The 13th annual Savannah Film Festival, hosted by SCAD, presented Liam Neeson with the Achievement in Cinema Award on November 2, 2010. SCAD President Paula Wallace presented the award to Neeson to a standing ovation from a standing-room-only audience."I'm humbled and embarrassed but it's lovely to be here at this extraordinary festival," said Neeson upon acceptance of his award. "I'm the luckiest man in the friggin' world." He dedicated the award to the crews he's worked with on his sets. "They...

ALEX'S FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS -- ANNO 2005 WITH A MERRY X-MAS TO ALL! 1.TROMSO, January -- A fantastic place to open the festival year if you love snow and don't mind fifteen minutes of daylight, MAX ...in January. That was just a joke, folks -- by late January you get almost a whole hour of sunlight -- around eleven AM -- but really, who needs it? ...when fest topper, irrepressible Norskie-American MARTHA OTTE, is guaranteed to provide a slate of such interesting films that you'll spend th...

April is the Cruellest Month, or, Genocide African style, and a Shadowy Russian View of Emperor HirohitoAs the Berlin festival enters the home stretch political films and political biopics continue to score strongly. "The Sun"(‘Solntze’) by Alexander Sukorov provides a very dark Russian view of Japanese Emperor Hirohito during the crucial final days of the war and the immediate postwar days during which the descendant of the Sun God had to come to grips with his essential non-Godhood and wa...

SOUTHEASTERN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION LEANS 'SIDEWAYS'The wine-fueled comedy-drama "Sideways" has harvested top honors from the Southeastern Film Critics Association. The road movie in which two old friends argue over wine and women was named Best Picture in the 13th annual SEFCA vote. "Sideways" also won for director Alexander Payne, supporting actor Thomas Haden Church, supporting actress Virginia Madsen and its screenplay, which was adapted by Payne and Jim Taylor from Rex Pickett's novel. P...