by Sandy Mandelberger, Online Dailies Editor The avant-gardist Lydia Lunch, whose varied career has ranged from punk music to indie film acting, will kick off the music events of the Festival at a special concert following the Opening Night Gala screening of THE WHITE RIBBON, the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or winner by Austrian auteur Michael Haneke.   Lunch has been called “one of the most influential performers of the age” by the Boston Phoenix newspaper....

CineVegas will honor two actors, two directors and two video game design pioneers at the 2009 Festival, it was announced today by Trevor Groth, Artistic Director. Jon Voight will be given the Marquee Award, recognizing his artistic excellence, professional accomplishment and dedication to cinema. Willem Dafoe will be honored with the Vanguard Actor Award, which honors the distinctive mark he has made in film through his brave performances. The Vanguard Director Award will be given to George and ...

The organisers of the 16th Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film have included the bizarre stop-motion cinema fairytale “Coraline” in the programme for AniMovie, the competition for feature-length films. Cult director Henry Selick’s most recent film will celebrate its German premiere when it is shown this Saturday in the 3D version. This Universal film is not due to open in German cinemas until July 30. The feature-length animated film "Coraline" is based on the children’s book of the same...