by Deborah Cole Woody Allen's latest European-inspired fairytale "Midnight in Paris" featuring French first lady Carla Bruni kicked off the Cannes festival Wednesday, drawing critics' cheers at an early preview.    Even before the light-hearted romantic comedy screened, the film generated major buzz when Bruni, who has a cameo, said she would not attend the premiere citing "personal reasons", stoking rampant media rumours that she is pregnant.    "Mi...

From left : French general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, Thierry Fremaux, US actor Adrien Brody, the president of the Cannes Film Festival Gilles Jacob, US actor Owen Wilson, French actress Lea Seydoux, US director Woody Allen, French Culture Minister Fredferic Mitterrand, Canadian actress Rachel McAdams and British actor Michael Sheen pose on the red carpet before the opening ceremony and the screening of "Midnight in Paris" presented out-of- competition at the 64th Cannes Film Festival...

In what has to be one of the most bizarre red carpet scenarios in many a moon, the Berlinale is bracing for the buzz storm surrounding the world premiere of THE GHOST WRITER, the latest film from director Roman Polanski. And while the stars of the film, Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan will officiously walk the red carpet at the Berlinale Palast this evening, the film's celebrated director remains under house arrest in his ski villa in Switzerland. Of course, this is not the first time that a fi...

  In what has to be one of the most bizarre red carpet scenarios in many a moon, the Berlinale is bracing for the buzz storm surrounding the world premiere of THE GHOST WRITER, the latest film from director Roman Polanski. And while the stars of the film, Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan will officiously walk the red carpet at the Berlinale Palast this evening, the film's celebrated director remains under house arrest in his ski villa in Switzerland. Of course, this is not t...

## #What It’s Like to Chill with the Most Ruthless Men in the World Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic: Confessions of a Female War Crimes Investigator Retrospectively, it was all so simple, natural and matter of fact being on a boat restaurant in Belgrade, sitting with, laughing, drinking a two hundred bottle of wine and chatting about war and peace while Ratko Mladic held my hand.  Mladic,  a man considered the world’s most ruthless war criminal since Adolf Hitler, still at larg...

Going in there was every reason to expect Woody Allen's latest, "Vicki Cristina Barcelona", to be a winner -- top-notch international name cast including last years Oscar laureate for best supporting actor, Spaniard Javier Bardem, a gaggle of sexy women involved with him including dazzling blonde bombshell Scarlett Johansson, and the beautiful city of Barcelona for a backdrop. Sad to say it was highly disappointing at neary every turn and was basically a high gloss low concept loser. The pict...

BFM International Film Festival, running from 7th to 17th November 2008, is the largest black world cinema event in the UK. The 10th Anniversary festival will take place at venues across London which include, the BFI Southbank, the British Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Rich Mix and Bernie Grant Art’s Centre. This year’s festival takes a new direction, reflecting predominantly British work and a high proportion of UK premiers. The festival will also showcase films from across th...

2007 0SCARS COMING UP -- AND THE WINNERS MIGHT BE ...by Alex Deleon, HollywoodNo self-respecting film critic can resist the temptation to try to predict who the winners will be on Oscar night, so, for better or for worse, with the big self-congratulation orgy less than a week away -- here are my predictions and conjectures.Helen Mirren(The Queen) and Forest Whitaker (The Dictator) will easily claim the Best Actress and Best Actor prizes, respectively. (The odds of anyone else upsetting the fron...

MIRREN AND WHITTAKER SHINE AT S.A.G. AWARDS by Alex Deleon, Santa Barbara This is the jolly season of awards in Southern California -- seems like there's a different one every week somewhere in L.A. or vicinity. Following the Golden Globes (Foreign Press Awards) a couple of weeks back we now have the Screen Actors Guild (S.A.G.) awards which are similar and yet a bit different. Both sets of awards go to both film and television personalities, but the Globes recognize all kinds of categories (w...

