Thursday, August 2----------The American Cinematheque, the Los Angeles-based not-for-profit organization that  owns and operates two area theaters that show classic, experimental and non-mainstream films and videos (the art-deco Egyptian in Hollywood and the Aero in Santa Monica) has announced that Oscar-winning actress Julia Roberts will receive the 22nd annual American Cinematheque Award this year. The award will be presented at a gala ceremony on October 12th in Beverly Hills, and wil...

The Third Annual Turks & Caicos International Film Festival (TCIFF) will honor Hairspray composer Marc Shaiman with the Sal De Mar Excellence in Composing Award at the Festival’s annual Awards Gala held on Saturday, October 20, 2007. Previously announced award recipients for this year’s event include Mos Def (The Italian Job) who will receive the Tour de Force Award. The Festival will be held October 16-21, 2007 in Providenciales.Commenting on the award Executive Director Jasmine Guy sai...

Ischia, island of cinema and human rights: director Billy August, will receive the Ischia Humanitarian Award for his latest film Goodbye Bafana, dedicated to the legendary South African president Nelson Mandela, winner of the Nobel peace prize.Enzo Cappello, special commissioner of the Tourist Board of the Islands of Ischia and Procida announced that the Danish director will receive the award during the fifth Ischia Global Film & Music Fest (July 9-15).“In the year in which we are launchin...

Currently starring in Olivier Dahan’s La Vie en Rose, Clotilde Coureau is one of France’s best loved actresses. She won the Romy Schneider Award for the most promising French cinema actress in 2000, since which she has received many Oscar nominations. Among the personalities who have confirmed their presence at this year’s festival are: directors Oliver Stone, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Davis Guggenheim, Terry Gilliam, Bobby Moresco, Dario Argento, Mimmo Calopresti, Marco Risi; scree...

Directors Oliver Stone and Dario Argento will be presented with the award ceremony’s most prestigious accolade during the upcoming festival. The announcement was made at Cannes by Marco di Lello, the Regional Minister for Tourism and Culture for the Campagnia region, the supporting body for the event.Oliver Stone, with eleven nominations and three Oscars, is a dominant figure in the world of cinematic history. His career has included masterpieces such as Midnight Run, Scarface and The Year of ...

Further supporting its ongoing campaign to promote European films, Europa Cinemas will return once again to this years 60th. Cannes Film Festival, awarding its Label prize to the best European film in the Directors’ Fortnight/Quinzaine des Réalisateurs  section (May 17/27). This marks the fifth year that the Europa Cinemas Label will be awarded at Cannes, and complements the Labels awarded at the Panorama section in Berlin, the Venice Days section of the Mostra del Cinema, and Karlovy Vary.A...

Pascale Ferran présidera le Jury Un Certain Regard, sélection officielle du Festival de Cannes qui se déroule du 16 au 27 mai prochain.Pascale Ferran a été sélectionnée pour la première fois au Festival en 1990 pour son court métrage le Baiser. Elle revient en 1992 comme scénariste de La Sentinelle d'Arnaud Desplechin présenté en compétition.En 1994, elle remporte la Caméra d'Or pour son premier long métrage Petits Arrangements avec les morts. L'Age des possibles sort ...

Martin Scorsese, entouré de plusieurs cinéastes, annoncera pendant le Festival de Cannes le lancement de la World Cinema Foundation, vouée à la préservation et la restauration des chefs d'œuvre du cinéma mondial.Martin Scorsese donnera pour le 60e Festival une Leçon de cinéma d'exception : après Oliver Stone, Nanni Moretti et Sydney Pollack, il viendra évoquer son métier de réalisateur et sa passion pour le cinéma.Dimanche 27 mai, lors la cérémonie de clôture, il remet...

The screenwriter, director and producer PAUL HAGGIS (2006 double Academy Award®-winner for the movie "Crash") is the Chairman of the 5th edition of "Ischia Global Film & Music Fest”; the festival of cinematic art and the cultural trademark of "made in Italy" - from the 10th to the 15th of July at the legendary Regina Isabella Resort & Spa in the isle of Ischia, Italy.  The festival is produced by Pascal Vicedomini and the Ischia International Arts Academy, wi...

Sunday, March 11—Cinequest Co-founder Kathleen Powell presented the awards on the closing night of the festival.(Descriptions excerpted from the Cinequest program guide.)Director's AwardsGLOBAL VISION AWARD: to the filmmaker who defies convention and exhibits work of universal vision, making bold use of storytelling to create evocative cinema of the future.FRESH AIR/FRISS LEVEGÕ (Hungary)From its wry opening in a Hungarian Lonely Hearts ballroom dance to its daring ending, Ágnes Kocsis�...

