March 24th saw the kick-off of the 1st Cyprus International Film Festival. The CIFF opened with the Cyprus premiere of the recent Oscar nominated film ‘Transamerica’, starring Felicity Huffman. Over 130 films were screened during the chaotic four-day event. Being a competitive festival there were almost too many films for the VIP jurors to review. Those having the mammoth task of awarding the statuettes included, among others, such prestigious names as Hollywood film producer Gregory Cascant...

The Slamdance Film Festival, often called the ‘independent alternative’ fest held in Park City, Utah (January 21-28, 2005), unveiled its line up with a record 23 World and US feature premiers (including works-in-progress) as well as a striking departure for its Opening and Closing Night films.Two documentaries will bookend the festival: opening the festival is Mad Hot Ballroom (Marilyn Agrelo: USA), a gloriously fun chronicle of New York kids training for a ballroom dance contest. The film, ...

The truly gigantic success at the local box office of Erik Van Looy’s De zaak Alzheimer (The Alzheimer Case) and Jan Verheyen’s Team Spirit II, in combination with indigenous arthouse hits such as Tom Barman’s Any Way the Wind Blows and the Oscar-nominated French-Flemish-Canadian-UK co-production Les triplettes de Belleville (Belleville Rendezvous/The Triplets of Belleville) resulted in a quadrupling of admissions for Flemish films last year. A total of well over 1 million Flemish and Br...