Interview with Amir Manor for ‘Epilogue’ (2012). Amir Manor is an Israeli director who has made four short films ('Pouring Sun', 2006; 'Reds', 2007; 'Ruin', 2008; 'Lands', 2008) and one feature film, ‘Epilogue’ (2012), which screened in the international competition at the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The film won four awards at TIFF: Special Jury Award for Originality and Innovation, Best Screenplay Award, Human Values...

‘Superclassico’ (2011) by Danish director Ole Christian Madsen was one of the best films I’ve seen of 2011. A relentlessly bittersweet romantic comedy set in Buenos Aires, Christian (played by Anders Berthelsen) is a middle-aged Danish wine seller whose wife leaves him for a younger man. Christian’s wife, Anna (Paprika Steen), is a soccer agent working in Buenos Aires who is tired of her routine married life with Christian and opts for an exciting existence with her Lat...

‘Superclassico’ (2011) by Danish director Ole Christian Madsen was one of the best films I’ve seen of 2011. A relentlessly bittersweet romantic comedy set in Buenos Aires, Christian (played by Anders Berthelsen) is a middle-aged Danish wine seller whose wife leaves him for a younger man. Christian’s wife, Anna (Paprika Steen), is a soccer agent working in Buenos Aires who is tired of her routine married life with Christian and opts for an exciting existence with her Lat...

'A Month in Thailand' (2012) by writer/director Paul Negoescu ‘A Month In Thailand’ (2012) by writer/director Paul Negoescu screened in competition recently at the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The film depicts a grey Bucharest, Romania in the course of one night in the life of 'Radu' (played by actor Andrei Mateiu), a lost twenty-something who leaves his current girlfriend to go in search of his past one. In a world full of too many choices and endless possibilit...

'A Month in Thailand' (2012) by writer/director Paul Negoescu ‘A Month In Thailand’ (2012) by writer/director Paul Negoescu screened in competition recently at the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival. The film depicts a grey Bucharest, Romania in the course of one night in the life of 'Radu' (played by actor Andrei Mateiu), a lost twenty-something who leaves his current girlfriend to go in search of his past one. In a world full of too many choices and endless possibilit...

Interview with Vahid Vakilifar at 53rd TIFF. Persian filmmaker Vahid Vakilifar’s latest feature ‘Taboor’ (2012) ran in competition at the 53rd Thessaloniki Film Festival. This is his second feature; his first was ‘Gesher’ in 2010. As producer, screenwriter and director of ‘Taboor’, Vahid won a First Special Mention Award at TIFF. I interviewed him at the Electra Palace, Thessaloniki. Here is what he had to say.   ME: What does ‘Taboor&rsq...

Interview with Vahid Vakilifar at 53rd TIFF. Persian filmmaker Vahid Vakilifar’s latest feature ‘Taboor’ (2012) ran in competition at the 53rd Thessaloniki Film Festival. This is his second feature; his first was ‘Gesher’ in 2010. As producer, screenwriter and director of ‘Taboor’, Vahid won a First Special Mention Award at TIFF. I interviewed him at the Electra Palace, Thessaloniki. Here is what he had to say.   ME: What does ‘Taboor&rsq...

Aki Kaurismäki is best known for his oeuvre of films including: ‘Leningrad Cowboys Go America’ (1989), ‘The Man Without A Past’ (2002), which ran in competition at Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar in 2002, and his most recent film ‘Le Havre' (2011), which ran in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Recently, Aki Kaurismäki was honored for his life achievement at the 53rd Thessaloniki Film Festival. On the 6th November, ...

HOLY MOTORS (2012) premiered at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and most recently opened the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival   HOLY MOTORS: Is it gratuitous shock-value pomp or high surrealistic cinematic genius? You decide… A swarthy dwarfish (though not a dwarf) Parisian, ‘Monsieur Oscar’ (played by Denis Lavant), lives for the night like some kind of vampire or ancient fiend feeding off humanity’s basest Chthonic nature. By day he is a loving f...

