HUNGER (Steve McQueen, UK)
Sunday, September 28--------I definitely do subscribe to the shitty weather theory for festival success. In short, the more dismal the weather, the better the attendance. And whether it was planned or not, this weekend's soggy, rather depressing weather has made people make a beeline for the screenings of the New York Film Festival in its first weekend. An added incentive is undoubtedly the use of the Ziegfield Theater as the Festival's main screen...
Friday, September 12--------This year, Oscar didn't come to Toronto. Since the Academy Awards calendar was shortened in 2003, Toronto loomed large as the place to premiere Oscar contenders for the end-of-year awards season.In the past few years, films such as Atonement, No Country For Old Men and Last King of Scotland began their Oscar trajectories in Toronto. Many of the Galas here, which have contained some past awards successes, have been poorly received (including The Burning Plain, T...
Fifth time on Sarajevo Film Festival well known British film director once again proves his visits. Well, he's not a man for celebrity glamour. In life as in his films, he likes to keep things real and he is very English.-“It is a special place and there are number of reasons. Generally I think Sarajevo is a unique kind of place. The festival was born out of extraordinary tragedy and no other festival that I am aware has it. The nature of the city is very energetic and I find it very enriching...
The 27th annual Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) will be held from September 25 to October 10, 2008. VIFF is delighted to be able to bring to Vancouver many of the top prize-winners from the major world film festivals. Acclaimed earlier this year at Cannes were THREE MONKEYS (Turkey), for which Nuri Bilge Ceylan won the Best Director award; IL DIVO, by Paolo Sorrentino, which won a Jury Prize; A CHRISTMAS TALE (France) by Arnaud Desplechin, which won a Special Prize; TULPAN (Russia/K...
BAFTA award-winner Mike Leigh’s latest film Happy-Go-Lucky is to receive a gala preview in Cornwall on April 16th. Cornwall Film Festival and Penwith Film Society are co-hosting the event which will be held at the Savoy Cinema, Penzance. Producer Simon Channing Williams will introduce the film and hold a Q&A session after the screening. Audiences will also have the opportunity to admire Simon’s collection of awards from his work on such films as The Constant Gardener and Secrets & Lies. The...
The San Francisco Film Society announces that Mike Leigh will be presented with the inaugural Founder's Directing Award at the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival (April 24-May 8). The Founder's Award will be presented to Leigh at Film Society Awards Night, the annual benefit gala, on Thursday, May 1 at the Westin St. Francis Hotel.The Founder's Directing Award is presented each year to one of the masters of world cinema and is given in memory of Irving M. Levin, who founded the San F...
The 58th Berlin Film Festival closed out a rather unremarkable ten day run with Andrzej Wajda's massive indictment of Russian war crimes, "Katyn". The political significance of this film, especially in Germany, was underlined by the attendance at the final gala of German Prime Minister Angela Merkel and other top level political dignitaries. Eighty year old director Wajda said that he hopes the film will help build new bridges between Germany and Poland. Considering that Poland suffe...
The 58th Berlin Film Festival closed out a rather unremarkable ten day run with Andrzej Wajda's massive indictment of Russian war crimes, "Katyn". The political significance of this film, especially in Germany, was underlined by the attendance at the final gala of German Prime Minister Angela Merkel and other top level political dignitaries. Eighty year old director Wajda said that he hopes the film will help build new bridges between Germany and Poland. Considering that Poland suffered far mo...
The Elite Squad, directed by Jose Padilha has won the Golden Bear at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Reza Naji won best actor for The Song of Sparrows and Sally Hawkins picked up the best actress prize for the Mike Leigh directed Happy-Go-Lucky.The 58th incarnation of the festival saw the festival assume a new direction. There were decidedly less stars than in 2007 when the likes of Matt Damon put in an appearance. And the star vehicles this year were more in line with the artistic, edgy feel tha...
With the world premiere of the Rolling Stones concert film, Shine a Light by Oscar-winner Martin Scorsese, the 58th Berlin International Film Festival will open tomorrow, February 7, 2008. Director Martin Scorsese, and Stones Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood are all coming to Berlin to attend this big event. Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick will open the Festival together with Minister of State and Commissioner for Cultural and Media Affairs Bernd Neumann, Governing Mayo...
With the world premiere of the Rolling Stones concert film, Shine a Light by Oscar-winner Martin Scorsese, the 58th Berlin International Film Festival will open tomorrow, February 7, 2008. Director Martin Scorsese, and Stones Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood are all coming to Berlin to attend this big event. Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick will open the Festival together with Minister of State and Commissioner for Cultural and Media Affairs Bernd Neumann, Governing Mayo...