Friday, December 15----Nominations for the Golden Globe Awards were announced yesterday morning in Los Angeles. The Awards, given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a membership group of less than 100 international journalists whose beat is coverage of Hollywood and the American film scene, has grown in stature over the past few years, making them almost the most stellar in a glut of end-of-the-year honors. Now broadcast on a major television network in the US and seen via satellite t...

Monday, December 11----With the glut of announcements from various film critics associations, the Oscar race is beginning to take shape. However, as opposed to recent memory, when one film (be it GLADIATOR, LORD OF THE RINGS or MILLION DOLLAR BABY) was recognized across the board as the Best Film of the Year, this year's race has been flung wide open, with a few films making an impression and certain to be among Oscar nominees for the Academy's highest honor. In the past 72 hours, film critic...

Dame Helen Mirren will be honored with a tribute and receive the award for Outstanding Performance of the Year for her role in “The Queen” at the upcoming 22nd annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival.Dame Helen Mirren will be honored on Friday, January 26th in recognition of her portrayal of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in this year’s acclaimed film “The Queen,” directed by Stephen Frears. “The Queen” is an intimate behind-the-scenes glimpse at the interaction between H...

It would be hard to find a more entertaining guest for afternoon tea than the director Stephen Frears. His self-deprecating humor, off-kilter sensibility and ingratiating personality were in rousing form on Saturday afternoon, with the director participating in the first of three HBO Films Directors Dialogues at the New York Film Festival.For almost 90 minutes, Frears regaled his audience in a mix of interview and question and answer, moderated by New York Film Festival Selection Committee membe...

Sunday, October 1----It would be hard to find a more entertaining guest for afternoon tea than the director Stephen Frears. His self-deprecating humor, off-kilter sensibility and ingratiating personality were in rousing form on Saturday afternoon, with the director participating in the first of three HBO Films Directors Dialogues at the New York Film Festival. For almost 90 minutes, Frears regaled his audience in a mix of interview and question and answer, moderated by New York Film Festival ...

Dick Cheney becomes the 44th President of the United States when George W. Bush, after addressing the Economic Club of Chicago, is assassinated outside a Chicago hotel, after a speech marked by l0, 000 demonstrators violently protesting nuclear brinksmanship policies in Iraq, North Korea and Iran. The date is Oct.19, 2007.This is the setting for the 93-minute fictionalized, controversial feature,”Death of a President”. The picture won the prestigious international critics (FIPRESCI) prize ...

The surprise winner of the Golden Lion (Grand Prix for Best Film) was the untouted Chinese entry "Sanxia Haoren" (Still Life) by youthful director Jia Zhang-ke, immediately styled "a perplexing verdict" by dean of Italian film critics, Tullio Kezich. The general reaction to the jury's off-the-wall decision was something like "they must be kidding!" Although residing in the competition section, the pic was projected mostly at late night red-eye screenings, when most of the press had either packe...

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 28th annual Aspen Filmfest runs September 26 through October 1, 2006, in Aspen, Carbondale and Glenwood Springs. For six days this resort valley’s favorite fall party will host advance previews of new films and award-winning documentaries from six of seven continents, as well as a tribute to Harrison Ford. With the chance to be among the first in the States to see some films, as well as enjoy highlights from the festival circuit, Aspen audiences will have the opportunity to vote for their ...

The breadth and scope of this festival, the name directors, top stars and prestige films it attracts, all clearly mark it as a five star top drawer event, one of the three or four most important way stations on the annual international film festival circuit. But aside from big names and prestige Hollywood products Venice is also known for its focus on lesser-known auteur directors and for its awarding of prizes to films and performances of high artistic merit. It was here in Venice, for examp...

The 44th edition of the New York Film Festival opens on a royal note with the North American premiere of THE QUEEN, the latest film from UK director Stephen Frears (DIRTY PRETTY THINGS, THE SNAPPER, HIGH FIDELITY, MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE). The film stars Oscar nominee Helen Mirren in a tour-de-force performance as Queen Elizabeth II. Also featured are James Cromwell as Prince Phillip, Michael Sheen as Tony Blair and Sylvia Syms as the Queen Mother, in a revealing and often acidly funny portrai...