A federal judge freed movie distributors to send copies of films to awards voters -- a decision seen as a victory for independent film producers as awards season approaches.US District Judge Michael B. Mukasey lifted a rule imposed by the Motion Picture Association of America that blocked studios from sending the copies, or "screeners," to voters.The MPAA had argued that the ban, issued in September, was a means of slowing the explosion of movie piracy. Digital copies of many films turn up on th...
River to River. Florence Indian Film FestivalFrom December 10-14, 2003 the third edition of the River to River Florence Indian Film Festival, the only European film festival entirely dedicated to cinema both from and about India, will arrive in Florence. The festival is organized by Luca Marziali and Selvaggia Velo of bdjMEDIA.Screenings will take place at the Spazio Uno Cinema in Via del Sole, 10, Florence - Italy. PRESS RELEASE N.3River to River. Florence Indian Film FestivalFrom December 10-1...
The Hubert Bals Fund is designed to bring remarkable or urgent feature films and feature length creative documentaries by innovative and talented filmmakers from developing countries closer to fulfillment. The HBF provides grants that often turn out to play a crucial role in enabling these filmmakers to realize their projects. In its Fall 2003 Selection Round, Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) of the International Film Festival Rotterdam grants a total of Euro 467,000 to twenty-eight non-Western film-maker...
Forty-seven film projects have been selected for the 21st CineMart, the first and largest co-production market worldwide, to be held January 25 - 29, 2004 as part of the 33rd edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam.CineMart director Ido Abram: "With this promising line up of film projects by established film-makers as well as projects by new talents from all continents, we are looking forward to a very strong 21st CineMart. We feel that this selection connects extremely well with th...
THE TREATY was honored as the BEST SHORT FILM at the 2003 Midwest Entertainment Industry Conference in Lexington, Kentucky. The MEIC is the nation's FIRST non-profit entertainment industry conference. The conference is an annual convergence of national entertainment industry personnel representing a wide spectrum of companies and services within the entertainment industry, and artists from the worlds of film, music, game development, and publishing. THE TREATY also made its international debut...
At first sight, the title of Ryuichi HIROKI’s latest movie refers to sexual misery and loneliness. After all, it’s what a vibrator is about and we cannot forget that the helmer made his directing debut in 1982 in erotic films before receiving the Grand Prix in the video section of the Yubari Fantastic Film Festival for the 1993 film "Sadistic City". Or maybe it refers to the cellphone that vibrates in the inner jacket of 30-year old Rei Hayakawa (played by Shinobu Terashima, Arts Festival pr...
13th Annual Quebec International Festival of Science and FilmGO FIGURE!2003 AwardsTéléscience is proud to announce the award winners of GO FIGURE !, 13th Annual Quebec International Festival of Science and Film. During this ceremony, hosted by Gregory Charles, in attendance of Madame la Sous-Ministre associée à la Science et à la Technologie au Ministère du Développement Économique et Régional., 8 awards have been handed :Grand Prize for the Best Film (all categories)Awarded to A Nose f...
The Santa Fe Film Festival launches its fourth, and largest, season. Salutes to British director Stephen Frears, actor Peter Boyle and New Mexico novelist/screenwriter Max Evans anchor this year's Santa Fe Film Festival. In addition, the festival expects more than 200 filmmakers and other special guest artists to attend. The roster includes actress Elisabeth Moss (seen on TV series "The West Wing"), "The Wild Bunch" screenwriter Walon Green, legendary casting director Lynn Stalmaster and the te...
It seems that luck, skill, timing and talent go hand-in-hand when making a good movie or a commercial, and the Sonoma Valley Film Festival had all that going for it this past weekend when Hollywood mega-actor Bruce Willis showed up to lend his talent.Willis is starring in a commercial promoting the 2004 Sonoma Valley Film Festival, known as Cinema Epicuria. The 60-second trailer, titled "Cinema Epicuria or Bust," is being co-produced by Brenda Lhormer and Kevin McNeely, both Sonoma Valley reside...
York Independent Film Festival has now become York International Film Festival.So what else has changed apart from the name?We've now moved our website to www.yiff.co.uk (update your bookmarks if you still have our old address!), and introduced a new competetive category for films originating from Yorkshire alongside the usual awards for best feature, short, animation, documentary, short-short and the audience vote. We're assembling a new judging panel, featuring regular contributors to the nati...
Record Submissions for 3rd Annual Pixie Awards The Directors Board of Motion Pixure Arts and Technologies -- a non-profit organization that recognizes excellence in the production of Internet films and animations -- received a record number of submissions again this year for the 3rd Annual Directors Board Awards, or Pixie Awards 2003 "The Pixies are quickly becoming an online institution as THE award for broadband and Internet movies. Watch the award-winners from around the 'net or submit your...
BEVERLY HILLS, CA – If you were one of the lucky filmmakers attending the 2003 Beverly Hills Film Festival Awards Night Dinner at the infamous Beverly Hills Hotel this past May, consider yourself a part of Indie filmmaking history. The star studded event made up of Hollywood’s A-list actors, producers, directors, distributors and rising new filmmakers took center stage once again as the most prestigious film festival in the world. “The Beverly Hills Film Festival awards night ceremony is a...
The number of tickets sold on the 18 markets of Western Europe grows by 0.9% in 2002, rising from 958 to 966 million. Admissions are down, however, in the countries of Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean Rim, where they record an overall dip of 4.6%, from 106 to 101 million tickets sold in the 2001-2002 period.These are some of the figures presented in the new “European Cinema Yearbook” – 2003 advance edition, produced by MEDIA Salles and presented at Taormina this morning, Saturday 15 No...
Meryl Streep Follows De Niro in AFI Life Time Achievment tribute for 2004.The actress has been selected by the American Film Institute's (AFI) Board of Trustees to receive the 32nd AFI Life Achievement Award, the highest honor for a career in film, it was announced today by Sir Howard Stringer, Chair of the AFI Board of Trustees. The award will be presented to Streep at a gala tribute on June 10, 2004, which will be held in the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland. Mr. Stringer commented, "Mer...