Aki Kaurismäki is best known for his oeuvre of films including: ‘Leningrad Cowboys Go America’ (1989), ‘The Man Without A Past’ (2002), which ran in competition at Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar in 2002, and his most recent film ‘Le Havre' (2011), which ran in competition at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Recently, Aki Kaurismäki was honored for his life achievement at the 53rd Thessaloniki Film Festival. On the 6th November, ...

During the 53rd Thessaloniki Film Festival, beloved Greek director Costa-Gavras attended the Greek premier of his latest film ‘Capital’ (2012). The film focuses on the world’s current economic situation where big business and capital are partaking in a form of economic terrorism with many conglomerate corporations controlling much of the world’s wealth resulting in the crippling of whole national economies. Greece itself has felt the repercussions of this crises and glo...

During the 53rd Thessaloniki Film Festival, beloved Greek director Costa-Gavras attended the Greek premier of his latest film ‘Capital’ (2012). The film focuses on the world’s current economic situation where big business and capital are partaking in a form of economic terrorism with many conglomerate corporations controlling much of the world’s wealth resulting in the crippling of whole national economies. Greece itself has felt the repercussions of this crises and glo...

With the exception of an alluring red carpet, its' safe to say that BUFF has pretty much rolled out everything else in its power to deliver this year's annual showcase of British urban filmmaking of which, at the time of writing has been 1 week removed.  A showcase is of course nothing without the undoubted stars of the show - the filmmakers. It has been a blast this year with 3 UK premieres ("Sparkle", "12" and "Melvin"), 2 venues packed out to the r...

The film ‘John Dies At the End’ (2012) screened at the 45th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival (October 4-14). ‘John Dies At the End’ won 3rd place for The People’s Choice Award at the 2012 TIFF’s Midnight Madness. The film’s veteran ‘fantastic’ director Don Coscarelli (‘Phantasm' saga; Bubba Ho-Tep, 2002) attended the Sitges screening of his latest film where he was awarded the Time Machine Award for his prestigious and inf...

  By: Stan Popovich Some celebrities  and other people deal with loneliness when they are not in the spotlight. Here is a short list of techniques that a celebrity can use so that the fear of being alone doesn’t become a major issue in their lives.   1.Find An Activity Find an activity that you enjoy and where you can meet a lot of people. Doing something that you like to do will make you happy and will increase your chances of making friends.   2.Spend Time With...

    Interview with English/Turkish Cypriot actor Akin Gazi, the hot new face of BIG cinema ('The Devil's Double', 2011; 'Black Gold' 2011; and now 'Zero Dark Thirty', 2012). Look out for this up and coming mega talent. He has already been on the side of buses in Qatar... Will UK be next? Read our up close and personal interview below.   ME: How did you get into acting and when did you know that you want to act? AKIN: When I was a child I loved spending time in my imaginat...

The Slovenian film ‘A Trip’ (‘Izlet’, 2011) by writer/director Nejc Gazvoda will represent Slovenia at the 2013 Oscars. Out of all international films contending for the ‘Foreign Film’ category, only one will win for 'Best Foreign Film'. The 85th Academy Awards will take place Feb. 24, 2013. 'A Trip' has received nominations and awards at international film festivals the world over. It won ‘Best Screenplay’ by Nejc Gazvoda, ‘Best Acting&r...

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE FROM 'Sally Fischer Public Relations' “TRASHED” (2012) screened Saturday, September 29 at 9:00PM at the Apollo Piccadilly Cinema in London Academy Award-winning actor Jeremy Irons and Academy Award-winning composer Vangelis attended screening “TRASHED” HITS PICCADILLY AND TAKES JEREMY IRONS ON A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY, DISBELIEF AND HOPE   London, UK: Candida Brady brings her hot topic film "TRASHED" to the Raindance Film Festiva...