FROM ON HIGH has just been accepted to its 50th festival! It will play the Portobello Film Festival at The Muse, 269 Portobello Road in London, UK on December 8th at 6pm. Admission is free. Written and helmed by Dawn Westlake and produced by her Ron de Cana shingle, FROM ON HIGH tells the story of a Syrian refugee girl who finds a better life in Europe. The film has won 11 awards, in the USA, the UK, Spain, Brazil, and 7 awards in Italy, including Best Cinematography for Pol Carrizo Vilarroig o...

FROM ON HIGH won its 11th award last evening with a Best Foreign Film prize from the Festival de Cinema de Tres Passos in Brazil. Written and helmed by Dawn Westlake of Ron de Cana Productions, Inc., FROM ON HIGH tells the story of a Syrian refugee girl who finds a better life in Europe. The film marks the professional acting debut of 11-year-old actors Zoe Pinell Lopez and Esteve Serra Coll. Pol Carrizo Vilarroig of Imatge Barcelona shot and edited on location in Barcelona, Spain. An original s...

"From On High" has been selected to Porto7 Film Festival in Porto, Portugal for June 13-17, 2018. Written and helmed by Dawn Westlake (who made her first film in Porto 18 years ago), "From On High" tells the story of a Syrian refugee girl who finds a better life in Europe. The film was made on location in Catalunya with DP/Editor Pol Carrizo Vilarroig of Imatge Barcelona. GC Johnson, a 2016 Peer Raben Music Award nominee, provided an original score. "From On High" ...

FROM ON HIGH will have its USA premiere in Seattle in early 2018 at the prestigious Children's Film Fest at the Northwest Film Forum in the NO WALLS program. I love the description of our block of films: "This program makes it clear: youth all over the world long for the same things: to laugh, to live, to learn, to live in peace and to be respected for who they are. Many people, both powerful and weak, will try to build walls, but the dreams of the next generation cannot be denied."...

"From On High", the latest film from Dawn Westlake's Ron de Cana Productions, Inc., has been selected to the 2018 Children's Film Forum sponsored by Boeing at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle, WA, USA for January 25-February 10. The film is about a young Syrian refugee who finds a home and hope for the future in Europe. It was shot/edited by Pol Carrizo Vilarroig of Imatge Barcelona in Collsuspina, La Sala de Sant Llogari and Barcelona, Spain. The original score was compose...

The Gallows, Review: Loose noose All that The Gallows can claim as interesting is the premise. After that, it is pretty much like the death by hanging scene, with the film’s trap-door flipping open, and the film itself left hanging loose and lifeless. The premise is: Twenty years after an accident caused the death of the lead actor during a high school play, students at the same small-town American school resurrect the failed stage production, in a misguided attempt to honour the anniv...

By Liza Foreman TOKYO – Winnerss of the 24th edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival were announced on Sunday.   President of the International Competition Jury, Edward R.Pressman said: “Especially this year, it has been difficult to keep films alive in Japan but I would like to thank festival chairman, Mr. Yoda, and all the people for making TIFF possible. The prevalent theme in some of the best films such as Play, When Pigs Have Wings, and Untouchable was imm...

Photo by Ed Krieger  Breaking and Entering, is a metaphor, for entering and breaking down a soul.  It had it’s world premiere last night August 14, 2009 at the Theatre 40 in Beverly Hills, California. The play runs through September 6.  An obsessed, stalker fan enters a reclusive author's home through an open window on a stormy night, and the rest of the play unfolds as we all discover the unity between their two worlds. They and the play examine fame, and its costs, per...