In the context of a weak economy, the scarcity of income generating outlets for independent productions, and the constantly rising number of prospective film makers, the 31st edition of the annual IFP, Independent Feature project was held from September 19 – 24 in New York City.
After the demise of AIVF (Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers) IFP remains the most important organization catering to independent film makers and had about 10 000 members, including the Los A...
The top 20 independent productions grossed about $50 million during first half of 2009 compared to the July 19 weekend gross of $80 million for the latest Harry Potter sequel. Indie's US revenues for the first half of 2009 are estimated to be about half of what it was scored last year. Whereas in all of 2008 20 studio films netted more than $100 million, it took only seven month into 2009 to reach that number, thus leading to a significant increase of high grossing studio films. In times of ...
The top 20 independent productions grossed about $50 million during first half of 2009 compared to the July 19 weekend gross of $80 million for the latest Harry Potter sequel. Indie's US revenues for the first half of 2009 are estimated to be about half of what it was scored last year. Whereas in all of 2008 20 studio films netted more than $100 million, it took only seven month into 2009 to reach that number, thus leading to a significant increase of high grossing studio films. In times of du...
The top 20 independent productions grossed about $50 million during first half of 2009 compared to the July 19 weekend gross of $80 million for the latest Harry Potter sequel. Indie’s US revenues for the first half of 2009 are estimated to be about half of what it was scored last year. Whereas in all of 2008 20 studio films netted more than $100 million, it took only seven month into 2009 to reach that number, thus leading to a significant increase of high grossing studio films. In times of...
Sponsored over a weekend last May 30 and 31st by the Federation of Balkan American Associations, these no frill film days were organized primarily for members of ethnic communities from Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Herzegovina, and other countries from former Yugoslavia.
Screening took place at the Lang Recital Hall at Hunter College with a program curated by the author who teaches media research at the college. In keeping with the public service objective, admission to all screenings was fr...
When the Tribeca film festival management announced that this year's festival edition would program on the lighter side providing more uplifting and joyful fare, Woody Allen had an appropriate response. Films selected, including his, are only a palliative and people waking up in the middle of the night are driven by fears about losing their jobs and paying their bills. Though there was certainly joyful fare among the feature films screened and some ‘uplifts' in the documentary section, but m...
Berlinale’s Queer Teddy: Interview with Wieland Speck, Director of the Panorama section and the Teddy AwardsAmong the major film festivals the Berlinale, Berlin’s International Film Festival stands out as the first with an official award, the TEDDY, for the best lesbian, gay, bi- and transsexual films, an award which has been granted for the last twenty years. The Venice Film Festival had for two years now the QUEER LION for the best LGBT feature film. The number of LGBT films screened at ...
Berlinale: European Film Market, Interview with Director Beki Probst. In 1988 Beki Probst was appointed Director of the Film Fair for the Berlinale which she then renamed European Film Market. Her prior experience includes work for the Locarno Film Festival and representation of the Berlinale in Turkey and Greece. Beki Probst was born in Istanbul and studied law and journalism.Her twenty year direction resulted in the constant expansion of the European Film Market and its transformation into...
As noted in our February 4th write up, setting up the first regional film market is part of a comprehensive strategy by the Emirate of Dubai to create a sophisticated media infrastructure. It includes dating Dubai media city for electronic and print media with 1300 mostly foreign companies; Dubai Internet City; the International Media Production Zone; Dubai Studio City housing the biggest and technologically most advanced studio facility in the Middle East; and the five year old Dubai Internatio...
As the organization’s name indicates, its programs are not shown in traditional theaters, multiplexes or drive in venues. They are screened in public venues be it rooftops, lawns, parks, factories, or piers and cover feature films, documentaries and shorts, normally not accessible to the audience served. Rooftop Films was established in New York in 1997 showing one film only and has grown since into a multifaceted enterprise which screened in 2008 18 feature films and 150 shorts. The...
As the organization’s name indicates, its programs are not shown in traditional theaters, multiplexes or drive in venues. They are screened in public venues be it rooftops, lawns, parks, factories, or piers and cover feature films, documentaries and shorts, normally not accessible to the audience served. Rooftop Films was established in New York in 1997 showing one film only and has grown since into a multifaceted enterprise which screened in 2008 18 feature films and 150 shorts. These pr...
A scarcity of Mexican production and the absence of exhibition platforms prompted Sarah Hoch Delong to establish the festival Expresion en Corto eleven years ago which she has helmed ever since. As a publicly funded film festival, Expresion en Corto had a primary focus on short films. By 2008 it has morphed into one of the most important Latin American fests offering a comprehensive program with productions drawn from seventy countries. Several features distinguish Expresion en Corto. For once ...
