All discussion was centered on the environment this evening at the press conference for "The 11th Hour," just hours before the film would have its world premiere. The documentary, about global warming and humanity, was co-written by DiCaprio and sisters Nadia and Leila Conners, the third time all three have worked together on a film. The panel, which also included David Orr, a specialist who was in the film, and Kenny Ausubel and Henir Behar, environmental specialists, was centered aro...

Jack Valenti, the former head of the Motion Picture Assn. of America for almost four decades and the prime mover behind the movie ratings system, died Thursday. He was 85. Valenti had checked out of Johns Hopkins University Medical Center on Wednesday where he was hospitalized after suffering a stroke. We loved his strong tenure, relentlessly battling against piracy, a strong advocate for american cinema from majors and independents...I had the priviledge of dining a few times with his family an...

Academy Award nominated actor Edward Norton and writer/producer Brian Koppelman (who recently teamed together as actor and producer of the critically acclaimed and commercially successful The Illusionist), will join in the festivities at SFF’s big first Saturday night (April 14) event, “The Reel Experience at The Lake Club.” Mr. Norton will be honored with the Festival’s Humanitarian Award with Koppelman receiving an ‘Excellence in Screenwriting’ honor for his work (which includes t...

                        A CONVERSATION WITH BILL GATES Flying in to Paris, February 1st, on the leg of his 4-day European VISTA launching tour, MICROSOFT Chairman and Co-founder, Bill GATES, was Guest of Honour at the 2007 SALON DES ENTREPRENEURS, held in the Paris Congress Center. Before an audience of 4000 in the huge Palais de Congrès auditorium, he also addressed as their sponsor, the young winners of t...

The Lowdown Everything you ever wanted to know about Sundance but were afraid to ask... because Sundance is just THAT mysterious. In the fourth episode of the Internets Celebrities' journey to Sundance, Dallas Penn and Rafi Kam take their patented brand of genius to the Park City streets, spreading knowledge and bull&@#! to the rapt masses of enlightened festival-goers. Do the boys know something you don't know? Of course! Tune in to learn such tantalizing tidbits as the pricetag on an all-...

Wednesday, January 24-----Jared Leto is the thinking man's Orlando Bloom. Possessed of a handsome face, a lithe body, piercingly deep eyes and an infectious smile, Leto is one of the few in Young Hollywood who shows no vanity in his screen performances. This is more than evidenced in his starring role as the chubby and erratic Mark David Chapman, the young man who, on a cold December night in 1980 in New York City, pointed his gun at music legend John Lennon and robbed the world of a man know...

Friday, January 19----And so we're off.....the Sundance Film Festival opened last evening with the world premiere of CHICAGO 10, an intoxicating mix of straight-ahead documentary, visionary animation and truthful recreation of one of the more shameful periods of recent American history. The trial of the Chicago 10, leaders of the anti-war protestors who had gathered in Chicago for the 1968 Democratic Party Convention to express their outrage with the Vietnam War, was a milestone clash between...

In times of turmoil, the role of the documentary filmmaker becomes a thriving and essential function. When handled responsibly, their films can wake us up to a multitude of issues we haven't previously considered or been privey to. With our country at war, several filmmakers have produced works aimed at knocking the current adminsitration's sloppy tactics and the senselessness of the war efforts they foster. By far, it was the Vietnam-era film "Hearts and Minds" that became the beacon of what...

13th Annual SAG Awards™ Ceremonies to be Simulcast Sunday, Jan. 28, 2007 on TNT and TBS at 8 pm ET/PT Two-time Actor® recipient Sandra Oh, currently starring in the ABC series Grey’s Anatomy, and Actor® recipient Elijah Wood, currently starring in the Golden Globe®-nominated films Bobby and Happy Feet, will join Screen Actors Guild President Alan Rosenberg to announce the nominees for the 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards®, Executive Producer Jeff Margolis announced today.The SAG Aw...

Bobby, the documentary by Emilio Estevez on the 1968 assassination of U.S. Senator Robert Kennedy, will be previewed on Saturday, December 30 at the Capri, Hollywood International Film Festival. (www.caprihollywood.com). After critical acclaim at the exhibition of Venice and in the United States, the film will be seen in Italy beginning in 2007 thanks to 01 Distribution. Its Italian opening will be at the Blue Island where, among others, it will be a focus of discussion at the Fiuggi Symposium ...

I spent the greater part of last evening oscillating between the Premiere Lounge/party for Wrist Cutters (to which stars Patrick Fugit and Shannyn Sossamon turned up) and the roof of the Arclight. The AFI roof parties are a great opportunity to hang out and just mingle with directors, actors, producers, etc from the festival. I spotted Michael Rappaport hanging out in the Arclight courtyard on the second level. ...

AFI FEST Opens with 38-Year Journey by Eric BeteilleAFI FEST Daily News THE TIME IT TAKES TO JOURNEY between the former site of the Ambassador Hotel and the home of Grauman's Chinese Theater: About 20 minutes. The time it takes to journey between the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy and the premiere of a film celebrating the spirit of the man and his time: About 38 years. The cast of Emilio Estevez's BOBBY, making its US premiere as the Opening Night Gala Presentation of AFI FEST 2006 presente...

Tonight, the AFI Film Festival kicks off with the U.S. Premiere of "Bobby", written and directed by Emilio Estevez. The film, produced by Dan Grodnik, Gary Michael Walters and Sir Anthony Hopkins, includes an all star cast consisting of Harry Belafonte, Emilio Estevez, Laurence Fishburne, Heather Graham, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Joshua Jackson, Ashton Kutcher, Shia LaBeouf, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, Demi Moore, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone, and Elijah Wood. "Bobby" was...

Ohio Independent Film Festival, November 5-12. All events are presented at Cleveland Public Theatre's Gordon Square Theatre, 6405 Detroit Ave. and are $10/program unless otherwise noted. Surf www.ohiofilms.com for the complete festival schedule, and www.travelcleveland.com for hotel and visitor information. Visit www.ticketweb.com for directions and advance ticket sales. Attend the festival for details on after-festival parties Thursday, Friday,Saturday and Sunday nights. Some daily highlightsin...