1. "Precious" starring Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz, Director Lee Daniels"Lorsqu'a seize ans, Precious apprend à lire et à ecrire dans une école alternative, un monde nouveau s'ouvre à elle. Un monde nouveau s'ouvre à elle, Un monde où elle peut enfin parler, raconter ce qui l'étouffe. Un monde où toutes les fille peuvent deviner belles, fortes, indépendantes. Comme Precious....""When Precious, who is sixteen, learns to read and write at an Alternative School, she discovers a new ...

"American Casino" a documentary by Leslie CockburnDirected by level headed Leslie Cockburn, this documentary discusses the subprime mortgage crisis, where 300 mortgage companies have gone out of business since 2006, and the American dream turned nightmare, with up close interviews from people on both sides of the spectrum, Michael Greenberger, Director of Trading, Jeff Greene, a real estate mogul who shorted subprime, an anonymous ex-employee from Bear Sterns who discusses CDO's, or Collateraliz...

Sharon Abella: Are you excited to be at the film festival?ANTONIO PIERCE: Linebacker for the New York Giants: "Yes. I was here a couple of years ago for the movie about Cesar Chavez, I don't remember the name, maybe it was titled that, I'm not sure."SA: Are you a big Kobe fan?AP: "I am. Big Kobe fan. I admire the way he plays, the way he goes about his business on and off the court, and honestly, being directed by Spike Lee is very huge! You can't put two better people together to work toget...

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...

Eleven great days ahead of us!!!! "The 8th Annual Tribeca Film Festival" kicked off in hysterics as Boris, the neurotic "genius", played by Larry David, addresses the audience the way Woody Allen has in the past with classics like "Annie Hall", in the Sony Pictures Classic, "Whatever Works"!!! After Mr. Allen's European stint, he comes back to New York City with a Southern vengeance which is unlike anything he has done before, offering as much wit and sarcasm as ever before. If you can't hav...

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,...

"Erev tov, Mr. Eran Riklis": “The words that come to mind when one sees “Lemon Tree”/”Etz Lemon”, which premiered this past week, and is currently playing at IFC, and “Syrian Bride”, are courage, resiliency, and loss. In “Lemon Tree”/”Etz Lemon”, the strong-willed Palestinian female lead, Salma Zidane, played by Hiam Abbass, from “The Visitor”, faces losing her inherited lemon orchard when an Israeli Defense Minister Navon and his wife, Mira Navon, played by Rona Lipa...

Sharon Abella:You have quite an extensive resume having worked as a Director of Photography on many amazing films including "Amores Perros", "Frida', "25th Hour", "21 Grams", "Alexander", "Brokeback Mountain", "Babel", "Se, jie"/"Lust, Caution", “Broken Embraces” and "Biutiful", nearing completion in Barcelona.Rodrigo Prieto 1. As a DP you work closely with the Director and the Production Designer to achieve the cinematic look of the film. Tell us about how you decide which type of film s...

Sharon Abella met with Jon Kilik, producer of Babel...Q- As a film producer you have worked on a myriad of projects working most closely with famous Directors, Spike Lee, Oliver Stone, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, and Julian Schnabel. Tell us how you met and what it is/was like working with each one.A- "I met Spike Lee through a mutual friend in 1988. He had just made one film, "She's Gotta Have It". He was looking for a producer to work with on a new script. The project was "Do The Right Thing...

Interview with Chip Hourihan/Producer (along with Heather Rae) of "Frozen River by Sharon AbellaBio:Chip Hourihan is the producer (along with Heather Rae) of "Frozen River", winner of The Grand Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, 2008 Gotham Independent Film Award (Best Feature), FIPRESCI Prize, and Best Feature Awards at the Hamburg, San Sebastián, Provincetown , and Stockholm Film Festivals. "Frozen River" was released theatrically in 2008 by Sony Pictures Classics and in 2009 by R...

"Spanish Cinema Now" is one of Walter Reede Theater's longest running series beginning in 1992, with the French and Italian Film Festivals close behind. Spanish cinema is growing in popularity, especially among the younger generations. Opening night began this evening, December 5, with Nacho G. Velilla's, "Chef's Special"/"Fuera de Carta", starring Javier Camara from the Spanish hit show, "7 Lives", Pedro Almodovar's, "Hable con ella", y "Mala Educacion", "Paris, je t'aime", and "Los Girasoles ...

A "Precursor to "The Gotham Awards"Lisa Schwarzbaum, film critic for "Entertainment Weekly" led the panel of up and coming new talent. She began by asking, "Chop Shop" star, Alejandro Polanco, "How did you adjust to making a movie, how did you balance the movie and school?"A.P. ~ "I had to wake up in the morning very early, and we shot during a heat wave, I just did it, got through it, loved it, and now I want to be an actor."L.S. ~ (Addressed to Rosemarie DeWItt from Jonathan Demme's film, "Ra...

The Paley Center for Media, formerly known as "The Museum of Television and Radio", and "SnagFilms", recently announced a first of its kind collaboration between a leading cultural media institution and an Internet start-up to help documentary producers break down the barriers to reach fresh audiences for their films. Through a shared passion for expanding access to documentaries, the Paley Center, an important convener of documentary film community, and SnagFilms, a groundbreaking Internet docu...

Sharon Abella, our correspondant, sat briefly with Michelle Byrd, Executive Director of the Independent Film Week: 9/14-9/19 Q- "Tell us about the mission of "The Independent Filmmaker Conference"?A-"IFC's mission is to connect with one other, to advocate for independent filmmakers by utilizing resources, facilitating the development, financing, and distribution of submitted projects."Q- "What makes the Conference unique, what sets it apart from other film forums?"A- "It is not a film festival w...

The Independent Film Week: 9/14-9/19"From Sunday, September 14th through Friday, September 19th, "The Event Space" at "F.I.T." located at 122 W. 26th Street between 6th and 7th Ave, along with Chelsea Cinemas, located at 260 West 23rd St. at 8th Avenue will be hosting the 30th "Independent Filmmaker Conference" offering social networking and panel discussions, showcases, and special events and conversations with the film industries finest and well respected leaders. Panel discussions include, "M...

Okay, so music videos are out, and concert films like "U2, 3-D", "Shine a Light", and "Lou Reed's Berlin", are in. There are actually a lot of pro's and con's to live concerts, the pro's being, 1. The cost. It is definitely a lot cheaper than paying "Ticketmaster" prices, 2. if it is shot in a documentary style, you may see and learn from new and old, never seen before footage and interviews, and 3. you don't have to worry about a tall person standing in front of you. :) The only con I could thi...

"The Orphanage"/"El Orfanato"Guillermo Del Toro, the Oscar award winning director for "El Laberinto del Fauno" or "Pan's Labyrinth", produced this new spine-chilling dramatic thriller, "El Orfanato", or "The Orphanage", directed by Juan Antonio Bayona. Belen Rueda, who plays the leading female role, Laura, and Fernando Cayo, in the role of Carlos, her counterpart, return to the house Laura grew up in, to raise their chronically ill, orphaned son, Simon, played by Roger Princep. Disturbed by her ...