True Story Italian Whodunit GIDE IN LOVE Reveals Dark Secret 50 years after 50 years after the disappearance of a young Sicilian boy purported to be French writer Andre Gide`s last love, Danielle Russo, a young journalist on the editorial staff of the Paris literary magazine Nouvelle Revue Littéraire, is sent to Sicily in 2000, to the elegant resort town of Taormina and finds herself embroiled in a complex labyrinth of shocking "truths" involving the literary set vacationing a...

When you have already won an Oscar, have your own theater stage company and are one of the go-to acting talents in the business, there is a need for new horizons to keep oneself fresh. Such is the case  for actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman, an Oscar winner for his role in the biopic CAPOTE, who debuted as a feature film director this past weekend at the Sundance Film Festival with his film JACK GOES BOATING. Hoffman was born in Rochester, New York on July 23, 1967. After becoming involved in hig...

When you have already won an Oscar, have your own theater stage company and are one of the go-to acting talents in the business, there is a need for new horizons to keep oneself fresh. Such is the case for actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman, an Oscar winner for his role in the biopic CAPOTE, who debuted as a feature film director this past weekend at the Sundance Film Festival with his film JACK GOES BOATING. Hoffman was born in Rochester, New York on July 23, 1967. After becoming inv...

Scarlett Johansson and Kirsten 'Kiwi' Smith will open and attend LA Shorts Fest 09, which will be earlier, this year, from July 23 to July 31, 2009.LA Shorts Fest '09 will premiere on opening night:- Golden Globe nominated Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut: THESE VAGABOND SHOES, starring Kevin Bacon, shot in black and white by 'Capote' and 'Lars and the Real Girl' cinematographer, Adam Kimmel,- THE SPLEENECTOMY, starring Anna Farris by writer and first-time director Kirsten 'Kiwi' Smith, wr...

Scarlett Johansson and Kirsten 'Kiwi' Smith will open and attend LA Shorts Fest 09, which will be earlier, this year, from July 23 to July 31, 2009.LA Shorts Fest '09 will premiere on opening night:- Golden Globe nominated Scarlett Johansson's directorial debut: THESE VAGABOND SHOES, starring Kevin Bacon, shot in black and white by 'Capote' and 'Lars and the Real Girl' cinematographer, Adam Kimmel,- THE SPLEENECTOMY, starring Anna Farris by writer and first-time director Kirsten 'Kiwi' Smith, wr...

Friday, September 5------The Canadian Film and Television Production Association announced yesterday that Canadian producer Rob Merilees is the recipient of the third annual CFTPA Producer’s Award. The award includes a cash prize of $10,000 CAD and was presented at the 5th Elementt Restaurant (The Match Club) at the opening of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) .Merilees’ most recent project, Stone of Destiny, is already drawing high praise and was selected to make its North A...

 Wednesday, October 31--------This weekend, the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival is presenting the Southeast Premiere of THE SAVAGES, a film that is sure to appear on the radar of the end-of-year awards season. Directed by Tamara Jenkins, the writer/director of the indie hit SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS (1999), the family drama had its world premiere at last year's Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for Jenkins' sensitive and sometimes hilarious script...

Friday, October 6----The Woodstock Film Festival will open next Thursday with the East Coast Premiere of the docudrama INFAMOUS, the highly ancticipated biopic of legendary writer Truman Capote. The film, which stars British actor Toby Jones in a remarkable incarnation of the capricious Capote, was written and directed by UK director Douglas McGrath (NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, EMMA). The film, which also stars Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig, Peter Bogdanovich, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, Gwyneth Paltrow,...

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...

The Italian press on the morning after Opening Night was was, as expected, politely dismissive of De Palma's "Black Dahlia" and seemed to be much more concerned with the late arrival on the red carpet of the film's heroine, new American Diva -- (or should we say "Divette") -- Scarlett Johansson. For whatever reason, La Scarlett was more than half an hour unfashionably late for the opening ceremony which had to start without her. Nevertheless, all the papers, including the two largest national d...

The crush to get a gander at HOFFMAN AS CAPOTE was so great yesterday that an extra press screening had to be improvised a half hour after the initially scheduled one in the Cinemaxx multi-screen theatre complex. Presumably, the half hour decollage allows reels of the film to be switched from one hall to the other without missing a beat. Unfortunately, the press conference time remained unchanged, so that those condemned to the later viewing (like myself), found the conference already well unde...

During the ten days of the Berlinale most Berlin dailies adorn their front page with large colour photos of celebrity clowning the night before. On Thursday, day number 7 of the fest, however, what was to be seen on all Berlin front pages were shots of men in hooded white spacesuits holding up dead swans fished out of the city lakes, or otherwise attempting to deal with the sudden arrival of the dreaded aviary virus in the midst of the city. Of course, this does not mean that we can expect to s...

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival announced today the lineup of honorees for the 21st annual Fest, February 2-12, 2006. Actors Philip Seymour Hoffman, Naomi Watts, and Heath Ledger will be honored at this year’s Fest. Also set to be recognized for his achievements in nature filmmaking is James Cameron. As previously announced, George Clooney will be the recipient of the Modern Master Award.Philip Seymour Hoffman will receive “The Riviera Award,” an award the Santa Barbara In...

Capote and Murderball Take Home Top Honors at 15th Annual Gotham AwardsIFP has announced its winners in the six competitive categories at the 15th Annual Gotham Awards which has been broadcast on NYC TV (Channel 25) on December 6 at 9 pm EST. Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, Owen Kline, William Baldwin, Anna Paquin Awarded Best Ensemble Cast for The Squid and the Whale. Amy Adams and Bennett Miller Awarded "Breakthroughs". I Am A Sex Addict Awarded Best Film Not Playing at a Theater ...