I'M STILL HERE, the not-very-flattering documentary by actor-turned-director Casey Affleck of his brother-in-law and best friend Joaquin Phoenix has been provoking controversy since it world premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Is the film, which had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this week, a true portrait of the actor's rejection of movie stardom or is it a cleverly planned hoax? The "documentary" of the tumultuous year that saw Joaquin attempt...

  I'M STILL HERE, the not-very-flattering documentary by actor-turned-director Casey Affleck of his brother-in-law and best friend Joaquin Phoenix has been provoking controversy since it world premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Is the film, which had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this week, a true portrait of the actor's rejection of movie stardom or is it a cleverly planned hoax? The "documentary" of the tumultuous y...

  by Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor As SILVERDOCS, the nation's most prominent documentary film festival, begins to hit its stride, it is worth mentioning that the documentary film has not had the charmed life at the box office as we saw earlier in the decade. While not every film can hope to reach the stratosphere of FAHRENHEIT 911 (which had a record-shattering $120 million international box office gross in 2004), the recent crop of documentaries coming to theaters ...

Tuesday, June 5------The MTV Movie Awards are the Oscars for the cool, hip crowd.....and last night's ceremonies in Los Angeles were their typically outrageous and unconventional. Hollywood's elite definitely does show up for these awards----which give the films and performers instant "street cred". The Awards are voted online by the MTV crowd.....the 18-35 year olds who have the potential to create blockbusters and cult hits. The ceremonies were emceed by Sarah Silverman, the ...

 Thursday, May 24------Persians are battling Pirates for top honors at this year's MTV MOVIE AWARDS, which will be held in Los Angeles and broadcast live on June 3. Awards are determined by the audience, who still have another week to vote for their favorites. Simply log on to the website: www.mtv.com/ontv/movieawards.Although this is hardly your mother's Oscar ceremonies (not much dignity and decorum here), the MTV MOVIE AWARDS has an international viewing audience that rivals the A...

Debuting its slate of local and international films, and welcoming filmmakers and stars to town, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival opened over the weekend to enthusiastic audiences. Sienna Miller, Guy Pearce, and director George Hickenlooper were lauded by a packed house at the Arlington Theatre on Thursday as “Factory Girl,” a film about 1960s “It Girl” Edie Sedgwick, who was born and tragically died in Santa Barbara. Also in attendance were Edie’s brother Jonathan Sedgwi...

Thursday, November 30----OK, I'm on the line where you stand to pick up your free Guest Tickets to the public screenings. I have picked out three films to see.....very disturbing and depressive subjects about mortality and death and the decay of the medical system. Topics of personal interest to me these days. Very confident that it will be only myself and some older lady, sobbing into her handkerchief. I get to the bubbly Dutch woman who is arranging the tickets and get told..."Sold out, sol...

Borat, the smash cult-film hit of the autumn, will be previewed at the Capri, Hollywood International Film Festival on Friday, December 29. (www.caprihollywood.com). After opening to big box office and big laughs in the United States, the creation of British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen has spread to the United Kingdom and France, and now will come to Italy for the great festival on the Blue Island after a stop at the Festival of Rome. In the satirical film, subtitled “Cultural Learnings of Am...

The much-anticipated New York International Independent Film and Video Festival (NYIIFVF) kicked off with a bang. The opening night festivities at Crobar attracted over 1,000 filmmakers, artists, actors, distributors and press. Filmmakers promoted and networked and over 100 trailers were played on multiple screens throughout the evening. Guests in attendance included Vinny Vella (The Sopranos, Analyze That), Frank Lucas Jr., former Jerky Boy Kamal Ahmed, actress and model, Tiffani Webb (Guiding ...

The New York International Independent Film and Video Festival has been attracting steady audiences and a few celebs at its City Cinemas Village East location. Audiences fought through the throngs of Borat fans in their relentless support of the indies. The theatre actually became so busy that a very low-key Naomi Watts almost went unnoticed downstairs in Theater 3, she happened to be one of several stars quietly drawn to the allure of the annual Festival. The event has always produced films th...

The first official screening of Borat was held at the Olympia Theatre on rue d’Antibes. Audience members laughed and gasped at the crazy scenes portrayed in the film. Some audience members thought the film was a little too racist, while others thought it was just plain funny. Actors such as The Rock even watched the movie in its entirety. Borat is the creation of Sacha Cohen, a British actor who also plays Ali G in his HBO series. The movie centers around Borat who is “Kazakhstani televisi...