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 May 8, 2008 iW NEWS | Oberhausen Shorts Fest Announces Winners
The 54th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen was held May 1-6, 2008 in Oberhausen, Germany, and handed out awards Tuesday night at the Lichtburg Filmpalast. The Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen, handed out by the international jury and worth 7,500 euros, went to Australian Dennis Tupicoff's "Chainsaw," for "its masterful synthesis of social commentary, formal experimentation, and its exploration of bareback riding both within the rodeo arena and beyond." The two Principal Prizes, worth 3,500 euros each, went to Romanian Radu Jude's "Alexandra" and Russian Alina Rudnitskaya's "Kak stat stervoi" ("Vixen Academy"). The Jury of the Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia gave its prize for regional work to Belgian director Alexia Bonta's "Parlez-moi d'amou" ("Tell Me About Love"), while the FIPRESCI Prize (International Critic's Prize) went to Russian Pavel Medvedev's "Nezrimoe" ("The Unseen"). [Peter Knegt]  [permalink] [ filed under Festivals ] iW NEWS | Salmona Wins New Director's Prize in San Francisco
iAt the San Francisco International Film Festival yesterday, Mushon Salmona's "Vasermil" won the New Director's Award, while Yung Chang's "Up The Yangtze" won the prize for best documentary feature. Dawn Logsdon's "Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans" won the Bay Area Documentary Feature prize and Todd Herman's "Cabinet" won the Bay Area short prize and the New Visions prize. Christina A. Voros' "The Ladies" won the documentary short prize and Jean-Bernard Marlin & Benoit Rambourg "Thick Skinned" won the narrative short award, Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski won the animated short film prize for "Madame Tutli-Putli." [Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals ] May 7, 2008iW NEWS | Cannes Classics Set For Fifth Year
The Cannes Film Festival will spotlight classic films on rediscovered or restored masterworks or films that have been re-released in theaters or DVD with the Cannes Classics 2008 program. Presented at the Palais des Festival, the Cinema de la Plage and the La Licorne Theatre, the program includes a tribute to Manoel de Oliveira for his 100th birthday, featuring a screening of one of his first films, 1931's "Douro, Faina Fluvial," as well as Wong Kar Wai presenting "Ashes of Time Redux." Overall, the program features dozens of films, including a new or restored prints of Marcel Ophuls' 1955 film "Lola Montes," Vijay Anand's 1965 film "Guide," Paul Newman's 1972 film "Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds," Bruce Weber's 1988 film "Let's Get Lost," Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1989 film "Santa Sangre," Jean Cocteau's 1949 film "Orphee," James Toback's 1977 film "Fingers," Lester James Peries' 1965 film "Gamperaliya," and Ben Maddow, Syndey Meyers and Joseph Strick's 1960 collaboration "The Savage Eye." Two new films will also be presented in the Documentaries About Cinema section: James Cressanthis's "No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos," which follows the journey and friendship of Hungarian directors Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond, and Richard Schickel's documentary about the history of Warner Brothers, "You Must Remember This," which will be accompanied by 10 screenings of classic Warner films, including a one-off "Looney Tunes." [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Cannes, Festivals ] iW NEWS | Critics Week Takes on "Poverty"
Philippe Diaz's "The End of Poverty?" has been added to Critics Week as part of the fest's "Cinema & Politics" day on May 19. Narrated by Martin Sheen, Diaz's ("Now & Later") doc explores whether the "true causes of povery today" stem from a deliberate orchestration since colonial times in which wealthy nations exploit the poor. Filmed in high definition in countries in Europe, Africa and South America, the film features economists, politicians and people engaged in social movements. Following its screening, Diaz and figures from the film will participate in a panel discussion. [Brian Brooks] [permalink] [ filed under Cannes, Festivals ] iW NEWS | Locarno to Honor Producer Christine Vachon at Fest
