As the Kung Fu Panda’s entourage struck the city for its Sydney Film Festival Australian premiere last Monday night, I waited in watchful expectation among the media pack on the red carpet, reciting all the Confucius wisdom I could remember, to mentally prepare myself to ask ‘The Hard Questions’. The Paramount Pictures PR whispered to me quietly as if a secret aside “this is the Dreamworks CEO, do you have a question?” And there heading towards me, first in the Kung Fu Panda PR a...
DUNGOG FILM FESTIVAL 2008 MAKING AN IMPACTBorn in 2007, the Dungog Film Festival has grown in one year from a baby fest with a dozen films and 1,400 visitors, into an adolescent of 80 films and an estimated 4,000 visitors, doubling the population of Dungog for the duration (May 29 – June 1). Andrew L. Urban reports on the world’s biggest showcase of Australian filmmaking centred on the country’s oldest cinema, The James.You may hear extravagant claims about this year’s Dungog Film Festiv...
Tuesday, May 20---------At a special reception held yesterday in Cannes at the Plages des Palmes Cafe, the Hamptons International Film Festival and indieWIRE announced the recipient of their annual Industry Toast Honoree, to be presented during thed 16th edition of the Festival, from October 15 to 19, 2008.This year's recipient is Wouter Barendrecht, founder and co-chairman of Fortissimo Films, one of the world's leading international film, television and video sales organizations specializing ...
Tuesday, May 20---------At a special reception held yesterday in Cannes at the Plages des Palmes Cafe, the Hamptons International Film Festival and indieWIRE announced the recipient of their annual Industry Toast Honoree, to be presented during thed 16th edition of the Festival, from October 15 to 19, 2008.This year's recipient is Wouter Barendrecht, founder and co-chairman of Fortissimo Films, one of the world's leading international film, television and video sales organizations specializing ...
The IFI today announced that Ross Keane will join the team as Head of Marketing & Communications. Ross has a wealth of experience in marketing and communications, and has worked with a number of organisations both at home and abroad. Ross has been the Director of Marketing and Development at the Dublin Theatre Festival since 2002, where he has seen the Festival’s box office thrive, breaking the €1 million mark for the first time in its history in 2007. Ross has devised many marketing and...
"Grace is… You dance as you walk through life. If you don't dance, you cannot aspire. You do not lift up from this earth." - Mimi WeddellActress-Model-Mother-Independent Thinker-Free Spirit Mimi Weddell is extraordinary by anyone's account. A striking beauty who speaks with authority and passion on any number of topics, Mimi, cigarette holder in hand, strikes a pose the moment the camera is on her. The Gra...
Tuesday, January 22--------In an ironic twist of fate, on the same day that the Academy Award nominations were announced, 2005 Oscar nominee Heath Ledger was found dead in his New York loft in the Soho district of New York City. An official autopsy will be done tomorrow, but news has leaked out that the naked body of the actor was found next to a cache of sleeping pills and other drugs. The Australian actor, only 28 years old, was nominated for Best Actor for his performance in the Ang Lee fil...
FINDING A LOST KABUL IN OUTBACK CHINAAustralian born producer Rebecca Yeldham has been through some wild filmmaking when shooting The Motorcycle Diaries in deepest Peru, but that now seems tame after “the wild ride” that was the making of The Kite Runner in even deeper Western China, she tells Andrew L. Urban.From the start, the question of where to shoot The Kite Runner loomed over the production. The story would require the wholesale re-creation of several disparate worlds that no longer e...
There are only a few days to go before Australia's First Ever Human Rights Arts and Film Festival begins!We would like to invite all of you to attend this fantastic event which is taking place in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Peats Ridge Festival.We hope that you can help us make this festival a success by spreading the word to your friends, family and networks.AUSTRALIA'S FIRST EVER HUMAN RIGHTS ARTS AND FILM FESTIVALFrom the underbelly of St Kilda to the crisis zone in Darfur, from East Timores...
There are only 6 days to go before Australia's First Ever Human Rights Arts and Film Festival begins!The event is taking place in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Peats Ridge.From the underbelly of St Kilda to the crisis zone in Darfur, from East Timorese Art Collectives to Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street, Australia's first ever Human Rights Arts and Film Festival (HRAFF) will challenge, touch and inspire audiences from all walks of life.Award-winning films from all over the world; international and...
L'année 2007 marque le 60e anniversaire de la mise en place de services du gouvernement français chargés de promouvoir la France comme destination touristique au Canada. À cette occasion, la ville de Cannes prête sa collection des photographes Traverso, immortalisant soixante ans de Festival international du film. Des générations d'acteurs et metteurs en scène, de créateurs et producteurs se succèdent sur c
Friday, October 26-----------As the Rome FilmFest enters its final weekend, award ceremonies abound and we will cover them for you in detail. The first award was given out last Saturday to 19-year-old Iranian director Hana Makhmalbaf, who received the Paolo Ungari UNICEF prize for her film BUDDHA COLLAPSED OUT OF SHAME, which screened in the Alice In The City Competition section. The prize was awarded "for her courage and subtlety when dealing with such a sensible issue as the girl's d...
As the Rome FilmFest enters its final weekend, award ceremonies abound and we will cover them for you in detail. The first award was given out last Saturday to 19-year-old Iranian director Hana Makhmalbaf, who received the Paolo Ungari UNICEF prize for her film BUDDHA COLLAPSED OUT OF SHAME, which screened in the Alice In The City Competition section. The prize was awarded "for her courage and subtlety when dealing with such a sensible issue as the girl's discrimination in schooling" . The film ...
