In 2009 The Golden Globe ceremony didn't have a host. The actors/actresses just came out to present and announce the winner. I don't remember what they did for an opening, but a joke monologue isn't the only way to open the show with energy. I don't want to be a Pollyanna or someone who only accepts niceties and tact, but I felt some of host Ricky Gervais', blunt, roast type humor may have been unnecessary. Do I feel this way because we're talking about Hollywood Royalty, like J...

The King's Speech, that took a Golden Globe yesterday for Best Dramatic Actor (Colin Firth) has been selected as Closing Night Film of the 40th International Film Festival Rotterdam. The Closing Night screening on Saturday February 5 will be preceded by the announcement of two festival prizes awarded by the festival audience: the UPC Audience Award for Best Festival Film and the Dioraphte Award for Best Festival Film supported by the IFFR's Hubert Bals Fund.   Tom Hooper's The King's...

by Marla Lewin Michael Douglas will receive the icon award tonight at the Palm Springs Film Festival.  Then on Sunday he will attend the Golden Globes, where he is nominated for his role as Gordon Grekko, in Wall Street, Money Never Sleeps.  Oliver Stone was here on Saturday night to give an award to Carey Mulligan at the Awards Gala, she played Michaels' daughter in the film.  Palm Springs is the festival that keeps on giving.  Santa Barbara Film Festival gave a Michael a spe...

It's beena tremendous effort to finally finish Ham & The Piper. The film is magnificent and looks beautiful, thanks to the work of young Polish cinemtagrapher, Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, a real talent for one so young. The music is wonderful too and the performances.... out of this world, especially Jeffery Kissoon in the lead. We've had some interest which is great before we head off into the festival circuit.   Check the film out on http://www.wix.com/hamandthepiper/movie ...

         " I can't believe it's been over 50 years since I first stepped foot in GOMBI," explained Dr. Jane GOODALL in introduction at the PAGODE CINEMA, in Paris,  of German Director, Lorenz KNAUER`s new autobiographical film of the British paleontologist " JANE`s JOURNEY", at a special screening of the Paris Environmental Film Festival, end November 2010. Still a sprightly world traveller over 70, she spends 300 days of the year criss-crossing the globe, lect...

                                  Deborah Hadfield is the proud debut director of her first feature film, the romantic road movie entitled, ‘The Kindness of Strangers' (2010). I spoke with Deborah recently about the making of her film and what it was like to shoot on location throughout three different countries in Europe...

This month's edition is guest-written by Jessie Grace Mellor, previously the resident film reviewer for The Daily Mirror and now director of 'N-Dubz - The Way We Were', one of this year's BUFF UK premieres... During this blog about my experiences with BUFF, I’m going to flit between a few different timelines. A time machine won’t be required but please bear with me. I’m gonna start in 2005. I had just finished my short mockumentary ‘Billy Blaze’ and was eag...

Ronda International Festival, Political Cinema for the Twenty-First Century, was conceived in order to give a twist to cinema and politics, and to be an event aimed primarily at a young public, who are more adept at handling the new forms, codes and references used to decribe the real changes in the language and obligations of the citizens of this century.In this new festival our first major task is to encourage a lively three-way dialogue between the filmmakers, who will attend with their films...

  The 25th edition of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) comes to a climax this weekend. Among the special events is a hommage to English stage and screen actress Claire Bloom, who will receive a Career Achievement Award on Saturday evening for her 60 years in show business. The Festival, centered at the Cinema Paradiso art theater, will screen the actress' film debut, a role for which she won a BAFTA Award as Best Newcomer. She was chosen to play the crippled...

The 59th International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg takes place from the 11th till the 21st November 2010.Three experts for Mannheim-Heidelberg – The International Jury is complete with film artist Cynthia Beatt, film author Clemens Klopfenstein and cinematic all-rounder Stefan LaudynMannheim-Heidelberg, November 2nd 2010---- Three persons who know how to create cinematic art, how to talk about it and how to convey it: This year, the decision on the Main Award of Mannheim-Heidelberg is in ...

The 13th annual Savannah Film Festival, hosted by SCAD, presented Miles Teller with the "Discovery Award" on October 31. Teller admitted to being humbled by the honor. "This is my first film award – my very first one," he said upon accepting the award. "The Discovery Award has a certain amount of pressure to it," he quipped. "I have to live up to the expectation and also prove that SCAD made the right choice."Teller, 23, received the award prior to a special screening of his debut performance...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent   What would the Hollywood Film Festival be without full frontal nudity? Overdressed.  This weekend, Oct. 22 - 25, the 14th Annual Hollywood Film Festival & Hollywood Awards presented by STARZ managed both female and male full frontal in one fell swoop with the US debut of Tamar Simon Hoffs' POUND OF FLESH, starring Malcolm McDowell and Angus MacFayden (BRAVEHEART) with a cameo by Dee Wallace.   ...

  Music is definitely in the air, or at least music films, as the American Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland enters its second day. Last evening, DJ Spooky (aka Paul D. Miller) presented his extravagant multi-media presentation REBIRTH OF A NATION to a sold-out crowd at the Helios Cinema, as the Opening Night Attraction of the American Film Festival. A remash and remix of the notorious silent film by D.W. Griffith, DJ Spooky added sonic layers of rich depth and imagination to the fil...

The Oscar race is in full swing with this year’s Best Picture Contender, “The King’s Speech”, due out November 26, 2010. Follow the relationship between a down to earth, middle class family man working as a speech therapist and the Duke of York with a stammering problem. Lionel Logue, played by Geoffrey Rush, is not just an instructor, but a witty and fun loving, friend, speech and psychotherapist, who attempts to assist a client by breaking the ice, while breaking down childhood fears a...

By Liza ForemanThe 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced another eight films for the competition section.The films in the competition section will be competing for six awards, including the prestigious “Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix.” The winners will be announced at the festival's Closing Ceremony on October 31st.The Competition So Far -“Beautiful Boy” - U.S.ADirectors: Shawn KuA shooting massacres in a college. Parents fear their son's safety, but the news they receive ...

By Ron GilbertRuth Gruber was really ahead of her time.” I am experiencing that feeling of zest which goes with exploration. I am in the thick of an historic moment” were the first lines she dispatched from the Soviet Artic in 1935.I felt exactly like that as I watched this film at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. Here was this 98 year (She will be 99 when this article is posted) female journalist share her experiences on her early days in these historical moments of her career. She h...