Producer Christine Vachon of Killer Films will be awarded the Raimondo Rezzonico Prize at the 61st Locarno International Film Festival, taking place August 6 - 16. Through her production company, founded in 1995, Vachon has helped launch the careers of filmmakers such as Larry Clark ("Kids," 1995) and John Cameron Mitchell ("Hedwig and the Angry Inch," 2001) in addition to working with established directors such as Robert Altman ("The Company," 2003) and John Waters ("A Dirty Shame," 2004). "Locarno is celebrating an exceptional producer, who has made a decisive contribution to independent American cinema over the last fifteen years," commented Locarno's artistic director Frederic Maire in a statement. The award began in 2002 in memory of the man who was president of the Locarno Festival for almost twenty years. [Brian Brooks] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals ] May 6, 2008iW NEWS | "Tru Loved" and "World" to Bookend 20th NewFest
Stewart Wade's romantic comedy "Tru Loved" will open the 20th NewFest: The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Film Festival, taking place June 5 - 15. Closing the event is Tom Gustafson's "Were the World Mine." "Especially in a milestone year such as this, we want to bring NYC an even better LGBT film festival than the year before," commented NewFest artistic director Basil Tsiokos in a statement. "Along with an extremely strong lineup of films and panels, we're offering a few brand new special additions to our programming. This year introduces the John Outcalt NewFest Lounge where audiences and filmmakers alike can relax between screenings." The NewFest Lounge will be located at the HK Lounge on Ninth Avenue at 39th Street in Manhattan. [Brian Brooks] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, Queer Cinema ] SF360: Nights on the Towne: Film Society Awards Night
You know a film festival is beginning to work its way into your brain when, in a landscape of intersecting ideas, you begin to witness the collisions. The diners at S.F. Film Society Awards Night this past Thursday -- including Warren Beatty, Jerry Brown, Willie Brown, Maria Bello, John Burton and Dede Wilsey-- saw a mash-up of two opposing approaches to the art of great filmmaking in awards to Mike Leigh and Robert Towne. Susan Gerhard reports. [permalink] [ filed under Festivals ] iW NEWS | "Heaven," "Chris & Don" Top Miami Gay & Lesbian Winners
The 10th Annual Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival closed for business, announcing a series of juried and audience awards presented at the Gala Closing night party at the Miami Art Space. Fatih Akin's "The Edge of Heaven" won the jury's fiction feature award, while Guido Santi and Tina Mascara's "Chris & Don: A Love Story" won the juried documentary award. Audience awards were handed out to Shamim Sarifis's "The World Unseen" for favorite feature, Scott Bloom's "Call Me Troy" for documentary, and Jesse Peretz's "Who I Am" for short. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, Honors, Queer Cinema ] The Week in Fests | Rome, Cairo and Sydney
The latest from the festival scene this week. A link exchange by Variety.com and indieWIRE.
DIRECTORS BACK ROME FILM FESTIVAL
'AAL GAZIRA', 'HEENA' WIN IN CAIRO
LEIGH'S 'HAPPY' TO PLAY IN SYDNEY
More at Variety's Festival Central
May 5, 2008iW NEWS | Marche du Film Sees Rise in Attendance
As of April 15th, more than 8,000 professionals from 93 countries already confirmed their participation in the Marche du Film at the Cannes Film Festival, an 8% rise from 2007 and 40% since 2003. In response to a significant screenings demand, 3 new screening rooms will complete the 30 existing ones, with an overall of 12 digital screening rooms. The Marche will be ready to host the 1,600 screenings already booked for the 2008 edition. Additionally, about 300 companies will showcase their productions on more than 6,000 square meters of exhibiting surface. About 120 exhibitors will be present in hotels or flats on the Croisette. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Cannes, Festivals ] May 2, 2008Reuters: New mayor to tone down glitz at Rome film festival
Expect less Hollywood glamour and more home-grown cinema at the Rome Film Festival -- the new right-wing mayor of Italy's capital has made clear he wants to see changes at the movie showcase created by his predecessor. Reuters reports. [permalink] [ filed under Festivals ] May 1, 2008iW NEWS | "Battle," "Shock," and "Kiss" Among Highlights for 34th Seattle Fest
