Alien: Covenant, Review by Siraj Syed: Paradise morphed Five years after Prometheus, this film is the second instalment in the Alien prequel series, and the sixth one in the Alien film series, as well as the third one to be directed by Ridley Scott. Prometheus was his second directorial effort in the series. He was 42 when he directed Alien (1979) and is in his 79th year, when Covenant is releasing. Imagine making a prequel 38 years after the original! Alien Covenant is an interesting film in...

  Justin Kelly - I am Michael, 2015 US - Interview by Martin I. Petrov    Justin Kelly is an American writer and director, who has mainly directed music videos before entering the film industry with several short films. I am Michael is his first feature film that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and it was part of the Berlinale Panorama. The film tells the story of a gay activist and writer, who suddenly turned to religion, developing a theory against ho...

  Justin Kelly - I am Michael, 2015 US - Interview   Justin Kelly is an American writer and director, who has mainly directed music videos before entering the film industry with several short films. I am Michael is his first feature film that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and it was part of the Berlinale Panorama. The film tells the story of a gay activist and writer, who suddenly turned to religion, developing a theory against homosexuality and is starring...

By Adrienne Papp  The Executive Board of the International Press Academy announced Tuesday (Dec. 23) that it applauds and commends Sony Pictures for announcing the release of the comedy film The Interview on Christmas Day. The board also acknowledges and thanks actor-writer-director George Clooney for spearheading the fight for Freedom of the Press and Free Speech among the Hollywood community. In 2005, the IPA...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent UPDATED: SONY Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton was slated to give his “All Hands” speech* this week about the Sony Hack, whereby on or about 11/24, “hackers” opened 38,000 documents with private employee and performance data to the world via web releases on Fusion and BitTorrent, among other sites. The details of the data breach are astounding, and point to major security flaws in SONY security. But this latest infractio...

One of the themes at this year's DIFF is sexual identities and it certainly has stirred up a lot of interest. The day  will be remembered for two reasons: seeing three sex films (sexual identities sounds too sterile) and the technical problems at Musgrave Centre with films getting cancelled and the festival's reputation on the line. The day had the feeling of a G&L filmfest as I saw I am Divine and Interior. Leather Bar, James Franco's weird but ste...

I don't know what's more uncomfortable - the balmy 30 Celsius in winter and uncertainty after the banning of the opening film at DIFF. The organisers will appeal the banning at the Constitutional Court, but I can't stop myself from thinking what's next. I attended two screenings on Day 2. In previous years I had never thought of interference from anybody in the choice of films screened , and now I can't help thinking that almost 90% of the...

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By Maria Esteves – January 26, 2011 The 83rd Academy Award Nominations were announced by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) President Tom Sherak and 2009 Academy Award winner for supporting actress Mo'Nique in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," on Tuesday, January 25, 2011. The King's Speech, directed by Tom Hooper received twelve Oscar nominations including best picture, best director, best actor, and best supporting actor. True Grit, directed...

One of the anticipated titles having its International Premiere at the Berlinale today is HOWL, one of the hits of last month's Sundance Film Festival. More than 50 years after its initial publication, the tone poem HOWL is still a shocking bit of humanism, a cry for tolerance and a yell for individual self-expression. The poem's author, the beat poet Allen Ginsberg, remained a controversial figure his entire life. The impact of this envelope-pushing literary classic and the bohemian ph...

 Thursday, May 3--------Sometimes a Festival, certainly one that has the scope of the Tribeca Film Festival, comes out with unexpected themes that have not necessarily been planned or anticipated. Such a mini-trend in this year's program are films that are directed by people who are mainly known for their acting work. Following in the footsteps of Robert Redford, Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson, Penny Marshall, Al Pacino, Sydney Pollock, Paul Mazursky and many, many others, actors are finding ...