Looking back at the just completed first Rome Film Festival and Fiesta combined one thing that can be said is that not only was it not a "flop", but it probably exceeded most people's wildest expectations. There was no lack of nay-sayers around the edges trying to disparage the event by accusing it of catering to the lowest common denominator, or slavishly bowing to Hollywood --(one paper called it "Romangeles") -- but the bottom line is that everybody had a good time, interest in cinema was gi...

If this is Saturday the festival must be over, but there is still so much going on all over the festival grounds, late movie shows, crowds flocking to the Viosconti cinema exhibit, etc., that it feels like this will last forever. A big crowd is assembled out by the red carpet for the last gala, "Fascists on Mars" a new Italian Comedy set in the near future on The Red Planet! De Niro's meet the people event was situated in the large Sinopolo auditorium and clips from various of his films were s...

The attention grabbing film on day number three was "Children of Men", a British pic directed by Mexican helmer Alfonso Cuarón and starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Michael Caine. The film, projected in the special side-bar, ZABALTEGI- PERLAS or "Pearls of the Open Zone", is set in the not too distant future, one generation from now, and presents the possibility that humanity could die out if the last pregnant woman on Earth does not give birth. In the film all females in the world (all ...

The Tribeca All Access Connects (TAA) program, which fosters relationships between U.S.-based filmmakers of color and the film industry, announced today the winners of the second Tribeca All Access Creative Promise Awards. At last night’s Tribeca All Access Connects Awards and Closing Party at the Tribeca Grand, sponsored by the Playboy Foundation: Dennis Lee won the award for the narrative section prize for his current screenplay “The Life & Times of H.J. Hermin. Dennis has previously di...