Not only did François Ozon’s 8 Femmes beat out Amelie in box office takes the first day in French theatres, but the charge of public and press pushing and shoving to get into a PRESS screening caused total havoc today. The error was the press service’s, allowing the public into a press screening and creating rage amongst the journalist’s turned away. Other screenings are being added as I write.
Still beaming from his last success Under the Sand starring Charlotte Rampling,...
French maverick director François Ozon (Water Drops On Burning Rocks,
Under the Sand) returns with a colorful and glamorous fantaisie in
which major French female movie stars such as Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle
Huppert happily perform some killing and singing. François Ozon reveals
the nightmarish little secrets of the shooting for Filmfestivals.com...
Where did you get the idea for 8 Women?
Originally, I wanted to make a film with several actresses. At first, I thought...
Firefighter Gordon Brewer has just lost his wife and child in a bombing that
investigators say is the work of Claudio 'The Wolf' Perrini. Brewer becomes
impatient with the slow-rolling official investigation and decides to take matters
into his own hands. Trekking down to Columbia to find the man responsible for
the death of his family, he runs into brutality and civil war. As he struggles
in his journey to find 'The Wolf,' he also struggles to make sense of the violent
w...
Zhang Ming's second feature film Weekend Plot was originally conceived
as a horror/thriller involving elements of the Cultural Revolution. But, as
the director reveals, "it wasn't possible to get licensing for that project".
The end result is a strangely appealing film with slight hints of Deliverance
in its opening riverside section, and a huge dose of melodrama in the latter.
Find out what Zhang Ming has to say about his original intentions and censorship
issues in this...
A trademark infringement by France Telecom of the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences' Oscar symbol and name has been settled for 300,000 Francs
(a little over $41,000).
The Academy objected to France Telecom's use of an imitation Oscar statuette
and the trademarked name "Oscar" as part of the design of the company's
Collection Grandes Nouvelles phone calling cards. One million of the cards were
sold in France.
In the settlement, France Telecom agreed to stop sellin...
Every March, passionate francophiles reserve time to attend America's leading
showcase for contemporary French film: the Walter Reade Theater's "Rendez-vous
with French Cinema." This festival, which has consistently broken box-office
records, will be presented for the seventh year from March 8-17, with a selection
of fourteen new films, all of which are New York premieres.
Attending the festival will be actresses Jeanne Moreau, Emmanuel Béart,
and Isabelle Huppert; director...
The Berlin International Film Festival ranks in the top five major festivals, yet still caters to young filmmakers offering many events on their agenda. Not only are there the film projects coming over on the Rotterdam-Berlinale Express to the European Film Market, but also the Shooting Stars, the Premiere First Award, Piper-Heidsieck Young Actor’s Prize, the European Pitch Point and the Script Factory sessions.
The European Film Promotion presents the Shooting Stars; one young talente...
Arnold Schwarzenegger was born in 1947 in Austria and his police-chief dad
wanted him to be a soccer player. His bodybuilding career brought him to the
U.S. where he earned sports titles and a degree in business and economics from
the University of Wisconsin. His business saavy led to a million-plus success
selling body building equipment and real estate when he was only 22.. He decided
to try acting and, after appearing in several low budget films that capitalized
on his...
The 6th annual Off-Hollywood Oscarz nominees are awarded to the winning films
from the 2001 Ohio Independent Film Festival and Market. The winning films are
to be announced this spring.
Best Feature Film
After April by Brian Evans
5 Card Stud by Hank Soroyan
Jingle Hell by Willy Tully & Carter McGowan
Ignorance and Absence of Gerard by Preston DeFrancis
Best Short Film
Return to Sender by Helen Kaplan
Ornaments by Aaron Ermiz
My Neighbor the Freak by Reid Wate...
Geoff Gilmore, who shared the Co-director title with Nicole Guillemet at the Sundance
Institute's Documentary Film Program, has been named Director of the Sundance
Film Festival, reports indieWIRE. Guillemet will step down after sixteen years
with the Festival after she completes her role as a jury member in the Panorama
Short Film section at the Berlin International Film Festival. Gilmore will take
over afterwards, beginning work immediately in preparation for the 2003 Festival
plan...
The practice of fans camping out on city sidewalks hoping to gain access to
coveted Oscar bleacher seats will undergo a major change for the 74th Academy
Awards. For the first time, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
will pre-assign bleacher seats by advance reservation only.
Fans interested in bleacher seat reservations will be required to fill out
an application form including personal information such as name, address, birth
date, driver's license and social ...
Director Arthur Hiller has been voted the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award
by the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,
Academy President Frank Pierson announced today. The award, an Oscar statuette,
will be presented to Hiller during the 74th Academy Awards Presentation on March
24.
The Hersholt Award is given to an individual in the motion picture industry
whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.
Hiller has been in...
South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival and Conference, a four day film conference
(March 9-12) and nine day film festival (March 8 - 16) is an important meeting
place for film industry professionals. The SXSW Film Conference features panels,
workshops, mini-meetings, mentoring sessions, hands-on sessions, and case studies
with internationally prominent film industry professionals. This year's focus
will include digital moviemaking and the technology of the future, homemade
...
