POW Fest opens with Coming Up Easy, local director Rebecca Rodriguez’s drama of a possibly deadly struggle between sisters. It continues with a dual screening of Irene Taylor Brodsky’s The Final Inch (see interview on page TK) and the film that beat it for the Best Documentary Short Subject Oscar, Smile Pinki. But the unsung gem of the festival is The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), another Oscar nominee that took longtime cinematographer Ellen Curras 23 years to make alongside co-director (and subjec...
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” got the most nominations (13), including best picture, best actor, best screenplay, best direction, best make up of course...Performance by an actor in a leading roleRichard Jenkins in “The Visitor” (Overture Films) Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon” (Universal) Sean Penn in “Milk” (Focus Features) Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (Paramount and Warner Bros.) Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (Fox Searchlight) Performance by...
The 10th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival - Images of the 21st Century, part of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, is celebrating its tenth anniversary by presenting approximately 160 films by directors from all over the world, as well as a full parallel events program. A record number of 35.000 viewers and 450 guests attended last year’s Festival, demonstrating the increasing interest of the public and industry professionals in documentaries and the TDF’s success in attracti...
The 34th Northwest Film & Video Festival wrapped up its 9 day run Saturday, November 17 after screening 11 features and 34 short films made by artists in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Montana and Idaho.Portland filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky's HEAR AND NOW (Portland OR) emerged with the Best Feature prize. Taking the award for best Short Film was Claudia Morgado Escanilla's NO BIKINI (Vancouver BC).NW Film & Video Festival AUDIENCE AWARDSFEATURE FILMHEAR AND NOW (Portland OR) Irene Taylo...
The 30th Portland International Film Festival wrapped up its 16 day run Sunday, February 25 after screening 82 features and 34 shorts from 35 countries to more than 31,000 Festival attendees. Enthusiastic audiences voted this year's Oscar winner Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck's THE LIVES OF OTHERS (Germany) Best Feature and Best New Director Award. Florian was on hand at the Opening Night Party sponsored by Hollywood Video.Portland filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky's HEAR AND NOW (US) emerged wi...
Thursday, December 28----With documentary films experiencing a commercial and critical peak, the stakes have never been higher (and the rewards greater) for the sixteen American Independent documentary features competing at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Considering the box office clout of such films as AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH and THE MARCH OF THE PENGUINS in the past year, one can expect some of the most ferocious bidding wars will be unleashed for distribution rights to many of these fil...
