Former Film fest directors Jon Fitzgerald and Mitch Levine announce the launch of Festival Consulting Group (FCG), a company devoted to serving the film festival community. Supported by a comprehensive website, FestivalConsulting.com, the Company will offer a complete range of services – from Sponsorship to Strategic Planning to Production Services – and virtually everything in between. The announcement was made at a reception at the Plage des Palmes Café in Cannes, co-hosted by Film Find...

The 2004 American Film Market closed with an increase in total attendance of 5%, it was announced by Jonathan Wolf, Executive Vice President, AFMA, and Managing Director of the AFM. In addition, Mr. Wolf reported that total buyers are up 10% from last year. The AFM, which opened Wednesday, February 25, concludes tomorrow, March 3.Total attendance is 7,212, up 5% from 6,834 in 2003. The final tally of buyers is 1,434 compared to 1,309 last year, a 10% increase, with 642 buying companies registe...

AFM ANNOUNCES INITIAL PLANS FOR NEW STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP WITH AFI FESTAFM today revealed initial plans for the new relationship between the American Film Market (AFM) and the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival (AFI FEST). The announcement was made jointly by Michael Ryan, Chairman, AFMA, Jean Prewitt, AFMA President and CEO, and Jonathan Wolf, AFMA Executive Vice President and Managing Director of AFM.The current AFM concludes on Wednesday and has set a new record with the highest num...

AFM ANNOUNCES INITIAL PLANS FOR NEW STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP WITH AFI FESTAFM today revealed initial plans for the new relationship between the American Film Market (AFM) and the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival (AFI FEST). The announcement was made jointly by Michael Ryan, Chairman, AFMA, Jean Prewitt, AFMA President and CEO, and Jonathan Wolf, AFMA Executive Vice President and Managing Director of AFM.The current AFM concludes on Wednesday and has set a new record with the highest num...

Late Sunday evening, AFI FEST 2003 ended a glorious run of 10 days and 10 nights of the best films in the world, but not before announcing its coveted Audience Awards and unveiling the World Premiere of Patty Jenkins' MONSTER, starring Charlize Theron. In front of a sold-out audience at ArcLight's Cinerama Dome, Nancy Collet, the Director of Programming, announced that Jim Sheridan's IN AMERICA took the Audience Award for Feature Film. The film, which stars Samantha Morton and Paddy Considine, f...

Monster closed AFI last week end.The film written and directed by Patty JenkinsPROD: Brad Wyman, Donald Kushner, Charlize Theron, Mark Damon, Clark Peterson EXEC PROD: Meagan Riley-Grant, Steward Hall, Andreas Schmid, Andreas Grosch, Sammy LeeCast: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Scott Wilson, Pruitt Taylor Vince Charlize Theron stars in MONSTER, a shockingly moving film that burrows deep beneath the tabloid-sized headline stories on Aileen Wournos, the man-hatingand murder...

AFI FEST – Intl Jury Awards: BLUE, BEAH & DEEP SILENCE stand-outsFriday night, Nov 14th, at a standing-room-only celebration at CineSpace, the International Jury Award winners of AFI FEST 2003 were announced. Taking the Feature Jury Prize was Natasha Arthy's OLD, NEW, BORROWED AND BLUE, a Danish bittersweet comedy and an official Dogme film about the perils of love and honesty. "I'm really proud," said an elated Arthy minutes after winning. "It's very unreal. We didn't expect anything like thi...

Friday night, at a standing-room-only celebration at Cinespace, the jury award winners of AFI FEST 2003 were announced. Taking the Feature Jury Prize was Natasha Arthy's OLD, NEW, BORROWED AND BLUE, a Danish bittersweet comedy and an official Dogme film about the perils of love and honesty. "I'm really proud," said an elated Arthy minutes after winning. "It's very unreal. We didn't expect anything like this." Arthy and producer Birgitte Skov said that they planned to ring the two lead actors fro...

Day 7 featured what AFI FEST does best: Present an extraordinary spectrum of films, while giving fest-goers the opportunity to converse and meet with the filmmakers who made them. Within one evening, films from all eight sections were screened, in addition to a line-up of shorts and the Centerpiece Gala of the World Premiere of Norman Jewison's THE STATEMENT, starring Tilda Swinton. The evening began with a bolt of lightning and the US Premiere of Natasha Arthy's OLD, NEW, BORROWED AND BLUE, an ...

Last night, AFI FEST was bursting at the seams with masterful films, enlightening Q & A's, controversy and other memorable pleasures. The evening began with a dramatic announcement that talented French director Siegfried, whose film SANSA screened at 9:00 p.m., had been detained at LAX and the INS was barring him from entering the U.S. due to visa problems. When AFI FEST tried to reach the INS the following morning, they refused to comment on his detention, saying only that AFI FEST should discu...

AFI American Film Institute 2003 Festival is playing to appreciative audience this week in Los Angeles, California. The Festival opened with the U.S. Premiere of Nigel Cole's CALENDAR GIRLS. Nigel walked the red carpet to celebrate the start of AFI FEST 2003 and the stars of the film were there as well to add to the glamour. Kevin Costner was a crowd favorite as he swaggered down the red carpet while wearing pale snakeskin cowboy boots and jeans. This past weekend at the Roosevelt Hotel, they ...

AFI FEST's Day Five began with a bang, or should we say a beat, as an animated audience arrived early to soak up Paul Kell's FIVE SIDES OF A COIN. A vivid journey through the world of hip-hop, the documentary features interviews and performances from modern-day legends Grandmaster Flash and Run DMC, as well as legends-of-the-future like Del Tha Funky Homosapien and Kool Keith. "Was anyone on Earth left out?" asked an awed film-goer during the Q&A. "Only KRS-1," answered Kell. "Apparently, his wi...