Bill Mechanic, President/CEO of Pandemonium LLC and former Chairman/CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, (my boss when I was running Fox distribution in France) delivered the keynote speech at the annual Independent Film & Television Alliance Production Conference in Santa Monica. here below is a transcript of his keynotes.
He addressed the current state and the future of the independent film business and offered a number of observations about his experiences at FOX and Disney.
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2009 FIPRESCI Prize includes Discovery and Special PresentationsFor the 18th consecutive year, the Toronto International Film Festival welcomed the FIPRESCI jury. FIPRESCI is the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique (International Federation of Film Critics). The Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) for Discovery is awarded to Laxmikant Shetgoankar for The Man Beyond the Bridge (India). Far from the sensory overload of India's big cities, Shetgoankar explore...
San Francisco Film Society announced today the ten finalists for the Djerassi Residency Award/San Francisco Film Society Screenwriting Fellowship. The fellowship is part of the Film Society's expanded suite of filmmaker services programs and activities designed to foster creativity and further the careers of independent filmmakers. The Djerassi residency, located 40 miles south of San Francisco in the Santa Cruz Mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean, offers living and studio accommodations and...
by Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor
Each year, FESTROIA shines its spotlight on a different film producing country. This year, it is the turn of the Czech Republic, which has been at the forefront of international filmmaking since its celebrated heyday in the 1960s. One of its best known films of that era, CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS by Jiri Menzel was screened here on Sunday evening, with the 76-year-old director in attendance. A gentle satire on Czech life du...
It was announced today that the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) will present Oscar® winner Roman Polanski with the Festival’s prestigious Golden Eye Award for his life’s work as a film director. The announcement was made today by ZFF Directors Karl Spoerri and Nadja Schildknecht.Roman Polanski is regarded as one of the most unconventional filmmakers of our time and will receive the Golden Eye Award on Sunday, September 27th, as part of ZFF’s ongoing “A Tribute To...” series during the 5th ...
Director: Krisztina GODA.
Gábor is an office cleaner. Wearing overalls and a baseball hat, he seems insignificant. Working on the night shift, Gábor rarely has any contact with his employers, yet he learns everything about them by thoroughly analyzing their garbage. Since he is almost invisible, nobody suspects that Gábor is, in fact, a con man who carefully chooses his victims by the trash they leave behind. His targets are mostly disillusioned, lonely women. In a few months he destroys all their romantic illusions by taking all their savings. Having an unusually high IQ and an ability to assume various personalities, Gábor is an expert in manipulation. When he gets a job at a psychologist's office, Gábor meets Hanna, an injured dancer who happens to be the daughter of a millionaire. Insecure and vulnerable, Hanna seems to be the perfect victim. Gábor pretends to be a doctor who can cure her body and her soul, an irresistible offer for a desperate woman. Everything goes according to plan until Gábor falls in love with Hanna and has to make a hard decision between her and the money.
Director: Manjit K Singh.