Overcast skies didn't put a dimmer on the day for the press who started off
with a 9am screening of Bloody Sunday followed by a noon screening of
the day's other competition film, Bridget from director Amos Kolleck.
Bloody Sunday from director Paul Greengrass is a fiction feature in a
documentary-style (or as the producer Mark Redhead coined it "a messy reality")
giving the account of Bloody Sunday in Northern Ireland, the famous British
paratrooper shootings of civil rig...
Nominations for the 74th Academy Awards will be announced Tuesday, February
12 by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Frank Pierson and
his fellow Academy member, Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden.
Pierson and Harden will unveil the nominations in ten of the 24 categories.
Nominations in all categories will be distributed simultaneously to news media
in attendance and via the Internet on the official Academy Awards Web site.
Harden received her first Academy Awar...
The International Forum of New Cinema will present a total of 13 productions
from this year's featured country, the People's Republic of China. The motto
of the programme is "electric shadows", the literal translation of
"dian ying," the Chinese word for film. Although purely coincidental,
the term perfectly describes the passionate, committed and surprising emergence
of a new generation of young independent filmmakers in the shadow of the official
Chinese system.
The ne...
Academy Award Best Actor Russell Crowe joins Best Actress Julia Roberts, both
making their third appearance as an Oscar show presenter.
Roberts received the Best Actress Oscar last year for her portrayal of the
title character in Erin Brockovich. She also received nominations for
her supporting role in Steel Magnolias in 1989 and for the leading role
in Pretty Woman in 1990. Roberts can currently be seen in Ocean's
Eleven and will be seen next in Full Frontal.
Crowe won t...
The Script FactoryACE has the pleasure to announce its first collaboration with the Script Factory for their very first SCENE at the Berlinale on Saturday 9th February. This will be a fascinating programme of 5 live events with a selection of inspirational speakers such as : Saul Zaentz, Paul Greengrass, Mira Nair, Tom Tykwer... For further details, please read the attached document. Hope you'll be able to join us for this event. * The ACE Producers There will be more than 25 of them coming with...
New York International Children's Film Festival is kicking off its fifth year
with "Three Snow Whites," an ensemble screening of Disney's Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs, as well as rarities Betty Boop in Snow White
(1933) by Max Fleisher and Lotte Reiniger's Snow White and Rose Red (1953).
The event, which begins March 1, will take place over five consecutive weekends,
extended from the original two weekends due to audience demand.
Each year NYICFF presents the best new fil...
Wendigo, the first full-length independent film using Microsoft Windows
Media will be released with the support of Digital Cinema Solutions, reports Variety.
The first Windows premiere of the horror film will begin on March 1 in Seattle, and
will then move on to Dallas. The film, starring Erik Per Sullivan of "Malcolm
in the Middle" is a joint effort of ContentFilm, Magnolia Pictures, and Microsoft....
The sun peaked through the clouds sending its golden rays down on Potsdamer
Platz, home to the Berlin Film Festival since the year 2000 edition. Its "Metropolis"
configuration includes the Sony Center with numerous theatres, the Cinemaxx
- the other multiplex venue, as well as the Berlinale Palast where the red carpet
strut takes place each evening.
Temperatures are warmer than usual (10° Centigrade) for this Berlinale
debut and it seems to have brought the fans out early, ...
This year's opening film at Berlin is Heaven, a film already causing a fair amount of commotion. Arrested after a murder plot goes horribly wrong, a young English widow Philippa
is helped by an even younger carabiniero to wreak the revenge she planned on
a Torino drug dealer. But Philippo falls in love with his charge and helps her
escape, with his colleagues in close pursuit.......
There's little surprise that this year's Césars (the French Academy Awards)
has Amélie taking the lead with the largest amount of nominations.
Amongst the 13 nomination categories for the film are Best Actress, Best Director,
and Best Film. Amelie's biggest competitors are Jacques Audiart's Sur
mes lèvres (Read My Lips) and La Chambre des Officiers (Officer's
Ward), pulling in nine nominations each. With the nominees announced, most are
holding their breath until the ceremony on M...
Even the most seasoned critic would have have a hard time making the right
forecast when it comes to the awards showdown at the Rotterdam Film Festival.
The festival makes it a speciality to counter all expectations, yet making sure
that the films with less commercial potential will be awarded. Nevertheless,
one should bear in mind that the festival's mission is to back budding filmmakers
and make sure, through the Tiger film support, that they'll carry on making
quality ...
The Danish Oscars, the 19th Robert Film Awards, showered Kira's Reason
with five wins: Best Film, Best Director, Best Editing, Best Script, and Best
Actress. Kira's Reason was Stine Stengade's feature debut as an actress.
Other big winners were Chop Chop, Count Axel, and Shake It All
About, with two Awards each. The Robert Film Award to Best Non-US Film went
to Moulin Rouge, while the winning American film was Lord of the Rings.
Best Film
Kira’s Reason - Ole Chr. Madsen
...
Chatelin Bruno 
