Wednesday, August 22--------Oscar nominated actor Ethan Hawke and fellow thespian Justin Theroux are two of the latest actors  who have gone behind the cameras for their latest films. Hawke has adapted his own novel THE HOTTEST STATE for a wide screen version that had its world premiere at last year's Venice Film Festival. The film stars Mark Webber as a New York city actor (originally from Texas) who falls desperately in love with a singer (played by Oscar nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno, w...

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...

Final Jury Decisions on all ten major Competition Categories. WorldFest-Houston, the 3rd longest-running International Film Festival in North America, celebrated the conclusion of its 40th annual independent film showcase with a Grand Awards Gala on April 28th and Closing Day Festivities on April 29th with a VIP NASA and Space Center Houston tour and Texas BBQ sponsored by The Houston Yacht Club and wrapped it up with Robert Davi's award winning directorial debut, The Dukes. (Chazz Palminteri,...

        Thursday, April 26-----The 12th Annual Palm Beach International Film Festival closes this evening with the Florida Premiere of  THE DUKES, the feature film directorial debut of actor Robert Davi. The special event film screening will also feature a live performance by The Emeralds, a Philadelphia doo-wop group featuring Robert Davi, the film’s director, writer and star. The film, which also stars Chazz Palminteri, Peter Bogdanovich, Frank D'...

Tuesday, December 26----The Sundance Film Festival will see sixteen World Premieres compete in the Festival's prestigious Independent Dramatic Feature Film Competition. It is further evidence of the Festival's critical role as a festival of discovery that all the films in this sixteen-film competition are world premieres, unseen by all but a few close associates and the Festival's programming committee. The anticipation is high, as are the stakes for film distributors in the weeks leading up to...

Friday, October 6----The Woodstock Film Festival will open next Thursday with the East Coast Premiere of the docudrama INFAMOUS, the highly ancticipated biopic of legendary writer Truman Capote. The film, which stars British actor Toby Jones in a remarkable incarnation of the capricious Capote, was written and directed by UK director Douglas McGrath (NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, EMMA). The film, which also stars Sandra Bullock, Daniel Craig, Peter Bogdanovich, Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, Gwyneth Paltrow,...

With a couple of hours still left to go until the official kick-off of this "Mother of all Film Festivals" activity is feverish along the short stretch of the Lido known as Viale Marconi, the actual location of this oldest of all world film festivals --Now that was rather a mouthful, calling for a bit of elucidation. The first Venice film festival took place way back in 1932 when the Fascist government under Benito Mussolini, taking a page from Lenin, realized that film was a powerful propaganda...

Toronto International Film Festival Announces Its Complete Line-Up of 352 Films From 61 CountriesOrganizers of the Toronto International Film Festival today announced final programming details, including the complete line-up of films for the 31st Festival running September 7 - 16, 2006. At this year's Festival, 352 films from 61 countries will screen, including 261 features, 91 per cent of which are world, international or North American premieres, and 62 of which are feature directorial debuts....

New Directors/New Films, one of the most anticipated film events on the New York film calendar, opens this week end. The program, jointly presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Department of Film and Media of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), will unspool 25 feature films and 5 shorts from March 22 through April 2, 2006. The program opens with the East Coast Premiere of HALF NELSON, a Sundance sleeper about a committed teacher in New York’s public schools, played by rising star...

Ben Gazzara is honored with Donostia Prize at 53th San Sebastian Festival.Raised in New York skid rows, Biagio Gazzara, known as Ben since childhood, grew up dreaming of becoming an actor. The son of a Sicilian immigrant, he soon drew attention for his brilliant and contained sobriety during his classes with Erwin Piscator and in his courses at the Actors’ Studio.Gazzara made such a firm start to his acting in Broadway that his first stage appearance (Calder Willingham’s End as a Man) landed...

2004 World Cinema Naples Film Line-upSee you at the Movies!FEATURE NARRATIVESThe Barbecue People (Hamangalistim)Feature Drama, 102 minutes, 2003, Israel, Dir.- David Ofek & Yossi Madmony, Prod.-David Ofek, Joseph Madmony, Screenplay- David Ofek, Yossi Madmony,Starring- Victor Ida, Raymond Abecassis, Makram Khuri, Israel Bright, Dana Ivgi, Gili Sa'ar, Igal Adika, World Premier Mar del Plata Intl Film Festival - winner of the silver Ombu for Best Screenplay. Israel in the late 80's; a wild BBQ fe...