FRIDAY 26th - today morning in the Sala Sinopoli, packed with children and youngsters from Italian schools who have taken the leading role in Alice in the City projects, the RomeFilmFest section led by Gianluca Giannelli, saw the award ceremony for the section’s prizes: the Alice Consiglio dei Bambini Prize, the Boing Corto Scuola K12 Awards and Boing Corto Scuola Young Adult Prizes, the AAMS Public Prize and the Special Mention for Costanza Quatriglio for the short on foster parents.Attending...
Monday, October 21--------The Middle East International Film Festival – Abu Dhabi (MEIFF) announced the winners of the Black Pearl Awards at the Closing Night Ceremony held at the Emirates Palace on Saturday evening. The Black Pearl trophy (designed by Mohammed Gomaa) is a handmade sculpture representing the beautiful and rare black pearl originally discovered in the pristine waters of the Abu Dhabi coastline, and a symbol that is an integral part of Abu Dhabi history and culture. The Bla...
Monday, October 21--------The Middle East International Film Festival – Abu Dhabi (MEIFF) announced the winners of the Black Pearl Awards at the Closing Night Ceremony held at the Emirates Palace on Saturday evening. The Black Pearl trophy (designed by Mohammed Gomaa) is a handmade sculpture representing the beautiful and rare black pearl originally discovered in the pristine waters of the Abu Dhabi coastline, and a symbol that is an integral part of Abu Dhabi history and culture. The Bla...
The Adelaide Film Festival congratulates Director Kriv Stenders on winning the Finders Screen Award for local feature film Boxing Day at the inaugural 2007 Australian Directors Guild (ADG) Awards held in Sydney on Saturday 14 October.Since its world premiere at the 2007 Adelaide Film Festival, Boxing Day has shown at the Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth film festivals, and has twice been nominated for the FIPRESCI (The International Federation of Film Critics) Award. It had its internationa...
Tuesday, September 25-------- Tropfest@Tribeca, the new outdoor short film screenings event that attracted nearly 7500 attendees on Sunday evening in lower Manhattan, announced its award winners. The new Festival, a collaboration between Tribeca Enterprises and John Polson, creator of Australia’s Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival, premiered 16 films at the World Financial Center Plaza in New York and was also sent live via satellite to Brookfield Properties FCP Park at First ...
Wedneday, September 20---------- A little bit of Australia is making its way to downtown Manhattan this Sunday, when Tropfest@Tribeca 2007, the latest venture by the Tribeca Film Festival, gets into gear to offer New York film buffs a chance to sample some of the world's most provocative short films. Tropfest began in Australia in 1993 and has become the world's largest short film festival. Now, a New York version will unspool as a FREE EVENT (nice) at the World Financial Center Plaza near G...
Here’s the broadcast schedule and summaries of the entries in this year’s Sproquets.The films will be broadcast In Auckland and Wellington Triangle Television at 9pm Sundays and nationally on Stratos at 8.30pm on Sundays.SPROQUETS 2007MEN ON HEAT (Essan Laurent, Australia, 22 mins): A comedy with 17 different nationalities. From Sydney, it’s sexy and extremely funny, Essan says "This program has been written specifically for women and for the first time men have been treated as an object w...
Screenwriter Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal will bring her entertainment-industry acumen and her talent for intimate observation of family life to her role as chair of the selection committee for the coveted 20th-annual USC Libraries Scripter(R) Award. Scripter is the only award that fetes a film's screenwriter alongside the author of the book, short story or novella upon which it is based. The winners are honored at a black-tie event in USC's Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library each spring. In Januar...
The seventh annual 15/15 Film Festival presents local and International short films at the Chauvel Cinema in Oxford Street, Sydney on 31 May as part of this international filmmaking event. After the Gala awards night in Melbourne, the festival will be touring and local Sydney filmmakers, who participated in the festival, are given the opportunity to have their work screened on home turf.‘At the Screening Festival, we will share with you the innovative and creative ways emerging filmmakers inco...
Following the overwhelming success of its inaugural edition in 2006, Young at Heart, Sydney’s 2nd Seniors Film Festival, returns March 11th – 18th 2007 as part of NSW Seniors Week. The Festival features a week of film premieres, workshops, Q&A’s and parties at Dendy Opera Quays and the Ritz Cinema in Randwick. It is a rare chance for people of all ages to enjoy prestigious new films, meet the filmmakers and take part in a fun and relaxed cultural event with friends and relatives.Festivitie...
Internationally acclaimed Australian director Phillip Noyce is to be guest speaker at the biannual Sydney Film School Festival, helping celebrate the student achievements at the Palace Academy Twin, Paddington on December 13.The Australian born, director of films such as Rabbit-Proof Fence, Patriot Games, The Quiet American and Catch A Fire, Noyce will address audiences at the closing night of the two-night festival.The Sydney Film School Festival will showcase over 50 student major documentarie...
The 24th Annual Miami International Film Festival will take placeMarch 2 - 11, 2007112 Films—92 Features and 20 Shorts—Highlight 2007 FestivalIncluding 7 World Premieres, 32 International, North American& U.S. Premieres, and 45 East Coast PremieresThe Miami International Film Festival (MIFF), presented by Miami Dade College (MDC), announced today the full schedule of films for the 24th annual festival to be held March 2-11, 2007. The Opening Night film this year will be “Black Book” from...
