is how her seco...
Beijing, China, 13 June 2012 – CFG-Barco (Beijing) Electronics Co. Ltd. (CFG-Barco), a joint venture founded by Barco and China Film Group, today held its ‘Cinema of the Future – 2012 CFG-Barco Digital Film Summit’ in Suzhou. The summit showcased the ‘Cinema of the Future’, presenting Barco’s leading technologies and total solution for the digital cinema industry.
Over 130 experts in China’s film industry participated in the summit, discussing the concept of the ‘cinema ...