Without a doubt the hottest ticket in town during the Cannes film festival is not a premier ticket to a competition film, as most would think; in fact, it’s a ticket to the annual AMFAR Cinema Against Aids dinner and gala at the Hotel du Cap Eden Rock in cap d’Antibes. This decidedly elite event is attended by the most sought after celebrity and royalty accompanied by the world’s richest and most successful entrepreneurs. The event has been going on for 19 years now and alway...

DRIVE (2011) held its North American premier this week at 2011 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Below is the press conference for the film in competition DRIVE (2011) at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. On panel were: Director Nicolas Winding Refn, Actor Ryan Gosling, Writer Hossein Amini, Editor Mat Newman, Producer Marc Platt and Producer Adam Siegel.Nicolas Winding Refn is a former student of Von Trier so naturally, there was a thick tension in the DRIVE pressroom with ever...

This was a very endearing press conference, especially in light of Lars Von Trier’s press conference two days prior for MELANCHOLY (2011) that still had everyone’s head spinning in Cannes. Von Trier’s comments on his Nazi sympathies as well as his protested desire to return to Denmark and focus only on soft and hardcore porn had everyone at Cannes thinking twice about Danish cinema and its praiseworthy art-house directors. Nicolas Winding Refn is a former student of Von Trier so naturally,...

This was a very endearing press conference, especially in light of Lars Von Trier’s press conference two days prior for MELANCHOLY (2011) that still had everyone’s head spinning in Cannes. Von Trier’s comments on his Nazi sympathies as well as his protested desire to return to Denmark and focus only on soft and hardcore porn had everyone at Cannes thinking twice about Danish cinema and its praiseworthy art-house directors. Nicolas Winding Refn is a former student of Von Trier...

 SLEEPING BEAUTY (2011)One of the films in competition at the 64th Cannes Film Festival was SLEEPING BEAUTY (2011) by writer/director Julia Leigh. While one might recall the sweet animated Disney film SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959) or the classic fairytale in reference to this title, this film is a far cry from these classics with the same name; rather, this ‘sleeping beauty’ is about the erotic desires of a young woman and her ‘female gaze’, as opposed to the much discussed, much debated cinem...

 SLEEPING BEAUTY (2011)One of the films in competition at the 64th Cannes Film Festival was SLEEPING BEAUTY (2011) by writer/director Julia Leigh. While one might recall the sweet animated Disney film SLEEPING BEAUTY (1959) or the classic fairytale in reference to this title, this film is a far cry from these classics with the same name; rather, this ‘sleeping beauty’ is about the erotic desires of a young woman and her ‘female gaze’, as opposed to the much discussed, much debated cinem...

   photo stills from filmANNETA PAPATHANASSIOU INTERVIEW about her film, “The Nymphs of Hindu Kush” (Oi nymfes tou Hindu Kush) (Greece, 2010), which first screened at the 13th International Thessaloniki Doc Fest 2011 two months ago. After many attempts to see her film and to speak with her, Anneta and I finally made our interview. And just before the circus of the 64th Cannes Film Festival begins with all its fiction films and fantasy glitz and glamor and yachts and movie myth, I thought ...