AFM Day 4-5: Adrien Brody's WRECKED Sells, Where Not to Film, Mini-Moguls Speakby Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent "Expected to be released in theatres in 2011" might be the most ominous phrase coming out of the 31st American Film Market, which closes on Nov. 10. It's the expectations of buyers and sellers that indicate we're in a worldwide down economy, with many expecting the worst. Not so if you are Adrien Brody, steeped in Oscar potential; and even if your film is WRECKED, som...
13TH ARPA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL IN L.A."AGHET, a German View of a Turkish Genocide"by Alex Deleon, for ARPA is the name of the river that flows through Yerevan, the capital of the free Armenian Republic, which until 1991 was part of the former Soviet Union. Consequently, it is not surprising that an international film festival so-named is primarily (although not entirely) concerned with the presentation of films from Armenia, films dealing with Armenian topics, and/or films made by Armen...
NORWEGIAN FILM WEEK :October 14 – 24, 2009$9 ($6 ASF members)Series Pass: $45 ($30 ASF Members)Scandinavia House presents a selection of six recent films from Norway with the aim of exposing an American audience to the work of both established directors and a new generation of filmmakers.In 2005, Norway celebrated its 100th anniversary as an independent nation; in 1905 the Swedish-Norwegian Union was dissolved. Cinema, of course, was invented just ten years before that, so it could be said tha...
"Tarantino's GLOURIOS BURSTERDS"
Grokked at ODEON Muswell Hill, London, Tues. August 25, 2009
I have never been a great Quentin Tarantino fan ( I hated "Pulp Fiction" and walked out of "Reservoir Dogs") but right off the bat I will have to say that even if he doesn't get an Oscar this year, Mr. Q. should at least get a medal - the Congressional Medal of Honour (of Poland and Israel?) - for telling it like it should have been, ev...
I have never been a great Quentin Tarantino fan ( I hated “Pulp Fiction” and walked out of “Reservoir Dogs”) but right off the bat I will have to say that even if he doesn’t get an Oscar this year, Mr. Q. should at least get a medal – the Congressional Medal of Honour (of Poland and Israel?) – for telling it like it should have been, even if it wasn’t quite actually that way. Any person of Jewish persuasion who does not stand up and cheer at various points in this tremendous...
1st festival of Czech films, CZECH-IN pour le cinéma tchèque, is will open at eight o’clock tomorrow evening in the Paris cinema L’Entrepôt. As we have announced in a previous press release, this is the first self-contained festival of Czech films to be held in Paris since 1989. The showcase runs until June 9 and features ten titles. The six-day event offers a cross-section of contemporary Czech cinema made after the Velvet Revolution, consisting of nine feature films and one feature-leng...
Senior American superstar actor Robert De Niro (65 in August) was the trophy guest of the 45th Karlovy Vary film festival where he received a crystal globe career award for his "extraordinary contribution to world cinema" at the opening ceremony on July Fourth. But the real star of the festival here in the Bohemian valley of eternal thermal springs has turned out to be 86 year old British actor Christopher Lee who dazzled the Czech press and fans with his exraordinary knowledge of Cze...
45th Karlovy Vary IFF Senior American superstar actor Robert De Niro (65 in August) was the trophy guest of the 45th Karlovy Vary film festival where he received a crystal globe career award for his "extraordinary contribution to world cinema" at the opening ceremony on July Fourth. But the real star of the festival here in the Bohemian valley of eternal thermal springs has turned out to be 86 year old British actor Christopher Lee who dazzled the Czech press and fans with his exraordinary knowl...
Tuesday, October 9-------Although he was not strictly an actor, nor was his work in films his most enduring legacy, it is important nevertheless to mark the passing of Marcel Marceau, the internationally famous French pantomimist, who died at the age of 84 on September 24th. Although his visage was one of the most famous in international culture, it was ironically always obscured by his trademark white makeup. Few except close associates would even recognize the man outside of his mime person...
