The Cine Las Americas International Film Festival presented awards to winning films Sunday evening at a ceremony at the Regal Metropolitan Theater in South Austin. The documentary and dramatic film jury panels named the best films in five categories and awarded special jury mentions to three films. Two audience awards were granted in the categories of Best First Feature Film and Best Documentary Feature Film.DOCUMENTARY FILM AWARDSJury Award for Best Documentary Feature: Relatos desde el encie...
AMERICAN INDIES TANGO IN BUENOS AIRESBy Sandy Mandelberger, Special Events EditorThe 7th edition of the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI) is in full swing, and among the 300 plus films is a heady mix of American independent talents. Known as the Sundance of South America, the Festival is devoted to showcasing quirky, individualistic cinema from Europe, Asia, Latin America and, increasingly, the US.While the focus on indie cinema makes the Sundance reference an e...
TOP AUDIENCE AWARD GOES TO HARI OM JURY GRAND PRIZE WINNER IS BLACK FRIDAYThe Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles concluded Sunday night with HARI OM, director Bharatbala was in attendance, at ArcLight Hollywood with a Gala reception at SIR that included performances by Taal Dance Company, international renowned world music artist Girish, and an eclectic DJ set by Tej Gill, one of LA's emerging South Asian artists.Although official attendance figures are still being tabulated, festival organizer...
X|Media|Lab Professional Day Conference - June 15th X|Media|Lab International Lab - June 16-17th X|Media|Lab (and the Pro Day Conference) will take place June 15-17th at the Singapore Exhibition Centre alongside the huge Broadcast Asia trade show which also includes summits on Digital Broadcasting, Digital Cinema, Interactive Television, Mobile Content, Animation, Computer Graphics, and Games.The theme for the first X|Media|Lab in Singapore is primarily for companies and project teams developing...
The 12th Annual New York African Film Festival April 20th through April 28th, 2005The African Film Festival, Inc. has just opened the Twelfth New York African Film Festival, which will showcase 24 films from 12 countries, including a number of whose national cinema are mostly unknown to US audiences, such as Niger, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Angola and Mozambique. The astonishing variety of themes and styles presented in this year’s program are indicative of the diversity of Africa, reflecting the poet...
NICOLE KIDMAN AND SEAN PENN STAR IN LATEST FROM FILMMAKER SYDNEY POLLACKA special premiere of Universal Pictures’/Working Title Films’ thriller The Interpreter—the latest from Academy Award®- winning director Sydney Pollack and Oscar® winners Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn—is slated to open the fourth annual Tribeca Film Festival, with a screening at Manhattan’s Ziegfeld Theater on April 19. The screening will be held in association with the United Nations, whose officials allowed unpre...
MIP TV Update: New Technologies Fire Warning Shot at BroadcastersAd-Skipping Could Cause Losses of $27 Billion in Next Five YearsNew research suggests greater DVR impact than previously thought, according to new research released today by Accenture, a New York-headquartered management and technology consultancy firm. Their report predicts that ad skipping through devices like Tivo and other PVR’s (personal video recorders) plus VOD (video on demand) could cost the TV industry $27 billion in l...
The Asia Society presented the third annual three-day South Asia Human Rights Festival from April 7- 9, 2005 for a receptive audience . Undoubtedly reinforcing the viewers’ concern for extensive past and present human rights violations, the organizers succeeded in selecting productions which linked South East Asian issues to problems faced by advanced industrial societies as well. Thus the productions included the first Indian feature film on HIV/AIDS, Phir MiLinge / We will meet again by R...
38th WORLDFEST-HOUSTON BRINGS FILMMAKERS TO TOWN! "One of this year's visiting filmmakers may be next year's Hollywood success story." Kathleen Haney, WorldFest Artistic and Program Director," FORGET SUNDANCE! WorldFest is one of the best conceived festival productions on the planet!" Craig Outhier, film critic, Phoenix press; Tempe Times. Upon Accepting his Remi Award in 1984, Ridley Scott said "WorldFest is in the business of validating excellence!" The 38th Annual WorldFest-Houston Internatio...
Beverly Hills Film Festival’s Quaint Air Premieres “House of D” and “Mr. Dramatic” April 13-17 The Beverly Hills Film Festival opened last night with David Duchovny’s directorial debut, “House of D”, preceded by John Stalberg’s “Mr. Dramatic” Los Angeles premiere, starring Oliver Hudson and Amy Acker. After a red carpet ride with such stars as Carol Connors, “Rocky” lyricist; Peter Mark Richman of “Dynasty” and “The Naked Gun 21/2” Fame; television perso...
L’International du Cinéma Hip Hop de MontréalAaaahh! Finally, Montréal will host its first International Hip Hop Film Festival.Montréal, April 10th 2005 - You've heard its Music. You've seen its Fashion. You've borrowed its Thesaurus.Next May18th -22nd, you'll experience its Cinema as the City will host the first Montréal International Hip Hop Film Festival.Cities from Barcelona to Vancouver & New York to Brisbane host annual Hip Hop Film Festivals.L’International du Cinéma Hip Hop de ...
President Clinton and media leaders at MIP TV will exchange ideas on combating HIV/AIDS President William J. Clinton will address more than three dozen media leaders from around the world, gathered in Cannes forMIPTV and MILIA, France, at a UN-organized meeting, to explore ways they can combine their efforts to fight AIDS. He will join the gathering though a satellite link from United Nations Headquarters in New York on 12 April at 8am New York time, 2pm Cannes time. President Clinton will talk...
