The first annual Baja International Film Festival, November 14-17 in Los Cabos, Mexico, has announced the inaugural year’s official sponsors, with presenting sponsors including Los Cabos Arte y Cultura A.C., CPTM, and FITURCA.                 Support has been lent by Gobierno Baja California Sur, Gobierno Municipal Los Cabos, Instituto Mexicano de Cinematografía (IMCINE), Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), a...

  The first annual Baja International Film Festival, to be held November 14-17 in Cabo, Mexico, has announced the inaugural year’s award recipients.. Award’s will be presented to two-time Academy Award-nominee Edward Norton, Academy Award –nominee Virginia Madsen, iconic filmmaker and former President of the Directors Guild of America Michael Apted, celebrated actor Diego Luna, Academy Award-winner Melissa Leo,  acclaimed director Nicolas Echevarria, and  Academ...

The inaugural Baja International Film Festival, to be held November 14-17 in Cabo, Mexico, today announced an exciting new partnership with Virgin Produced and the launch of the first annual Baja International Film Festival - Virgin Produced Screenplay Competition.   Beginning today, October 8th, the Festival competition will accept feature-length screenplays in all genres until the submission deadline of October 26th. Screenplays entered into the competition will be judged by a distin...

  The inaugural Baja International Film Festival, to be held November 14-17 in Los Cabos, Mexico, has announced the hotel and travel partners that will be providing exclusive rates and deals throughout the Festival. Guests of the Festival will be able to stay at Cabo’s top luxury hotels including the AAA Four Diamond Award resorts Zoëtry, Dreams and Secrets Marquis Los Cabos, the 5-star One & Only Palmilla, the AAA Five Diamond Award Ventanas al Paraíso, the AAA Four ...

  The first annual Baja International Film Festival, to be held November 14-17 in Los Cabos, Mexico, has announced the membership of its 2012 advisory board, along with the breakdown of this year’s award categories and prizes.   The inaugural board includes such esteemed industry members as acclaimed actor/filmmaker Edward Norton, filmmaker Carlos Reygadas, recent winner of Best Director at Cannes, actor/producer Kuno Becker, producer Lucas Akoskin, The Creative Coalition CEO...

Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage and Middle East International Film Festival executives conclude Berlinale delegationAbu Dhabi, 25th February 2009: ADACH and MEIFF executives along with MEIFF film programmers concluded their week long delegation to the 59th Berlin International Film Festival, returning to Abu Dhabi with a handful of potential co-operations and films for this year’s Middle East International Film Festival and other ADACH film-related projects. The delegation to Berl...

The official website has launched (www.meiff.com) for the first annual Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF), premiering October 14-19, 2007; and the Call for Entries is now under way. Over five days, MEIFF will present more than 50 films within a diverse slate of regional and international films with an emphasis on emerging artists. Grand Jury Prize winners will receive substantial production grants towards the funding of their next project, awarded in the categories of Narrative, Do...

Grand Jury Award for International Feature: GRBAVICA (Special Mention: THE ART OF CRYING) Aquafina Pure Vision Award - Grand Jury Award for International Documentary: BUDDHA'S LOST CHILDREN (Special Mention: BACK HOME) Grand Jury Award for International Short: DISAPPEARING (Special Mention: SILENCE IS GOLDEN) Audience Award - Feature: VITUS Audience Award - Documentary: BLINDSIGHT and SCREAMERS (Tie) Audience Award - Short: FAIR TRADE AFI FEST 2006 presented by Audi announces its award winners. ...

Grand Jury Award for International Feature: GRBAVICA (Special Mention: THE ART OF CRYING) Aquafina Pure Vision Award - Grand Jury Award for International Documentary: BUDDHA'S LOST CHILDREN (Special Mention: BACK HOME) Grand Jury Award for International Short: DISAPPEARING (Special Mention: SILENCE IS GOLDEN) Audience Award - Feature: VITUS Audience Award - Documentary: BLINDSIGHT and SCREAMERS (Tie) Audience Award - Short: FAIR TRADE AFI FEST 2006 presented by Audi announces its award winners. ...

Caught Sherine Salama documentary yesterday called "The Last Days of Yasser Arafat". Too bad the Australian director, Salama wasn't able to be there. A few years ago, she screened her first documentary "A Wedding in Ramallah" at the festival and there was a lively discussion afterwards. I'll be posting the remaining interview with Nancy Collet, programming director at the AFI, later today. ...

Interview (Part 1) with Nancy Collet, Driector, Programming, AFI FestWe were fortunate enough to have an opportunity to interview Nancy Collet, programming director for the AFI film festival. She has been with the festival for 10 years and is originally from Manhattan. In 2006, AFI Fest is celebrating its 20th year as a program of the American Film Institute. The festival grew out of Filmex, which premiered "The Last Picture Show" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. An exThe move to the Arclight happe...

Interview With Nancy Collet, Director, Programming, AFI Fest Rita M. Johnson We were fortunate enough to have an opportunity to interview Nancy Collet, programming director for the AFI film festival. She has been with the festival for 10 years and is originally from Manhattan. In 2006, AFI Fest is celebrating its 20th year as a program of the American Film Institute. The festival grew out of Filmex, which premiered "The Last Picture Show" at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. An ex The move to the...

AFI FEST 2005 presented by Audi Announces Award WinnersCapping another successful year, AFI FEST 2005 announced its award winners at a special Awards Presentation hosted by Tom Arnold at The Loft at the Festival's Rooftop Village--Sunday evening, November 13, in advance of its Closing Night Gala Presentation, sponsored by Los Angeles Magazine, of director Lasse Hallström's CASANOVA, starring Heath Ledger, Sienna Miller, Lena Olin and Oliver Platt. After the showcasing of 127 films from 44 count...

Standing ovations for international cinema masters like Pedro Almodóvar, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Terry George at AFI FEST 2004, which concluded Sunday at ArcLight Hollywood's Cinerama Dome with the US Premiere of New Line Cinema's SEA INSIDE. Written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar, the film stars Javier Bardem. Both filmmaker and star were in attendance.Although attendance figures are still being tabulated, festival organizers have seen a 20% increase in Box Office receipts over the previou...

Late Sunday evening, AFI FEST 2003 ended a glorious run of 10 days and 10 nights of the best films in the world, but not before announcing its coveted Audience Awards and unveiling the World Premiere of Patty Jenkins' MONSTER, starring Charlize Theron. In front of a sold-out audience at ArcLight's Cinerama Dome, Nancy Collet, the Director of Programming, announced that Jim Sheridan's IN AMERICA took the Audience Award for Feature Film. The film, which stars Samantha Morton and Paddy Considine, f...

Monster closed AFI last week end.The film written and directed by Patty JenkinsPROD: Brad Wyman, Donald Kushner, Charlize Theron, Mark Damon, Clark Peterson EXEC PROD: Meagan Riley-Grant, Steward Hall, Andreas Schmid, Andreas Grosch, Sammy LeeCast: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Scott Wilson, Pruitt Taylor Vince Charlize Theron stars in MONSTER, a shockingly moving film that burrows deep beneath the tabloid-sized headline stories on Aileen Wournos, the man-hatingand murder...