.............                                                      WELCOME TO OUR NEWSLETTER N° 466: may 24, 2010 Follow this LINK if you cannot read the newsletter properly The Future of Cinema Salon in Cannes gave a toast to Future of Festivals Filmfestivals.com and Xomo gathered 100 festival directors attending Cannes for a wine tasting reception. Our Cannes...

A fun exciting way for locals and visitors to Cannes to take part in the festival and see some films, without a badge, is at the plage Macé.  Showing a film every night, the cinema on the beach is open to everyone and is free of charge.  Most relax in the comfortable beach chairs that are set up, and snuggle up with a blanket that is provided to ward off the chilly night. Others bring snacks and make themselves comfortable in the sand adjacent of the chairs. At 9:30pm its lights, camera, ac...

A thrilling tale of the femme fatale, "ART ET DECES aka Glamrock City," written and directed by Christophe Kourdouly and Stéphane Jauny, screened at the Marche on May 19th. Produced by Antetime Production, the film is of two girls who in search of inspiration kill men to capture their last breath of life and create Art from Death for their next painting exhibition.  The film showed great emotion and an intriguing plot line that keeps your attention.  In a twist, the directors list...

Below is the complete directory of all Argentinean Film Festivals for 2010, seperated by trimester organized by INCAA.  For more information on any of the festivals, visit www.incaa.gov.ar   -Melissa Evanko   First Trimester Festivals Dates Gualeguaychú Cine Estudio Multimedial 16-21 Feb. Pinamar Screen 6-13 March Shorts of Geniuses-Cinema of Neighbors- March to Nov.     ...

As the Marche du Film at the 63rd International Cannes Film Festival comes to a close, here are some of the final deals: Protagonist Pictures continues to make deals for Garreth Edwards "Monsters" for distribution in different countries. Cinecitta Luce bought the Italian rights to Romainian directer Andrei Ujica's "The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu" from Mandragora International. Wide sold "Gigola" to K-Films Amerique for an early 2011 release in C...

Emmanuel Benbihy, producer of the "Love Cities" series currently including "Paris, Je t'aime" and "New York, I Love You," is taking the production of film project "Love Berlin - How We Met" to trial for copyright infringement and unfair competition, according to "The Hollywood Reporter: The Daily Cannes."  The principles on "Love Berlin," Visitor Pictures, Sherazade Films, and the Very Useful Co., are filing a countersuit.  One can ...

The European Union's MEDIA programme is responsible for twenty European films being present at the festival this year, including six competition pieces.  According to "The Cannes Market News," Androulla Vassiliou, the new European Commissioner in charge of culture and education, praised the programme yesterday at a press conference with representatives of international film funding in Cannes, saying, "Without [it], many films would not have been made."  She explains that ...

Focus Feature's new movie "Hanna" was sold to Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisition Group, which is quickly becoming a major buyer of independent films.  Sony made an aggressive move purchasing distribution rights for every territory that it could, except for the following places that Focus retains the rights for: US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Greece, Israel, Middle East, and CIS.  This marks the largest market deal so far here in Cannes, according to "The Variety."  &qu...

Sunday brought renewed honor to Michael Haneke, Austrian director and winner of last year's Palme d'Or for his film, "White Ribbon."  He received what "The Hollywood Reporter: The Daily Cannes," describes as the country's highest arts honor, Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters.  The ceremony of French Cultural Minister Frederic Mitterrand inducting Haneke into the French legion of honor occurred in Cannes yesterday.  Festival de Cannes President Gilles Jacob and t...

The recent partnership between Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), leading festival in the Arab world, Asia and Africa, and Beirut DC, a Lebanon based organization focused on encouraging independent filmmaking, hopes to foster local documentary filmmaking skills and production.  According to "The Hollywood Reporter: The Daily Cannes," DIFF will be contributing $10,000 towards Beirut DC's Documentary Course, the goal of which is to motivate young people who wish to pursue profe...

