The International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg, which will celebrate its 60th anniversary next year, is internationally well regarded and sustains its position as being one of the top 100 film festivals worldwide and as being the festival which exclusively presents films by newcomers.From out of thousands of newcomer films the festival selects only roundabout 30 and is thus driven by a very conscious programming process.„We practically fall in love with each single film. The authors and pr...
Wow! What a place for a film festival! This was a special festival aimed at the discussions and concerns on new world cinema and most importantly, new pan-Arabic cinema.
When I arrived in Bahrain airport and passed through customs, the customs officer asked my reason for heading further for Abu Dhabi. I told him I was to attend the Abu Dhabi film festival for a conference on new Arabic cinema. He laughed in my fa
Executives from Lionsgate, Summit, Mandalay, Lifetime, SyFy, DreamWorks, Disney, Fox, Sony, The Weinstein Company and WME among ParticipantsThe 2010 American Film Market today released a seminar and conference schedule encompassing a broad cross-section of key Hollywood and global players who are converging for the Nov. 3-10 market. Now in its 31st year, the AFM will showcase panels examining film financing, social media, piracy, distribution and marketing. The sessions will include prominent fi...
The International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film - DOK Leipzig - is the largest German and one of the leading international festivals for artistic documentary and animated films.
It was founded in 1955 by the 'club of film-makers of the German Democratic Republic' (Club der Filmschaffenden der DDR) under the title "All-German Leipzig Week for Cultural and Documentary Film", as the first independent film festival of the GDR. During the Cold War, the festi...
After touring the globe for the past two years, DJ Spooky arrives in Eastern Europe. His visual/music extravaganza REBIRTH OF A NATION serves as the Opening Night attraction for the inaugural American Film Festival, a new film event that launches on Wednesday evening in Wroclaw, Poland. The man himself will be there to both orchestrate the film presentation and to mix sounds at the film's after-party at the chic Club Eter, where dancing will certainly continue into the wee hou...
SHEFFIELD DOC/FEST 3-7 November 2010www.sheffdocfest.com Among the 130 film line-up at this year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest - which includes 15 World Premieres, 26 UK Premieres, 5 European Premieres and 1 International Premiere - are 3 feature docs which look at the art of cinema. Belair (UK Prem) (Brazil 2009 Dirs Noa Bressane and Bruno Safadi 80min)THURS 04 NOV / 14:15 Noa Bressane and Bruno Safadi’s Belair is about an extraordinary chapter in Brazil’s cinematic history. At a film festival in...
Film fans from near and far should note down a date in their calendars: Between November 12 and November 21, 2010, exground filmfest in Wiesbaden – one of Germany‘s most important independent festivals – presents 220 highlights from the current range of independently produced short and feature films. These were selected from more than 2000 submissions from 89 countries, from Algeria to Zimbabwe. Among them are 8 world premieres, 3 international premieres, 8 Europe premieres, and 33 Germa...
With documentaries showing considerable muscle at the box office, the New York Film Festival is highlighting some documentary films that will be the subject of discussion for months to come. Opening in theaters later this week but featured first at the Festival is INSIDE JOB, a blistering look at the worldwide economic crisis and the secrets and lies that have brought free market capitalism to the brink of disaster.
Tackling a very New York subject, the tension between developm...
By Liza ForemanThe 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced another eight films for the competition section.The films in the competition section will be competing for six awards, including the prestigious “Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix.” The winners will be announced at the festival's Closing Ceremony on October 31st.The Competition So Far -“Beautiful Boy” - U.S.ADirectors: Shawn KuA shooting massacres in a college. Parents fear their son's safety, but the news they receive ...
The revolution in Romanian cinema that began several years ago with the astonishingly original films THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU (2005), 12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST (2006) and 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS (2007), continues to flex its muscle, with a strong showing at the New York Film Festival, which opened this past weekend.
Three extraordinary films from Romania will be featured at the Festival, New York's most prestigious film event. AURORA, the latest effort from director Cristi Puiu...
kinotok VincereVi
As Closing Night film, before the awarding of the single "Audience Award", To Win or VINCERE by Marco Bellocchio, will be shown in the open-air theatre by the Palazzo in ISOLA. The controversial subject of the film is Benito Mussolini and the period of Fascism.
But with a special approach since the director relates the Dictator's relationship to his first wife Ida Dalser and the voraceously ambitious Italian husband who sacrificed her, havi...
With roughly half of the films premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival tracing back to Europe (either as co-productions or stand-alones from their country of origin), Europe certainly has a strong presence here. This has been enhanced by the inauguration of the Producers Lab Toronto, a new initiative by European Film Promotion (www.efp-online.com), the pan-European promotion agency and the Ontario Media Development Corporation (www.omdc.on.ca), wit...
This morning, the press launch for the 54th BFI London Film Festival took place in Leicester Square. As usual, Amanda Nevill, the director of the BFI gave a thank you speech for all the sponsors, old and new, volunteers and benefactors of the festival. She also pointed out that, although the world is not in the best of financial situations, this year we will have a great selection of films demonstrating the importance of the continual of the survival of this industry in the world. Sand...