As noted in my comments posted on July 1st about the 2008 Medienforum. in Germany the dual television system with programming provided by commercial and public stations creates an uneasy and frequently conflictual situation as exacerbated by the current neo-liberal economic approach espoused by the market and media commissioners in Brussels. Yet this year's screenings of unreleased German and foreign television program and numerous seminars demonstrated again the significant contribution publi...
The Cologne Medienforum, held from June 5 - 11 celebrated its 20th anniversary and provided again in numerous seminars, key note speeches and screenings an ideal opportunity for interventions by civil servants, politicians, representatives from the commercial television sector and senior managers from public television, the film, print and digital media areas. The Medienforum was introduced by a four day special programs “Grosses Fernsehen” (Great TV) covering large screen proj...
Held for three consecutive weekends through April 19th at the centrally located Scandinavia House on New York’s Park Avenue, the festival will be known henceforth as the Tishman International New York Bulgarian Film Festival. Tishman International Companies is a multi-billion real estate company that is building the Sofia Airport Center, a $350 million business complex. Tishman serving as the principal sponsor of the fest confirms the larger role transnational corporations play now in the inte...
Due to the overwhelming popularity of Eagle Talon The Movie: The Chancellor Only Lives Twice, ITN Distribution, Inc. today announced they will host a special screening of the film at the ImaginAsian theater on Monday April 21 at 8pm. Eagle Talon The Movie recently scooped two major awards at the 2008 New York International Independent Film and Video Festival.Eagle Talon The Movie is a groundbreaking Japanese film written, animated and directed by charismatic Japanese animator FROGMAN. The flash ...
Interview with Frogman, Director, Producer and Writer of EAGLE TALON THE MOVIE: THE CHANCELLOR ONLY LIVES TWICEClaus Mueller:Can you just briefly comment about your background?Frogman:I have been involved in television productions and drama for fifteen years. About four years ago I started with flash animationCM: What kind of films have you done before EAGLE TALON?F: It is actually my first film but I have produced many TV seriesCM: What prompted you to use flash an...
Christoph Terhechte has been a member of the International Forum of New Cinema’s selection committee since 1997 and directing the Forum since 2001.The Forum is widely considered as the most innovative artistic and political section of the Berlinale featuring experimental, avant-garde films and documentaries characterized by unconventional approaches and presenting new film makers. Terhechte added in 2006 ‘forum expanded’, a new component of the Forum exploring the emerging fusion of cinema...
With its seventh edition the MIAAC Film Festival has become the most important North American festival for films produced by filmmakers of South Asian descent retaining its special emphasis on directors from India and the large Indian Diaspora. This year’s festival held from November 7-11, was a milestone as reflected in the shift to new and established screening venues, the Asia society, and Loews theatres in Manhattan and Jersey City, the programming of 49 productions, covering features, sh...
The New York Film Festival never attempted to provide an overview of the contemporary film scene, the sort of panorama offered by the New York Tribeca film festival, Toronto or other major international festivals, nor does the NYFF stand for the marketing frenzy for independents increasingly noted at Sundance. To the contrary, selecting about 28 or 29 films each year, the NYFF has identified over the last 20 years under Richard Pena’s direction innovative film makers challenging past filmmakin...
This publication was the first to identify in several articles a new type of destination tourism, the niche of “Film Festival Tourism” and provided examples while specifying the criteria making it a profitable venture. The topic was integrated into the annual conference arranged by the World Tourism Organization, a United Nations agency, held this September in Busan, Korea, location of the Pusan International Film Festival.The role of the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) and the ...
This publication was the first to identify in several articles a new type of destination tourism, the niche of “Film Festival Tourism” and provided examples while specifying the criteria making it a profitable venture. The topic was integrated into the annual conference arranged by the World Tourism Organization, a United Nations agency, held this September in Busan, Korea, location of the Pusan International Film Festival.The role of the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) and the po...
Established in 1979, the New York IFP (Independent Feature Film Project) Market as side bar to the New York Film Festival and a response to block buster Hollywood has become an indispensable tool for aspiring and newly established producers, directors and screen writers to check the pulse of the independent film industry and launch their projects. What started as a screening venue for independent productions close to thirty years ago which had little support from the industry has turned into a...
Any critic or aficionado of US films could have received a perfect introduction to past and current achievements of US movie and film making at the last edition of the Mexican international short film festival Expresion en Corto, which concluded on July 29 its ten day run in San Miguel de Allende and the state capital Guanajuato. Ranked among the most important short film festivals in the world, Expresion en Corto celebrated its tenth anniversary this year. According to Sarah Hoch about 30 s...
ln June the public media authorities of North Rhine Westphalia (NRW), the most populous German state with the largest economic output, staged the annual Medien Forum in close cooperation with the media industry and professional associations. The Forum was first initiated in 1988 by the governing social democratic party and had the objective of facilitating the transition of NRW’s steel and coal based economy to a knowledge intensive service economy with a strong information and media compon...