The 8th Cine Las Americas International Film Festival presents the first Cine Las Americas Conference from April 18-19, in partnership with the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) and the University of Texas at Austin.The conference offers four different panels on themes related to filmmaking and the role of Latinos in the film industry. Evening screenings of films by panelists will complement the panel discussions. All conference activities are free of charge.The pane...
NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL RETURNS TO MANHATTAN THIS SPRING!The New York International Independent Film and Video Festival (NYIIFVF) returns to Manhattan for eight days of screenings, premieres, music performances, seminar panels and parties. Sister festivals, The New York International Music Festival (NYIMF) and New York International Art Festival (NYIAF) will also join NYIIFVF this spring. The festivities kick off on April 28th at 7 p.m. with an opening night p...
The 38th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival continues its fully dedicated Independent Film screening format for the upcoming April 22 - May 1, 2005 unspooling. WorldFest will screen 49 feature film premieres, with an exclusive emphasis on American and International Independent feature films and with a continuing annual spotlight on 100 award-winning short films and documentary films. 50 New Indie Features and 104 Award-Winning Shorts!WorldFest Artistic and Program Director, Kat...
The PALINDROMES Interview by Craig ParishSolondzian Cruelty: No Such ThingLike a Palindrome the world turns in on itself, unchanged and unchanging. Director Todd Solondz still lives alone in the same place he did 10 years before WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE stormed Sundance in 1995.“Free will is an illusion but limitations are liberating” - TSBorn in 1959 in Newark, NJ, Solondz studied at NYU Film School and made severalshort films, one of which turned studio heads at 20th Century Fox. The upsi...
RIPFest is a guerrilla filmmaking event wherein professional filmmakers who have never worked together are given sixteen days to collaborate on and create six original ten-minute films from scratch. RIPFest #6 will be all Movie Musicals. Raw Impressions, is the only company in the world to have an annual program designed to create Movie Musicals directly for the screen. For RIPFest #6, half the films will be created in NY the other half in LA. All films will be screened on both coasts, premie...
NEW DIRECTORS, NEW FILMS: A GLOBAL VIEWThe 34th edition of New Directors/New Films, one of New York’s film highlights, opened this past weekend, another sign of a long delayed Spring for a city that has suffered through one of its coldest winters in fifty years. Anticipation is high among the city’s intrepid film adventurers, not only for the films themselves, but for their (partial) presentation at the expensively refurbished Museum of Modern Art (which just opened in November after a sixty...
The 7th annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival OUR CLOSING NIGHT GALA EXTRAVAGANZA?Sunday, May 1st 7:00pmByron-Carlyle Theater, Miami BeachCRAIG CHESTERPARKER POSEYMALCOM GETSCHRIS KATTANSALLY KIRKLANDJULIE HAGGERTYMELINDA DILLONinADAM & STEVE: a film by CRAIG CHESTERWorking in the comic-confessional memoir vein made popular by David Sedaris and Augusten Burroughs, out Hollywood actor Craig Chester (Swoon, Grief, Frisk) sublimely navigated a mid-career gear-shift 2 years ago when he published ...
Martin Scorsese To Attend 2005 Full Frame Documentary Film FestivalAcclaimed director Martin Scorsese plans to attend this year's Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina, April 7-10, 2005.At Full Frame, Scorsese will lead a tribute to Italian documentary filmmaker Vittorio De Seta. The Sicilian master made nine short documentaries in the 1950s documenting Sicilian and Sardinian life in his distinctively poetic style. Full Frame will screen all nine short documentaries by D...
The London Gay and Lesbian Film Festival runs March 30- April 13th. Opening film is:Prey for Rock & Roll (USA, 2003), starring the queen of gender bending, Gina Gershon. (USA, 2004) Mysterious Skin by Greg Araki (USA, 2004) closes, which had its world premiere in the Horizontal section at Venice 2004. One of the largest gay and lesbian film festivals, the London event tries to accord equal representation for the latest films by gays and lesbians. US/UK films predominate the selection, and there ...
World Premiere of “When Do We Eat?” opens the fest U.S. Premiere of “Checking Out” to closeOver 150 films headline fest with 11 World PremieresOver a 150 diverse films will screen at the Palm Beach International Film Festival event, including features, documentaries and shorts. The eight-day Fest will introduce 11 world premieres, 6 U.S. premieres and 43 Florida premieres, including 30 international films.“This is an exciting year for us--we have reached the milestone of our 10th anni...
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 29th CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (CIFF)MARCH 10-20, 2005Attendance of 43,000 (almost a 10% increase over last year)Biggest Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday attendance ever.Biggest single attendance ever on Saturday, March 19th – 5,584 breaking the record of 5,281 on the second Saturday in 2001 (the 25th anniversary).28 sold-out screenings105 feature films80 short subjects 50 countries of origin65 visiting filmmakers and other guests from around the worldOver ...
BERMUDA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2005 LINEUP“THE UPSIDE OF ANGER” and “MAD HOT BALLROOM” OPEN and CLOSE MICHAEL WINTERBOTTOM TO BE “FILMAKER IN FOCUS” Showcasing a film line-up as rich and eclectic as the culture of the island itself, the Bermuda International Film Festival will welcome visitors for the 8th annual Fest, March 18-24. . The Bermuda International Film Festival invites influences from around the world with films that will compete for Best Feature from the ...
FRENCH CINEMA HEATS UP SNOWY NEW YORKWhile winter continues to hold a grip on New York City just days away from the official start of Spring, the scent of optimism, passion and love is palpable, as the annual Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, an exquisite showcase of the finest films from la Belle France, begins this weekend at New York’s Lincoln Center.New York has had a long love affair with French cinema. From the pre-war classics of Jean Renoir, Jean Vigo and Marcel Carne, the film noir oeuv...