“IN EARLY 6TH CENTURY BC A TRADITION WAS BORN.” A GOLDEN NECKLACE OTHERWISE KNOWN AS “MANGALSUTRA” UNITED A BRIDE TO HER GROOM. THIS OLD HINDU TRADITION CONTINUED ON THROUGH THE CENTURIES BONDING HUSBANDS AND WIVES. THE “MANGALSUTRA” HOLDS AN ANCIENT, POWERFUL AURORA THAT SCIENCE CANNOT EXPLAIN. A YOUNG SOUTH ASIAN COUPLE; SHEELA AND HUSBAND BOBBY MOVE INTO A HOME AFTER HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THEIR NEW BUSSINESS. A SACRAFICE FOR THE BETTER FUTURE, SO THEY THOUGHT… SOON AFTER MOVING IN SHEELA BEGINS EXPERIENCING UNEXPLAINABLE EVENTS. SHE HEARS FOOTSTEPS COMING FROM OTHER ROOMS, VOICES, CRYIES…SCREAMS. HUSBAND BOBBY IS TOO BUSY CAUGHT UP IN WORK AND HIS SEXY NEW EMPLOYEE “ALBINA”. WITH HER MARRIAGE IN TROUBLE, AND HER HOUSE IN CAHOS, SHEELA TAKES MATTERS INTO HER OWN HANDS AND BEGINS TO INVESTIAGE THE STRANGE THINGS HAPPENING TO HER. SHEELA MEETS JAY SINGH, A YOUTHFUL LANDLORD WHO JUST TOOK OVER THE FAMILY BUSSINESS. JAY LIVED IN HER HOME WHEN HE WAS A BOY, BUT CANNOT EXPLAIN THE STRANGE THINGS HAPPENING TO SHEELA. JAY SINGH; ALREADY BUSY WITH HIS APARTMENT BUILDING, BEGINS GETTING STRANGE COMPLAINTS FROM SOME OF HIS TENANTS; SIMILAR TO THE WHAT SHEELA WAS EXPERIENCING... IS THE CURSED NECKLACE NOW IN HIS APARTMENT BUILDING? CAN SHEELA BANISH THE SPIRIT FROM HER HOME, AND SAVE HER MARRIAGE? IS JAY SINGH SOMEHOW CONNECTED TO THE CURSE? THE “MANGALSUTRA” IS THIRSTY FOR BLOOD, AND WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO GET WHAT IT TRULY DESIRES…
Here are the results for the 2009 edition of the San Francisco Short Film Festival. To see the complete list of films, visit www.sanfrancisco.filmsfest.com Special Prize to the Best Short FilmCANDY DARLING by SILVIA DEFRANCE - Belgium"Candy Darling" is almost like a fun park ride, but for adults --- a sort of Freudian "Alice in Wonderland", but the landscape is a bit more ominous. A phantasmagoria of images that are at once unsettling, stimulating and darkly comical.Awarded ...
Job Description:
The Transportation
Coordinator will be responsible for evaluating the festival’s logistical needs
The Transportation Coordinator will work with the Travel Coordinator and Office
Manager to develop and facilitate a plan to accommodate those needs in a timely
and safe manner.
Salary: $1,000 for entire period
Job Duties Include:
Recruit and manage a small staff of qualified volunteer
drivers
Manage the us...
FESTIVAL DIRECTOR AND FESTIVAL COORDINATOR REQUIRED Cornwall Film Festival is a vibrant Festival focusing on Cornish filmmaking, offering local and national premieres, master classes, workshops, discussions and parties for everyone from the enthusiast to the professional. The Festival runs from 12th - 15th November 2009 across two venues offering the opportunity to see Cornish Filmmaking at it's best.The Festival requires a Director and a Festival Coordinator to organise the 2009 Cornwall Film ...
ASPEN FILM ASSOCIATE FILM PROGRAMMER
The Associate Film Programmer is a year-round full-time position responsible for assisting in the
programming of Aspen Film’s festivals, film series and presentations. This position also coordinates all
aspects of Aspen Film’s youth and adult education programs. The Associate Film Programmer reports
to the Program Director and works closely with Aspen Film’s Programming staff.
Programming (70%)
Collaborate with Programming team to cr...
by Sandy Mandelberger, Film New York Editor
With the tabloids on both sides of the Atlantic covering the nasty divorce spat between Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his former-actress wife (a spicy melange of adultery, illicit sex with teenage "models" and political corruption), the Italian penchant for soap opera and high drama continues unabated. Our on-going interest and curiosity about all things Italian c...
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#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...
Un Certain Regard opens its doors to a Greek film today, Dogtooth by Yorgos Lanthimos. This second feature, following debut film Kinetta in 2005, portrays a deranged, dysfunctional family cut off from the outside world. Living a recluse existence, the three children have no choice but to abide by the rules their father has imposed. The only person allowed to visit is Christina, an employee at the father’s business, to satisfy the sexual urges of the son…
Yorgos Lanthim...
As of 2nd June 2009, Silke Cecilia Schultz will take over the direction of the communications and press department at Filmfest Hamburg.
Silke Cecilia Schultz (Head of Communications and Press)
Telephone: +49 - (0)40 - 399 19 00-29 or -17
e-mail: presse@filmfesthamburg.de
Filmfest Hamburg GmbH
Steintorweg 4
20099 Hamburg
The office will be occupied as of 2nd June 2009 on weekdays between 10am and 6pm.
Silke Cecilia Schultz works as a freelance scriptwriter in Hamburg. She acc...
