The Savannah Film Festival, hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design, honored actress Ellen Barkin ("The Big Easy," "Ocean's Thirteen") and actor Ray Liotta ("Goodfellas," "Hannibal") with Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Awards during the opening weekend of the 14th annual event, which kicked off Saturday, Oct. 29 and runs through Saturday, Nov. 5, in historic Savannah, Ga.Barkin received the honor prior to the screening of her independent film, "Another Happy Day," which centers on a ...

  The 12th edition of the Woodstock Film Festival, an event that takes seriously its reputation for being “fiercely independent” is in full flower (power) this weekend in the center of Woodstock, New York and neighboring towns through Sunday, September 25. For this year’s edition, the Festival is presenting nearly 150 films, along with a series of professional panels, music performances and special events. Among the highlights taking place this weekend are a repeat screening of the...

The PALINDROMES Interview by Craig ParishSolondzian Cruelty: No Such ThingLike a Palindrome the world turns in on itself, unchanged and unchanging. Director Todd Solondz still lives alone in the same place he did 10 years before WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE stormed Sundance in 1995.“Free will is an illusion but limitations are liberating” - TSBorn in 1959 in Newark, NJ, Solondz studied at NYU Film School and made severalshort films, one of which turned studio heads at 20th Century Fox. The upsi...

Other screenings on day 8 and 9 include Horizon selection Izo by Takashi Miike. An assassin for the anti-Shogun Lord Hampeida is crucified in 1865 and comes back to revenge his murder. But what has he learned? The film is an endictment on war and displays a basic hatred of women for giving life. Briefly featuring Beat Takeshi (Takeshi Kitano) as prime minister, the film reminds Venice fest goers of what cinema is about with multilayered tableau, entries to new worlds, imagery that confronts. ...