One hundred and ninety-one features as well as 170 shorts are on tap for the 34th Seattle International Film Festival taking place May 22 - June 15, including 38 North American and 19 U.S. premieres. As previously announced, Stuart Townsend's "Battle in Seattle" will kick off the 25-day long event with "Seattle" actors Charlize Theron and Martin Henderson as well as Townsend in attendance. Randall Miller's "Bottle Shock," described as a "cinematic love letter to California's wine country," starring Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman will close the festival. Sean McGinly's "The Great Buck Howard" with Colin Hanks, John Malkovich and Tom Hanks will screen as a Centerpiece Gala June 6, while a "Gay-la" extravaganza and post-screening party will be held on Thursday, May 29 for the romantic comedy, "Kiss the Bride," starring Tori Spelling, and Philipp Karne. Among the festival highlights are the world premiere of "Jolene," co-directed by SIFF founder Dan Ireland. Eight films are slated to screen in the festival's New American Cinema competition, including the world premieres of Russell Brown's "The Bluetooth Virgin," "Em" by Tony Barbieri, and Jared Drake's "Visioneers." Debuting in the doc competition are "Combalimon," by Raphael Mathie (U.S. premiere), "Fairytale of Kathmandu," by Neasa Ni Chianain (North American premiere), "Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go" by Kim Longinotto, "In Search of Kennedy" by Chuck Workman (world premiere) and "Shadow of the Holy Book" by Arto Halonen. For more information and a full line up, visit the festival's website. [Brian Brooks] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals ] April 30, 2008iW NEWS | LA Jewish Fest To Open With "Little Traitor"
The 3rd annual Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival (LAJFF) will commence May 8th by celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel with the Los Angeles premiere of Lynn Roth's "The Little Traitor." The festival will also honor Theodore Bikel with a special award, and Joan Rivers with the Marlene Adler Marks Woman of Inspiration Award. "I can't think of a better way to celebrate our third annual festival than by honoring Israel's 60th anniversary with Lynn Roth's inspiring and poignant film and Theodore Birkel's work within the Jewish community," said Executive Director Hilary Helstein in a statement. The festival runs May 8-15, 2008 with over thirty features, documentaries, short subjects and cultural events at various locations around Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals ] April 29, 2008iW NEWS | C'est Officiel: "Blindness" To Open Cannes
Five Films Added to Fest... Fernando Mereilles's "Blindness" will in fact open the 2008 Festival de Cannes on May 14th -- screening in competition -- organizers have just announced. Rounding out the Official Selection for the upcoming event, planners added a few additional films to the roster. A third French film, Laurent Cantet's "Entre Les murs," will also screen in competition, joined by James Gray's "Two Lovers." Meanwhile, opening the festival's Un Certain Regard section on May 15th will be Steve McQueen's "Hunger." Finally, Robert DeNiro will present the Palme d'Or on closing night, May 25th, followed by a screening of Barry Levinson's "What Just Happened," starring DeNiro, Robin Wright Penn, John Turturro and this year's Cannes jury president Sean Penn. [Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Cannes, Festivals ] INSIDE WORD | Meirelles' "Blindness" Tipped for Cannes Opening Slot
Increasing buzz indicates that Fernando Meirelles' "Blindness" will open the 2008 Festival de Cannes, two weeks from tomorrow. In Canada, the Globe and Mail reported that the film, shot partially in Toronto, will kick-off the fest on May 14th, joining the roster that was announced last week. Cannes festival reps did not immediately respond to inquiries this morning and today Miramax said the reports were "still a rumor at this point," but other film insiders are confirming the news. "Blindness" was adapted by celebrated Canadian writer, actor and director Don McKellar from Jose Saramago's acclaimed novel and has been described by Miramax as follows: "When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine." It stars Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Alice Braga, Danny Glover and Gael Garcia Bernal. The film was produced by Niv Fichman, Andrea Barata Ribeiro, and Sonoko Sakai and executive produced by Gail Egan and Simon Channing-Williams. [Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Cannes, Festivals ] April 28, 2008iW NEWS | Hot Docs Leaps In Attendance, Awards "Root"
