The 25th Istanbul International Film Festival celebrated its Silver Anniversary by hosting a bevy of French Stars (Jeanne Moreau, Gerard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve) and presenting a marathon review of world and, especially, Turkish cinema during the two and a half week run from April 1 to April 17. The fest opened on a slightly sour note when French superstar Alain Delon, invited to receive a life time award on opening night, pulled a No-Show for "very personal reasons". Actress Isabelle ...

Somehow eight days of compact quality cinema viewing have slipped by, the main problem being how to find some time to write at least some of it down between widely spaced out screenings. Downtown Valladolid is a tricky maze of narrow streets with sixteenth century churches at every turn, but fortunately, with an extremely friendly populace willing to steer you straight every time you get lost -- on average, three times a day -- but what a nice city to get lost in! The festival is centred at the...