Ah, New York City in the 1970s......while the city was crumbling into a cesspool of urban decay, vigilante violence and moral morass (with the federal government looking away while the city declared bankruptcy), the art underground was, in fact, in full flower. This paradox (or not nearly one, if one contemplates other times and places where the social environment was in chaos and the artistic output was intense, say Berlin in the 1920s) is the focus of several films that are curre...

The Woodstock Film Festival, hailed as the most fiercely independent of regional events, wrapped its 11th edition this weekend with the Maverick Awards Ceremony that honored films and filmmakers in competition, as well as bestowing achievement awards to a diverse group of film luminaries. The sparkling event was held on Saturday evening at the historic Backstage Studio Productions Arts & Entertainment Complex in Kingston, New York. Emceed by Academy-award nominated writer/director and Woodstock ...

  STRANGER THINGS (Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal, US/UK)    The Woodstock Film Festival, hailed as the most fiercely independent of regional events, wrapped its 11th edition this weekend with the Maverick Awards Ceremony that honored films and filmmakers in competition, as well as bestowing achievement awards to a diverse group of film luminaries. The sparkling event was held on Saturday evening at the historic Backstage Studio Productions Arts & Entertainment Co...

The jury of the International Competition Section of the 50th Thessaloniki Film Festival comprised of: Theo Angelopoulos, Director (Greece), President Lissy Bellaiche, Sales agent for the I/S Danish Film Producers (Denmark) Mirjana Karanovic, Actress (Serbia) Eugenio Caballero, Production designer (Mexico) Lav Diaz, Director (Philippines) Gyorgi Palfi, Director (Hungary) and Amos Poe, Director (USA) THE AWARDS Best Feature Film Award - Golden Alexander (40.000...

Interview with Mandy Stein, Marky Ramone, and Bob Gruen, "Burning Down the House: Story of CBGB"The happy and proud director, Mandy Stein, dedicated "Burning Down The House: The Story of CBGB" to her mother, and manager of "The Ramones", Linda Stein, as she stated, "it would have been her birthday today". (Linda was murdered October 30, 2007 in her home)Interview with Mandy Stein:Sharon Abella: Where did your footage come from? Mandy Stein: "All different places, but Amos Poe, I'd always kno...

The happy and proud director, Mandy Stein, dedicated "Burning Down The House: The Story of CBGB" to her mother, and manager of "The Ramones", Linda Stein, as she stated, "it would have been her birthday today".   (Linda was murdered October 30, 2007 in her home)_________________Interview with Mandy Stein:Sharon Abella: Where did your footage come from?  Mandy Stein:  "All different places, but Amos Poe, I'd always known about his footage, which is beautiful,...

It is not as unusual as it may at first sound…..a filmmaker with over 40 years of experience and over 25 films in the can is lionized in Europe but underappreciated in his home country. That has been the fate of many of the original American indies of the 1970s, including such celebrated auteurs as Jim Jarmusch, Hal Hartley, Amos Poe and Susan Seidelman, and a more recent crop that includes Harmony Korine and Todd Solondz. Most prominently on this list is the idiosyncratic filmmaker Abel Ferra...

  Thursday, March 12-----It is not as unusual as it may at first sound…..a filmmaker with over 40 years of experience and over 25 films in the can is lionized in Europe but underappreciated in his home country. That has been the fate of many of the original American indies of the 1970s, including such celebrated auteurs as Jim Jarmusch, Hal Hartley, Amos Poe and Susan Seidelman, and a more recent crop that includes Harmony Korine and Todd Solondz. Most prominently on this list is the idi...

The 2009 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by American Express, the founding sponsor of the Festival, today announced its remaining out-of-competition feature film selections in the Encounters, Spotlight, Showcase, Restored/Rediscovered and Midnight sections. The 2009 Tribeca Film Festival will take place from April 22 to May 3, 2009 in lower Manhattan and will feature not only film screenings, but also an array of free community events designed to share the Festival experience with as many New Y...

Although the Competition was finely tuned with new films by Atom Egoyan, from Hungary and around the globe,it is just one of several parallel programmes vieing for attention in Gent: Festival Previews (including a pre-festival curtain-raiser of Woody Allen's latest, Vicky Cristina Barcelona), culled from other festivals but with Belgian distibution imported some international glamour, such as Woody Harrelson (with Transiberia) and Walter Salles(introducing Linha de Passe); World Cinema (with sel...

 Although the Competition was finely tuned with new films by Atom Egoyan, from Hungary and around the globe,it is just one of several parallel programmes vieing for attention in Gent: Festival Previews (including a pre-festival curtain-raiser of Woody Allen's latest, Vicky Cristina Barcelona),culled from other festivals but with Belgian distibution  imported some international glamour, such as Woody Harrelson(with Transiberia) and Walter Salles(introducing Linha de Passe);World Cinema (with...

  Friday, October 17--------Actress-turned-director Amy Redford (yes, she is the daughter of the famous Sundance guy Robert Redford), will host the East Coast Premiere of her feature film directorial debut The Guitar at the Hamptons International Film Festival this weekend.   The film, which had its World Premiere (appropriately enough) at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, had recent strong showings at the Karolvy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic and the Rio...

In its third and final feature film announcement, the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by American Express, today released the line-up for its Spotlight, Showcase and Restored/Rediscovered sections along with its Special Events for the seventh annual Festival. The Festival will take place April 23 – May 4, 2008 in Lower Manhattan. “Our Spotlight section presents a group of films already acquired for U.S. distribution but not yet released, including hotly-anticipated new titles by JosÃ...

Sundance Institute announced today the musical line-up for the 2008 Film Festival. The festival will feature staples such as Music on Main and Music Café, complemented by distinctive live performances, panel discussions, and multimedia presentations. The 2008 Festival line-up will feature numerous films that showcase music and musicians such as CSNY DÉJÀ VU, featuring Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, U23D, and PATTI SMITH: DREAM OF LIFE. The 2008 Sundance Film Festival runs January 17-27, in P...

Sundance Institute announced today the musical line-up for the 2008 Film Festival. The festival will feature staples such as Music on Main and Music Café, complemented by distinctive live performances, panel discussions, and multimedia presentations. The 2008 Festival line-up will feature numerous films that showcase music and musicians such as CSNY DÉJÀ VU, featuring Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, U23D, and PATTI SMITH: DREAM OF LIFE. The 2008 Sundance Film Festival runs January 17-27, in P...

INDEPENDENCE DAYS The Independence Days Section, now in its third year as part of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, remains committed to showcasing independent and unique works and to discovering new filmmakers from all over the world. The section’s core program, a selection of films under the title ID-07, identifies this year’s aesthetic, political, geographical, political and thematic landscape of worldwide independent, decidedly non-mainstream film production. ID-07 is compris...