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival finished up Sunday, with a record-breaking attendance of 85,000, a 25% increase over last year. The 11 day festival screened 172 films from 36 countries. "The success of this year's Festival is a testament to our audiences," said Executive Director Chris McDonald in a statement. "Their passion for docs and investment in the Festival is inspiring. Filmmakers love screening their work in this city." The festival announced most of its juried awards Friday, but two awards were announced Sunday, including the Hot Docs Audience Award, which was awarded to Lisa Merton and Alan Dater's "Taking Root: The Vision of the Wangari Maathai." Runners-up were Benson Lee's "Planet B-Boy" and Kurt Kuenne's "Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father." The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Prize for best Canadian documentary was also announced, going to Pierre Mignault and Helene Magny's "Shock Waves." The CIDA Award comes with a $5,000 prize. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Documentary, Festivals, Honors ] VAR | Coens To Open Venice
Joel and Ethan Coen's "Burn After Reading" will open the 65th Venice Film Festival, Variety is reporting. The film, which stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton. Focus Features is releasing the film domestically on September 12, 2008. Venice runs August 27-September 6. [permalink] [ filed under Festivals ] iW NEWS | "Amal" Takes Indian Film Festival
The 6th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles announced its winners, with Richie Mehta's "Amal" winning the Grand Jury Prize for best narrative feature. Yunus Vally's "The Glow of White Women" was given the jury's best documentary prize, while special mentions were awarded to Shivajee Chandrabhushan's "Frozen" (in narrative) and Liz Mermin's "Shot in Bombay" (in documentary). Atul Sabharwal's "Midnight Lost and Found" won for best short. Audience awards were given to Manish Acharya's "Loins of Punjaab Presents in narrative and Christopher Mitchell's "Super 30." [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, Honors ] iW NEWS | RiverRun Awards "Heaven," "Yangtze"
The 10th Annual RiverRun International Film Festival announced the winners of their narrative and documentary juried competitions Monday. Faith Akin's "Edge of Heaven" won the best narrative feature award, while Yung Chang's "Up the Yangtze" took the documentary feature award. "Heaven" also won best screenplay for Akin, as well as best actress for Hanna Schygullla's performance. "California Dreamin' (Endless)"'s Razvan Vasilescu won best actor, and "Dreamin" was also honored with a posthumous special jury prize for its director Cristian Nemescu and a cinematography award for Liviu Marghidan. "Up the Yangtze" won the documentary cinematography award. In the shorts competition, Michaela Kezele's student film "MIlan" won best narrative short,Emil Trier's "Board Control" won best documentary short, and Josh Raskin's "I Met The Walrus." RiverRun ran over six days, screening 95 films from 26 countries in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals ] April 27, 2008iW NEWS | "La Leon" Tops Torino GLBT Fest's Awards
The Torino GLBT Film Festival wrapped up its 23rd year Sunday with the jury announcing the festival's winners. Argentinean film "La Leon," directed by Santiago Otheguy, won best feature film. Special jury prizes for feature filmmaking also went to Julia von Heinz's "Was Am Ende Zaehit" and Christophe Honore's "Les Chansons d'Amour." The best short film prize went to Brazillian Esmir Filho's "Alguma Coisa Assim," while the best documentary winner was Parvez Sharma's "A Jihad For Love." Tom Gustafson's "Were The World Wine" won the feature film audience award and"Darling! The Pieter-Dirk Uys Story," directed by Julian Shaw, won the documentary audience award. The festival screened more than 270 films over 9 days and saw a 15% increase in attendance over 2007. