by Sandy Mandelberger, Online Dailies Editor The avant-gardist Lydia Lunch, whose varied career has ranged from punk music to indie film acting, will kick off the music events of the Festival at a special concert following the Opening Night Gala screening of THE WHITE RIBBON, the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or winner by Austrian auteur Michael Haneke.   Lunch has been called “one of the most influential performers of the age” by the Boston Phoenix newspaper....

Interview with Mandy Stein, Marky Ramone, and Bob Gruen, "Burning Down the House: Story of CBGB"The happy and proud director, Mandy Stein, dedicated "Burning Down The House: The Story of CBGB" to her mother, and manager of "The Ramones", Linda Stein, as she stated, "it would have been her birthday today". (Linda was murdered October 30, 2007 in her home)Interview with Mandy Stein:Sharon Abella: Where did your footage come from? Mandy Stein: "All different places, but Amos Poe, I'd always kno...

The New Haven Underground Film Festival Selection Committee has determined “round one” (of two) of its 2007 lineup. “We’ve been doing this long enough to see that things come in waves and, this year, of the hundreds of entries we received, the documentary standouts were about great Rock ‘n’ Roll and Hip Hop acts. So this year’s theme pretty much took care of itself,” said festival Co-Director, Michael Mongillo. “The Year of Rock” docs are: “Get Thrashed” (99 min.) traces ...

Yesterday afternoon I was lucky enough to be handed an invitation to the final screening of the documentary, "Punk's Not Dead," directed by Susan Dynner, showing in a small viewing room at the Grey d'Albion Hotel around the corner from the Palais des Festivals. Somewhat reminiscent of vh1's 3Behind the Music" shows, the film was well paced, informative, humurous, and of course had an awesome soundtrack. Starting with the roots of Punk Rock in the late 70's/early 80's, they analyze the history of...

The New York International Independent Film and Video Festival (NYIIFVF) proudly returns to Manhattan for eleven days of screenings, premieres, performances, panels and parties. The festivities kick off on November 11th at 7 p.m. with an opening night party at Club Spirit (530 West 27th Street) and runs through November 21st at the Village East Cinema (181 2nd Ave at 12th Street). The festival, which is now recognized as the largest event on the independent circuit, will showcase more than 350 f...