The New York AIDS Film Festival will dedicate the 2007 NY AIDS FILM FESTIVAL to the life of Mr. Jack Valenti. A supporter of the festival and 2004 Honoree, former President of the MPAA and head of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Valenti was a kind supporter of their work and the fest will celebrate his life. The Festival will open at the United Nations with a moment to honor the former Hollywood luminary and lobbyist, and will continue to give the Jack Valenti...

Many years ago, Jack Nicholson was quoted in a Vanity Fair article stating, "Kiss a tit, get an X rating. Hack it off with a machete, get a PG." What is it that makes Americans so puritanical about sex, yet so lax towards violence? That's one of the main considerations of "This Film is Not Yet Rated", the new documentary from Kirby Dick that follows the standards and practices of the Motion Picture Association of America's ratings system. The film presents the theory that the levels of violence ...

Surprises aren’t always a good thing in San Francisco. Exhaustive media coverage of the centennial of the 1906 great earthquake and fire—the defining event of the city’s history and biggest natural disaster in America until Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast last year—recently shook Bay Area residents with constant reminders that this is shake-rattle-and-roll country. On Saturday morning, Talk Cinema founder and former Film Comment editor Harlan Jacobson admitted to being a “n...

Industry Editor Sandy Mandelberger sat down with veteran documentary filmmaker Kirby Dick, whose lastest film, THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED, is one of the most talked about at the Festival. The film is an eye-opening investigation into the secret works of the Motion Picture Association of America, the official ratings board for films that are released in theaters. THIS FILM IS NOT RATED features spectacular (and sometimes spectacularly funny) interviews with such prestigious filmmakers as John Wat...