As of 2nd June 2009, Silke Cecilia Schultz will take over the direction of the communications and press department at Filmfest Hamburg. Silke Cecilia Schultz works as a freelance scriptwriter in Hamburg. She accompanies prospective scriptwriters as a teacher at Filmschule Hamburg-Berlin where she teaches dramaturgy and film genres. She previously worked as press officer and head of the press association EXPO 2000 Hannover GmbH and was an employee of the Referat Öffentlichkeitsarbeit (lit: dep...
"American Casino" a documentary by Leslie CockburnDirected by level headed Leslie Cockburn, this documentary discusses the subprime mortgage crisis, where 300 mortgage companies have gone out of business since 2006, and the American dream turned nightmare, with up close interviews from people on both sides of the spectrum, Michael Greenberger, Director of Trading, Jeff Greene, a real estate mogul who shorted subprime, an anonymous ex-employee from Bear Sterns who discusses CDO's, or Collateraliz...
Brazilian doc CHILDREN OF THE AMAZON intrigues Viewers at Jules Vernes Adventure Film Festival in PARISChildren of the Amazon follows Brazilian filmmaker Denise Zmekhol as she travels a modern highway deep into the Amazon in search of the Indigenous Surui and Negarote children she photographed fifteen years ago. Part road movie, part time travel, her jour- ney tells the story of what happened to life in the largest forest on Earth when a road was built straight through its heart. For countless...
Denise Zmekhol writes from Paris on AWARDS NIGHT of the Jules Verne Adventure Festival April 27th, 2009 :
Children of the Amazon got two awards last night!!!
Jules Verne Award for Best Picture
Jules Verne Youth Choice Award
Children of the Amazon follows Brazilian filmmaker Denise Zmekhol as she travels a
modern highway deep into the Amazon in search of the Indigenou...
17th Annual Jewish Film FestivalApril 16-26The NW Film Center and the Institute for Judaic Studies present the 17th annual Portland Jewish Film Festival. This year's films, while they express specific Jewish experiences, resonate beyond their cultural settings and speak to experiences and issues that confront our common humanity.
This year's Festival is co-sponsored by the Jewish Review with individual program support from Cedar-Sinai, Neveh Shalom, Mittleman Jewish Community Center, Port...
The Palm Beach International Film Festival (PBIFF) announced its highly anticipated film line-up for the 14th edition, April 23-27, 2009. Executive Director Randi Emerman announced that more than 110 films will screen at this year’s event, which now spans five days. “We’re a little shorter this year, yet we have added more venues, as well as a second weekend featuring the ‘Best of the Fest,” said Emerman. “The festival takes pride in our determination to bring Palm Beach County on...
The 7th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) announces the full schedule of films for the 2009 edition of the popular festival which runs April 21-26, including five feature films making their world premiere, five features making their U.S. premiere, and five features making their L.A. debut.Celebrating its 7th anniversary in a year where Indian cinema has come to the forefront both in the national and international consciousness, IFFLA has firmly established itself as the first an...
The Happy Soul Festival is London’s premier celebration of film and arts dedicated to creating awareness of well-being and mental health within the BME community, where these issues are often stigmatised. The festival runs from March 26th-April 8th and Meera Syal (a patron of the festival), Saeed Jaffrey, Julien Isaac, Bollywood actress and social activist, Shabana Azmi (City of Joy and Fire) Angela Wynter and Richard Blackwood are just a few of the guests taking part in the event. There are...
11th TDF: PRESS CONFERENCE ΤΑΚΙΝG ROOT: ΤΗΕ VISION OF WANGARI MAATHAI – PERSONA NON GRATA – A BLOOMING BUSINESS (3/15/2009)
PRESS CONFERENCE
ΤΑΚΙΝG ROOT: ΤΗΕ VISION OF WANGARI MAATHAI – PERSONA NON GRATA – A BLOOMING BUSINESS
On Sunday, March 15, at noon, the directors Alan Dater and Lisa Merton (Taking Root: The Vision Of Wangari Maathai), Fabio Wuytack (Persona Non Grata) and Ton van Zantvoort (A Blooming Business) g...
The 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by American Express, the founding sponsor of the Festival, today announced its line-up of short films. The Festival received 2463 short film submissions this year, and 46 have been selected for participation to be presented in six thematic programs. Among the highlights is a short narrative written and directed by Tom Everett Scott, as well as a documentary narrated by Richard Gere. Directors making return visits to the Festival include Jason DaSilva, Br...