The programme for the 54th BFI London Film Festival, launched today by Artistic Director Sandra Hebron, showcases an array of highly anticipated films by both established and emerging talent from around the world. A particularly strong feature this year is the selection of British films including the previously announced Opening and Closing Night Galas. Over 16 days the festival will screen a total of 197 features and 112 shorts, including 11 World, 23 International and 33 European premieres, ma...
Mohamed Al-Daradji's SON OF BABYLON (NPP Project 2008) has been chosen as the official closing film of the 30th Netherlands Film Festival. The Dutch/English/Iraqi coproduction tells the story of a boy who, together with his grandmother, goes to search for his father who has never returned from the war. The presentation on 30 September within Utrecht's Cinema Rembrandt will mark the film's Dutch Premiere. SON OF BABYLONMohamed Al-Daradji's SON OF BABYLON (NPP Project 2008) has been chosen as ...
Emmanuel Itier provokes in “The Invocation” by Ron Gilbert Emmanuel and I sat down in his suite at the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood to discuss his journey. I have known him for over 20 years and after seeing his film, The Invocation, I discovered what I didn’t know about him. So we let the fur fly on this interview and there were no holds barred. RGEmmanuel I just want you to know that since we are very close friends you can let me know about anything that you do not want me to pu...
Banned by the Cambodian authorities, the documentary “Who Killed Chea Vichea?” investigates the 2004 assassination of labor leader Chea Vichea.
As president of the Free Trade Union, Cambodia’s largest labor organization, Vichea was widely admired for his tireless fight to increase wages and improve working conditions for his members.
It was a dangerous job which often brought him into conflict with powerful people and institutions, but despite numerous beatings, ...
"Emmanuel Itier provokes in “The Invocation” by Ron Gilbert Emmanuel and I satdown in his suite at the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood to discuss his journey. I have known him for over 20 yearsand after seeing his film, The Invocation, I discovered what I didn’t knowabout him. So we let the fur fly on this interview and there were no holdsbarred. RGEmmanuel I just wantyou to know that since we are very close friends you can let me know aboutanything that you do not want me to pu...
Estes Park Film Festival To Honor Actor Art LaFleur With A Lifetime achievement AwardOrganizers of the Estes Park Film Festival recently announced that actor Art LaFleur will be the featured guest at the 5th annual event. Considered one of the greatest character actors in Hollywood, Art LaFleur has an extensive body of work in both film and television.A native of Gary, Indiana, LaFleur may be best-known for his performance as baseball player Babe Ruth in The Sandlot. LaFleur also appeared as b...
by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent Documentary films are supposed to wake us up -- usually to some strange sub-culture (read: the world of Baby Beauty Pageants or Professional Eating Contests) -- to give a glimpse at how remarkably bizarre human beings can be. Typically with films, we're allowed to become voyeurs, stare agape at the amusing spectacle of mankind. Not so with TORN FROM THE FLAG, filmmaker Klaudia Kovacs' chronicle of the 1956 October Revolution in Hungary that...
Sholay (Embers) PHILIPJI --I watched the complete Sholay last night, and can easily see why it is such a landmark film in India,but --if you are not familiar with the iconic personalties of Amitji, Dharamji, Sanjeev Kumar, and Hema Malini -- it would just be a long Spaghetti Western with Masala sauce, fairly primitive in parts (Like the unerring accuracy of the shots by the dynamic Duo --every single shot drops ...
Next week The Sicilian Girl (2009) by director Marco Amenta starring Veronica D'Agostino and Gerard Jugnot will open in theaters in the U.S. The Sicilian Girl is a based on the true story of Rita Atria, a teenaged girl born into the Cosa Nostra who rebelled against the mafia as a witness in Italian courts to avange her father's death. It is a riveting dramatic thriller that has received international acclaim.
I saw The Sicilian Girl in Palm Springs, California when Amenta screened h...
Rob Marshall's Nine (2009) appears to be one of those movies that people walk away from either loving or hating. When I saw it in Palm Springs with Rob Marhsall on panel, I took the opportunity to pose him some of my curious questions regarding his follow up to one of my favorite films ever, Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 (1963).
When Rob entered the room he stood back and regarded the panel chairs in the right corner of the room and shook his head, dissatisfied. He picked up...
The line-up of films for the fifth annual trinidad+tobago film festival, which takes place from September 22 to October 5, has been confirmed. As ever, the festival will be showcasing the best in Caribbean and Caribbean Diaspora films, as well as films from Latin America countries in the Caribbean basin. The festival screens feature-length narrative and documentary films, and also short films.
One of the most anticipated films in this year's line-up is Moloch Tropical, the ...
Manhattan Film Festival (www.manhattanfilmfestival.org), has filed suit in New York Supreme Court against both the Tribeca Film Festival and the Tribeca Cinemas. Complaint number 650754/2010 alleges the defendants practiced unfair competition by misappropriating the Manhattan Film Festival’s Virtual Film Festival concept. In 2010, the Tribeca Film Festival launched “Tribeca Film Festival Virtual.” The virtual festival included real-time chat with fellow film enthusiasts, live filmmaker Q &...
