Fifth time on Sarajevo Film Festival well known British film director once again proves his visits. Well, he's not a man for celebrity glamour. In life as in his films, he likes to keep things real and he is very English.-“It is a special place and there are number of reasons. Generally I think Sarajevo is a unique kind of place. The festival was born out of extraordinary tragedy and no other festival that I am aware has it. The nature of the city is very energetic and I find it very enriching...
Gavras was here again in 2002 with the hard-hitting and under-rated “Amen” which tells the story of papal collusion in the German mass murder of the Jews. The poster for that film, showing a cross and a Swastika intertwined, was even more controversial than the film itself. In short, Costa-Gavras is no stranger to this long-running festival. An interesting sidelight on the this Grecian born director’s name: He was actually born in Greece in 1933 under the name of Konstantinos Gavras,...
Wednesday, March 19------Acclaimed UK director Mike Leigh will be honored with inaugural Founder's Directing Award at the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival (24 April-8 May). The Founder's Award will be presented to Leigh at the Film Society Awards Night, the annual benefit gala, on Thursday, 1 May at the Westin St. Francis Hotel.The Founder's Directing Award is presented each year to one of the masters of world cinema and is given in memory of Irving M. Levin, who founded the San ...
The star-studded international competition judgment panel under the baton of celebrated Greco-French director Constantine Costa-Gavras was reduced to a Sextet when Danish ace director, Susan Bier, and top drawer French actress, Sandrine Bonnaire, both announced their enforced withdrawal from jury duty due to inescapable commitments elsewhere. In Bier's case it was a sudden need to visit the location of the next movie she's shooting, while Bonnaire submitted her regrets due to "personal fami...
The star-studded international competition judgment panel under the baton of celebrated Greco-French director Constantine Costa-Gavras was reduced to a Sextet when Danish ace director, Susan Bier, and top drawer French actress, Sandrine Bonnaire, both announced their enforced withdrawal from jury duty due to inescapable commitments elsewhere. In Bier's case it was a sudden need to visit the location of the next movie she’s shooting, while Bonnaire submitted her regrets due to "personal family ...
ALEX'S FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS -- ANNO 2005 WITH A MERRY X-MAS TO ALL! 1.TROMSO, January -- A fantastic place to open the festival year if you love snow and don't mind fifteen minutes of daylight, MAX ...in January. That was just a joke, folks -- by late January you get almost a whole hour of sunlight -- around eleven AM -- but really, who needs it? ...when fest topper, irrepressible Norskie-American MARTHA OTTE, is guaranteed to provide a slate of such interesting films that you'll spend th...
The International Istanbul Film Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, has kicked off with Charles Dance's film Ladies in Lavender. The festival will run April 2nd to 17th, 2005. The Festival will show approximately 170 films from 62 countries. Among these films will be some brand new films that participated in world-acclaimed festivals last year and were appreciated and greatly honoured with awards, as well as unforgettable cinema classics and masterpieces from the...
ISTANBUL FILM FESTIVAL IS FULL UP THIS YEAR!The International Istanbul Film Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, is approaching with full speed. The 24th International Istanbul Film Festival sponsored by AKBANK will be replete with some of the most striking, newest and world-class films, special screenings, guest stars and chats with masters of cinema from April 2nd to 17th, 2005. Once again, the Festival will practically lock film-lovers into the movie-theaters i...
TROMSO FESTIVAL IS THE CURTAIN RAISER OF THE EUROPEAN FILMFEST SEASON -- The Tromso film festival, located in extreme Northern Norway, precisely six degrees above the Arctic Circle, is not only the Northernmost accredited film festival in the world, but also the first international film festival on the annual Europen calendar, preceding Gotteburg and Rotterdam which come later in the month. This will be the fifteenth installment of this unusual midwinter film fest under the Northern Lights an...
SOUTHEASTERN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION LEANS 'SIDEWAYS'The wine-fueled comedy-drama "Sideways" has harvested top honors from the Southeastern Film Critics Association. The road movie in which two old friends argue over wine and women was named Best Picture in the 13th annual SEFCA vote. "Sideways" also won for director Alexander Payne, supporting actor Thomas Haden Church, supporting actress Virginia Madsen and its screenplay, which was adapted by Payne and Jim Taylor from Rex Pickett's novel. P...
The 8th Annual Hollywood Film Festival's "Hollywood Awards" ceremony, honoring independent filmmakers and established Hollywood professionals, was held October 18 before a standing-room-only audience of over 1,200 Hollywood Film Festival attendees at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Special honors went to Newmarket Films' President Bob Berney, film preservation leader Robert Rosen, actor John Travolta, actor Leonardo DiCaprio, actress Annette Bening, director Michael Mann, producer Mel...
The Hollywood EUROPEAN Awards(tm) presented by Filmfestivals.com and the Hollywood Film Festival covers films from Europe. An Initiative from the Festival's founder Carlos de Abreu with Paula Wagner and Bruno Chatelin.The ten nominees in alphabetical order are "5x2" (France) directed by Francois Ozon, "Bad Education" (Spain) by Pedro Almodovar, "The Consequences Of Love" (Italy)directed by Paolo Sorrentino, "Head-On" (Germany/Turkey) directed by Faith Akin, "A Hole In My Heart" (Sweden) directe...
JAOUI OPENS NEW YORK FILM FESTIVALThe 42nd edition of the New York Film Festival opened this past weekend, with one of its most diverse and anticipated slates in recent years. Featuring an exciting mix of the new works of acknowledged film masters and fresh discoveries, the Festival, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, is generally acknowledged as the crown jewel of film events in a city that boasts more than 25 film festivals during the year. “It is the gold standard as far as Ne...
Mike Leigh's "Vera Drake" won the coveted "Leone d’Oro" - Golden Lion - at the 61st Venice International Film Festival, presided over by John Boorman, jury president. The awards were announced at the closing ceremony September 11. Imelda Staunton who plays Vera Drake, a midwife in the 1950's prosecuted for "helping young girls and women in trouble" won the Coppa Volpi, best actress award. There is an irony in the award of the Golden Lion to Mike Leigh's "Vera Drake". Tod Solondz "Palindro...