Monday, March 12—The Cinequest Film Festival may not generate buzz about industry distribution deals or celebrity sightings, but a record-breaking 70,102 indie film lovers joined several hundred filmmakers and technology innovators in downtown San Jose for the 12-day salute to all things maverick. Writer-director-cinematographer Stephane Gauger, Executive Producer Timothy Linh Bui (director of GREEN DRAGON, co-producer of THREE SEASONS) and actor Cat Ly (JOURNEY FROM THE FALL) closed the festi...

 Monday, March 19-----Actor Earl Cameron, a Bermuda native son who found fame as the "English Sidney Poitier" in several trailblazing English films of in the late 1950s and early 1960s, is being honored at the Bermuda International Film Festival. On Saturday evening, A Conversation With Earl Cameron featured the distinguished actor, who discussed his career and the changing role for black talents in the film industry.From the moment he first appeared on screen, as a young Jamaican...

Saturday, March 3---Stewart Copeland makes his entrance with a bang. Whether bounding onto the California Theatre stage before a packed house of 1,100 people or striding into a small room for a press conference, the founder of the newly reunited The Police radiates high energy. He flings his arms in the air, and his voice booms all the way to the last row of the balcony and back. Never has anyone been so enthusiastic about receiving a Cinequest Maverick Spirit Award. Just a 50-year-old suburban ...

Saturday, March 3---Minnie Driver slowly removed her sunglasses at the Cinequest press conference, and quietly said, “I don’t want to force my bloodshot eyes on you.” She had worked until 3:30 a.m. before traveling to San Jose to receive the Maverick Spirit Award at an event scheduled later in the afternoon. “I’m really happy to be here. Exhausted but happy,” stated the London-born actor.When asked if she considered herself a maverick, Driver thoughtfully replied, “I don’t lie i...

"The truth is, there is no sure thing, and I would argue that when you are doing something that you do really care about, and are passionate about, the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor, it will succeed."As part of the Day of Distribution, developed by Cinequest to further understanding and discussion of new distribution technologies, film community building and enterprising new business models, the packed audience at the San Jose Repertory Theater was treated to a sparkling 90-min...

Friday, March 2---Christine Vachon can now add “Cinequest Maverick” to honors ranging from the Frameline Award for Outstanding Achievement in Lesbian and Gay Media in 1994, Producer of the Year from the National Board of Review in 2003 and New York MoMA retrospective honoree in 2005. Her films have garnered Independent Spirit Awards and Oscars in numerous categories. Following a rollicking interview with Jens Hussey, Cinequest Director of Public Relations,...

Stephen Frears has just accepted the presidency of the jury of the 60th Festival de Cannes, which will take place between May 16-27.Revealed in 1985 with My Beautiful Laundrette, Stephen Frears presented his award-winning Prick up Your Ears in 1987 in the Official Selection at the Festival de Cannes.In 1988, Dangerous Liaisons won him international fame. He has alternated since, with equal joy, between great genre films (Accidental Hero, The Grifters) and more intimist or engaged subjects (The S...

Saturday, February 10----The Berlinale is paying homage and awarding an Honorary Golden Bear to the pioneering American director Arthur Penn. From his roots in New York theater and live television to his landmark films of the 1960s, Penn established himself as a leading icon of the New American Cinema, with such films as THE MIRACLE WORKER (1962), MICKEY ONE (1965), BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967), ALICE’S RESTAURANT (1969), LITTLE BIG MAN (1970) and THE MISSOURI BREAKS (1976). In his distinguished 4...

Thursday, February 1----The distinctive music of Italian film composer Ennio Morricone will be showcased at three distinguished New York institutions in the coming days, making New York abuzz with Morricone music magic. Films that feature both well-known and obscure Morricone music soundtracks are being presented at two different film series at the Museum of Modern Art and the Film Forum. At Radio City Music Hall, the composer himself makes his long overdue American concert debut, in a progra...

Off the street customers shelled out sixty bucks a shot ($60 USD) last night to pack the mighty Arlington Theater from wall to wall and stem to stern, for a privileged view and hearing with former vice president and Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Al Gore, in town with director Davis Guggenheim to present their landmark Global Warning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth". Festival director Roger Durling, barely able to contain his excitement at pulling this off -- (i.e., getting Gore to swing up to...