LOS ANGELES JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL OPENS WITH TONY CURTIS DOC AND MAMIE VAN DOREN APPEARANCE  by Alex Deleon for http://www.filmfestivals.com/ The seventh edition of the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival (LAJFF) opened on May 4 at the plush Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills with a feature length documentary on  recently deceased Jewish actor Tony Curtis and a Gala reception at which another legendary youth idol and sex symbol of the fifties, Mamie Van Doren, was theÂ...

  The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) launches on Friday evening with a three week marathon of premieres, special events, chic soirees and a number of tributes to celebrity guests. Actress Penelope Ann Miller, best remembered for her roles in such films as CARLITO’S WAY, CHAPLIN and KINDERGARTEN COP, will receive a Career Achievement Award on Saturday evening at the gala screening of her new film THE ARTIST. This contemporary black and white silent film by French di...

  The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, now in its 26th year, has got it right. It invites its audiences to take a vacation from ordinary film to dive into the many pleasures of its offerings from a cinematic survey of more than 150 films from 35 countries. With Fort Lauderdale’s reputation as one of America’s leisure playgrounds, the phrase is an invitation for immersion that has many rewards. Two things distinguish this festival…..one is the wide range of its venues, ...

  While Alfred Hitchcock will forever be known as the "master of suspense", one of his true admirers, the director Brian De Palma, also shares the master's abiding interest and superb execution of the thriller genre. If anything, De Palma was able to be much more explicit in the depiction of violence and sexality than Hitchcock was able to do in the more buttoned-down decades of the 1950s and 1960s. In many ways, De Palma combines the classic elements of less-is-more film sus...

SXSW FILM ANNOUNCES 2011 FEATURES LINEUP The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival is thrilled to announce the features lineup for this year's Festival, March 11 - 19, 2011 in Austin, Texas. The 2011 lineup continues the SXSW tradition of tapping into the cultural zeitgeist, highlighting emerging talent and breakthrough performances and supporting first-time filmmakers.  "This is the most exciting moment for us. After a fantastic festival of discove...

Ernest Borgnine, who is exuberantly entering his seventh decade of creating memorable characters and award-winning performances, will receive Screen Actors Guild (SAG)’s most prestigious accolade-—the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award for career achievement and humanitarian accomplishment. Borgnine, who has performed in more than 200 motion pictures, five television series and dozens of television films and guest appearances, will be presented the Award, given annually to an actor w...

  It is a long journey from Nazi-occupied Rome to the sunshine glitz of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.....but this is the journey that cinematographer Mario Tosi has taken to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award in Cinematography at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival on Wednesday evening prior to the screening of ITALIANS by writer/director Giovanni Veronesi.  Mr. Tosi has shot over 35 films including such Hollywood projects as HEARTS OF THE WEST (Jeff Bridges, Blythe D...

It is a long journey from Nazi-occupied Rome to the sunshine glitz of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.....but this is the journey that cinematographer Mario Tosi has taken to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award in Cinematography at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival on Wednesday evening prior to the screening of ITALIANS by writer/director Giovanni Veronesi. Mr. Tosi has shot over 35 films including such Hollywood projects as HEARTS OF THE WEST (Jeff Bridges, Blythe Danner, Andy Griffith...

1920s 1928 Janet Gaynor - Seventh Heaven as "Diane", Street Angel as "Angela", and Sunrise as "The Wife (Indre)" Louise Dresser - A Ship Comes In as "Mrs. Pleznik" Gloria Swanson - Sadie Thompson as "Sadie Thompson" 1929 Mary Pickford - Coquette as "Norma Besant" Ruth Chatterton - Madame X as "Jacqueline Floriot" Betty Compson - The Barker as "Carrie" Jeanne Eagels - The Letter as "Leslie Crosbie" Corinne G...

"Have you ever heard the expression "Let sleeping dogs lie"? Sometimes you're better off not knowing." -- Jake Gittes from Chinatown "It is the old wound, my King.  It has never healed." -- Lancelot from Excalibur "Hollywood will fuck you when no-one else will." -- Russ Millard from The Black Dahlia I saw the Brian De Palma's The Black Dahlia about eleven months ago. I finally watched it again last night. It takes a second viewing and a daily t...

 Friday, June 8--------Six American independent films are competing for a juried prize in the Independentes Americanos section of FESTROIA. The Festival has been a long supporter of American independent films and is one of the few in the world that showcases the work in a seperate section of its own and with a separate prize of its own. "America has always been a source of inspiration for world cinema", FESTROIA director Fernanda Silva explained. "We feel it is important to let ...