Threading your way through the many booths and stands in the Marche, one looks around at all the eager companies looking to sell, distribute or promote their films.  Many booths have fliers, brochures, colorful posters and business cards to promote their business.  However, we were surprised today when chatting with receptionist Desiree Montalvo, at Worldwide Film Entertainment, when we were handed a simple white box with a neat black ribbon containing a coffee cookbook, based on one of the ...

Announced in Cannes on Sunday, according to "The Variety," was a cooperation agreement between the Producers Guild of America (PGA) based in LA, and the Association des Producteurs de Cinema (APC), a French union.  Four years in the making, this agreement will help French and American producers wanting to create projects set in either country.  In addition, it will permit an exchange of information and access to membership data for both organizations. It will also allow each to vis...

Those involved in the Hungarian Film Industry are proud to have such a large selection of films screening at the Festival this year.  They include the competition piece "Tender Son" by Kornel Mundruczo; the short film "Here I Am" by Balint Szimler; a piece for the Director's Fortnight "Adrinn Pal" by Agnes Kocsis; and Cannes Classics from 1939 "Two Girls on the Street" by Andre de Toth.  The Pavilion has received many congratulatory remarks over their ...

  Marche du FilmAs always, the Marche du Film is located in the Palais des Festivals. Only after treading through the melee of tourists and cinema lovers gathered outside trying to obtain tickets and in queuing to see films, one can enter the main entrance.      Down the stairs past the Business Center and Short Film Corner, one will start to see specific country booths representing their cinema. Japan Booth               Tiawan Cinema Indonesi...

Last year's Cannes Film Festival marked the first time a 3D film, Disney's "Up," had premiered as the Ouverture. Since then, 3D has become all the rage at the festival, with many booths advertising 3D films for production, distribution and sale. As stated in "Cannes Market News," there are sixty-five 3D films being presented in the Marche du Film this year by companies such as Nu Image, CJ Entertainment, Illusion Studios and Celsius Entertainment, to name only a few. In add...

Announced on Friday was a partnership between the Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore and Tiger Gate Entertainment, a joint venture in itself between Lionsgate and Saban Capital Group.  Together they plan on releasing multi-platform features in the action, horror and thriller genre to worldwide markets over the next four years.  As stated by "The Hollywood Reporter: The Daily Cannes," Tiger Gate will be taking charge of all platforms distribution within Asia, and Lionsga...

There is excitement in the International Village this year for eight countries who have teamed up and launched a new pavilion. Two years ago, at the Sarajevo Film Festival, talks began in order to create a collaboration of countries from South East Europe. The origional intention, which remains the same today, is to create visability for the countries in this region pertaining mainly to their films, filmakers, and distributors. Early talks included other countries in the surrounding region, bu...

Marche du Film      When walking into the Marche du Film, business appears to be booming.  It's day two into the festival and deals are already in the works and bidding wars over distribution rights to films have begun.  Though despite the Marche's surface appearance, many cannot ignore the current uncertainty of the European Independent film industry.  This uncertainty stems from the recent signs of the sector taking a hit similar to that of the American Independent...

Japan BoothIf you have any interest in Japanese films, make your way to the Japan Booth in the Palais where you can make an appointment to view their extensive DVD library as their booth is a host to many Japanese sales companies.  According to the "Cannes Market News," this year Japan is focusing on networking and promoting the 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) of which the Chairman Tom Yoda, and the Programming Co-Directors Yoshi Yatabe and Kenji Ishizaka are here in Can...

Looking at the main competition films set for the 2010 Film Festival in Cannes, one will not see any Australian films, though the Aussie presence is still evident in the Palais from the opening film to the closing film, with Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett premiering "Robin Hood" on the red carpet, to the French-Australian co-production of "The Tree." Lack of a strong Austrailian presence at the festival this year is due to the attempts by Australian filmmakers to cre...