The President:
Wim Wenders, Director, Germany
Wim Wenders attended the Academy of Film & Television in Munich, worked as a film critic for various German publications, and was a founding member of Filmverlag der Autoren. In 1976 he set up his own production company, Road Movies, and, in 2002, Reverse Angle. Often hailed as one of the most important German directors on the international scene, Wenders has received various international awards, including the Golden Lion (TH...
This is Woody Harrelson’s moment. The actor, who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as an incendiary army officer in 2009’s THE MESSENGER, reteams with director Israeli-born director Oren Moverman on an even more explosive drama that is tailored to his particular talent for playing characters with a short fuse. World premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, RAMPART, set in a neo-noir Los Angeles in the late 1990s, alludes to the Ramp...
"Have you ever heard the expression "Let sleeping dogs lie"? Sometimes you're better off not knowing." -- Jake Gittes from Chinatown "It is the old wound, my King. It has never healed." -- Lancelot from Excalibur "Hollywood will fuck you when no-one else will." -- Russ Millard from The Black Dahlia I saw the Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia about eleven months ago. I finally watched it again last night. It takes a second viewing and a daily t...
Is there a more hotly-contested or perplexing director alive than Brian de Palma? Film fans, and certainly film critics, are just about equally divided on the merits of this prominent director, who came up in the early seventies and has long been shafted outside of the system for not playing by the rules. Like Scorsese, he is a master of using the camera as an additional character in a scene. But Scorsese's best whirling dervish camera moves express an animalistic hostility. When De Palma tak...
UK-based production house Film and Music Entertainment head towards completion of 2006 slate worth a total of $32 million, as well as 2007 as Border Post bows in Competition in San Sebastian. Downey and Taylor confirm shareholding in Shotgun Pictures.London/San Sebastian: Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME) is in the last stages of post production on a 2006 slate of six pictures, and despite gloomy prospects for the UK independent sector, announce a robust line up for their 2007/2008 roster. The...
With a couple of hours still left to go until the official kick-off of this "Mother of all Film Festivals" activity is feverish along the short stretch of the Lido known as Viale Marconi, the actual location of this oldest of all world film festivals --Now that was rather a mouthful, calling for a bit of elucidation. The first Venice film festival took place way back in 1932 when the Fascist government under Benito Mussolini, taking a page from Lenin, realized that film was a powerful propaganda...
The 63rd edition of the Venice film festival has opened with a salvo of noir or noirish films during which the 'dark horse' "Hollywoodland" has upstaged the odds-on favorite "Black Dahlia" which arrived with far more ballyhoo. While Dahlia, with its high-powered cast, name director Brian De Palma, and big time writer James Ellroy all on hand, was rather tepidly received at various screenings, "Hollywoodland” or 'the Death of Superman’ as the press has dubbed the film, was roundly applauded...
Brian De Palma’s eagerly anticipated “BLACK DAHLIA”, which will officially open the 63rd Venice Film Festival this evening, was screened for the press this morning with the screening immediately followed by a packed house press conference. Principal actors, Josh Harnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, and Mia Kirshner (who plays the gruesomely murdered Elizabeth Short of the title) were present as well as director De Palma and writer James Ellroy, on whose novel regarding the famo...
Brian De Palma’s eagerly anticipated “BLACK DAHLIA”, which will officially open the 63rd Venice Film Festival this evening, was screened for the press this morning with the screening immediately followed by a packed house press conference. Principal actors, Josh Harnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, and Mia Kirshner (who plays the gruesomely murdered Elizabeth Short of the title) were present as well as director De Palma and writer James Ellroy, on whose novel regarding the famo...
La Biennale di Venezia / 63rd Venice International Film Festival / The Black Dahlia by Brian De Palma, with Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank and Josh Hartnett, to be the opening film at the 63rd Venice International Film FestivalThe Black Dahlia, the eagerly-awaited film directed by Brian De Palma, starring Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank and Josh Hartnett - and adapted from the famous novel of the same name by James Ellroy, inspired by a crime in 1940s Los Angeles - will be the opening film at...