Chaim Pevner, Film CriticFILM NOTES TO THE BARBICAN YIDDISH FILM RETROSPECTIVE(London, October 12-24, 1996) THE YIDDISH language cinema is nearly unique among world cinema cultures in that it had no specific homeland. Yiddish films, including “silent Yiddish” films, were produced wherever there were major Yiddish speech communities and a Yiddish theatrical circuit from which talent could be recruited. The majority of Yiddish language films were therefore made in New York or in P...
Directed in tandem by Bill Gutenburg and Dan Sturman, "NANKING" (USA 2007, RT, 91 minutes, in Mandarin, English and Japanese) is a startling and shocking reconstruction of a gigantic atrocity perpetrated by the Japanese army in China nearly 70 years ago, but presented in part by leading actors as if it were taking place today. The result, graphically depicting the sack and destruction of the city along with the indiscriminate bestial massacre of just about the entire civilian population, is a p...
Wednesday, June 6------Film festivals are all about discovery......of newly emerging filmmakers or the latest films from acknowledged film masters. However, the best festivals also take a look backward, to celebrate the accomplishments of cinema giants long since past, and through this showcase bring to light "lost" films for a new generation of film lovers. Such is the case with Festroia's program of ten classic German feature films, a collaboration between the Festival and the G...
The 20th edition of this specialized festival in north-western France (March 21-- April 01, 2007) was a bit of a disappointment this year in terms of competition films and visiting personalities, at least compared to the four previous times I have made it my business to be here. In the past there have always been unusual films in the competition section and visitations by major figures, actors and/or directors, from the countries covered here, which includes, incidentally, Belgium, Holland and...
Olga, the opening film of the festival was the major attractions for all filmgoers in the iffi-Goa and directorate of the festival have to schedule repeat screening on demand.The film is a adoption of Fernando Morais’ best seller of the same title chronicles the true life story of the German revolutionary Olga Benario Prestes from her youth in Munich to her romance with communist leader Luis Carlos Prestes and finally to her death in Gas chamber under Hitler’s Nazi regime. Olga was born in J...
THE 20TH EDITION OF THE MAR DEL PLATA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL WILL BE HELD ON MARCH 10-20 2005Last year the festival organizers sought to give the event a closer identification with the city and decided to rename the awards Astor, in honour of Mar del Plata's most famous citizen. This year the emphasis is on image, so a new logo has been adopted. It combines two basic elements intended to represent our city and country internationally: the sea lion, a symbol of the city, is framed by moving ...
New and old european classics on view in Turkey with the "European Film Festival On Wheels" – Izmir, Turkey. With Turkey now bucking for entry into the EU (European Union) this travelling selection of carefully culled European films -- Features and Shorts, old and new -- is a most significant cinematic and cultural event in this dynamic country of 65 million, stretching west to east, from the Aegean Sea to the Caucasus, north to south, from the Black Sea to the Eastern Mediterranean. Founder...
MONTRÉAL WORLD FILM FESTIVALWorld CompetitionDÍAS DE CAMPO (DÍAS DE CAMPO) (COMP) (World Premiere)Chile - France / 2004 / 35 mm / Colour / 89 min / Dir.: Raoul RuizIn a bar in Santiago, two old-timers converse over a few drinks. It seems that one of them is writing a novel. It is a weird discussion; they speak of themselves as if they were already dead. Don Federico, the would-be novelist, gathers matches in his wine glass. The ambience is eerie. Where are we? In the kingdom of the dead? Well...
JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL IN WARSAWBy Alex Deleon-PevnyTHE First International Festival of Jewish films ever to be held in Warsaw --officially "FILMS ON JEWISH MOTIFS -- '04"-- took place from 18 to 27 April. Produced essentially on a shoestring budget, by Mirek Chojecki,himself a veteran documentary film maker, it was also given a good dose of moral support by various luminaries of the Polish film world, including Andrzej Wajda, awarded a Hollywood Oscar for his life's work two years ago. Sixty f...