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, Queer Cinema ] Older Buzz/Rumors about FestivalsApril 26, 2008 April 26, 2008 April 24, 2008 April 23, 2008 April 23, 2008 April 22, 2008 April 21, 2008 April 21, 2008 April 21, 2008 April 21, 2008 April 21, 2008 April 21, 2008 April 18, 2008 April 18, 2008 April 18, 2008 April 15, 2008 April 15, 2008 April 15, 2008 April 14, 2008 April 14, 2008 April 11, 2008 April 10, 2008 April 10, 2008 April 9, 2008 April 9, 2008 April 8, 2008 April 8, 2008 April 7, 2008 April 7, 2008 April 7, 2008 April 6, 2008 April 4, 2008 April 2, 2008 April 2, 2008 April 1, 2008 March 31, 2008 March 31, 2008 March 29, 2008 March 28, 2008 March 28, 2008 March 27, 2008 March 27, 2008 March 27, 2008 March 26, 2008 March 25, 2008 March 25, 2008 March 25, 2008 March 25, 2008 March 24, 2008 March 24, 2008 March 24, 2008 March 21, 2008 March 21, 2008 March 21, 2008 March 21, 2008 March 18, 2008 March 18, 2008 March 18, 2008 March 18, 2008 March 14, 2008 March 13, 2008 March 13, 2008 March 12, 2008 March 12, 2008 March 12, 2008 March 12, 2008 March 11, 2008 March 11, 2008 March 10, 2008 March 10, 2008 March 10, 2008 March 7, 2008 March 6, 2008 March 5, 2008 March 5, 2008 March 5, 2008 February 28, 2008 February 28, 2008 February 26, 2008 February 26, 2008 February 26, 2008 February 21, 2008 February 20, 2008 February 19, 2008 February 18, 2008 February 16, 2008 February 16, 2008 February 12, 2008 February 12, 2008 February 11, 2008 February 7, 2008 February 6, 2008 February 4, 2008 February 3, 2008 February 1, 2008 February 1, 2008 January 31, 2008 January 30, 2008 January 30, 2008 January 30, 2008 January 24, 2008 January 23, 2008 January 21, 2008 January 21, 2008 January 19, 2008 January 19, 2008 January 19, 2008 January 18, 2008 January 18, 2008 January 18, 2008 January 15, 2008 January 15, 2008 January 9, 2008 January 9, 2008 January 7, 2008 January 7, 2008 January 3, 2008 January 3, 2008 January 2, 2008 December 27, 2007 December 20, 2007 December 19, 2007 December 12, 2007 December 11, 2007 December 10, 2007 December 10, 2007 December 6, 2007 December 4, 2007 December 3, 2007 December 1, 2007 November 30, 2007 November 29, 2007 November 29, 2007 November 28, 2007 November 28, 2007 November 28, 2007 November 27, 2007 November 27, 2007 November 27, 2007 November 26, 2007 November 26, 2007 November 26, 2007 November 19, 2007 November 18, 2007 November 15, 2007 November 13, 2007 November 12, 2007 November 11, 2007 November 10, 2007 November 7, 2007 November 7, 2007 November 7, 2007 November 7, 2007 November 5, 2007 November 2, 2007 November 2, 2007 November 1, 2007 November 1, 2007 November 1, 2007 November 1, 2007 November 1, 2007 October 30, 2007 October 29, 2007 October 26, 2007 October 25, 2007 October 25, 2007 October 25, 2007 October 24, 2007 October 24, 2007 October 24, 2007 October 23, 2007 October 22, 2007 October 22, 2007 October 22, 2007 October 21, 2007 October 21, 2007 October 18, 2007 October 18, 2007 October 17, 2007 October 17, 2007 October 17, 2007 October 16, 2007 October 15, 2007 October 14, 2007 October 14, 2007 October 12, 2007 October 10, 2007 October 10, 2007 October 10, 2007 October 9, 2007 October 9, 2007 October 6, 2007 October 5, 2007 October 5, 2007 October 5, 2007 October 5, 2007 October 4, 2007 October 2, 2007 October 2, 2007 October 1, 2007 October 1, 2007 October 1, 2007 October 1, 2007 September 28, 2007 September 28, 2007 September 27, 2007 September 26, 2007 September 26, 2007 September 26, 2007 September 26, 2007 September 25, 2007 September 25, 2007 September 25, 2007 September 24, 2007 September 24, 2007 September 24, 2007 September 20, 2007 September 20, 2007 September 18, 2007 September 18, 2007 September 17, 2007 September 17, 2007 September 16, 2007 September 16, 2007 September 13, 2007 September 13, 2007 September 13, 2007 September 12, 2007 September 11, 2007 September 11, 2007 September 11, 2007 September 10, 2007 September 10, 2007 September 10, 2007 September 10, 2007 September 6, 2007 September 6, 2007 September 6, 2007 September 6, 2007 September 6, 2007 September 6, 2007 September 5, 2007 September 4, 2007 September 4, 2007 September 4, 2007 September 4, 2007 September 4, 2007 September 4, 2007 September 4, 2007 September 1, 2007 September 1, 2007 August 31, 2007 August 31, 2007 August 30, 2007 August 30, 2007 August 30, 2007 August 30, 2007 August 29, 2007 August 29, 2007 August 29, 2007 August 29, 2007 August 28, 2007 August 28, 2007 August 27, 2007 August 26, 2007 August 26, 2007 August 24, 2007 August 23, 2007 August 23, 2007 August 23, 2007 August 22, 2007 August 22, 2007 August 18, 2007 August 16, 2007 August 16, 2007 August 16, 2007 August 15, 2007 August 14, 2007 August 14, 2007 August 14, 2007 August 13, 2007 |