The 10th anniversary Moondance International Film Festival was a great success, and a wonderful time was had by all! Attendees enjoyed the 71 indy films that were screened at Boulder's Dairy Center for the Arts, the Shambhala Meditation Center, and a unique, first-ever venue: inside the dome of the Fiske Planetarium, plus our popular workshops, special presentations, private consultations, and networking parties with delicious food and good company at the St. Julien Hotel terrace, with lovely co...
During the Gala of the Dutch Film at the 29th Netherlands Film Festival, on Friday 2 October, departing director Doreen Boonekamp (1968) was honoured with the Golden Calf for the Culture Award 2009. The prize was presented by chairwoman of the board Jeltje van Nieuwenhoven. The Golden Calf for the Culture Award is granted by the board of the Foundation Netherlands Film Festival to a person or organisation that made an important contribution to the Dutch film culture.Doreen Boonekamp graduated fr...
Uma Thurman in MOTHERHOOD
At the Woodstock Film Festival, which today concludes its five-day marathon of film premieres, industry seminars, music concerts and groovy parties, film directors generally get all the attention. However, after my own personal marathon screenings, it is the performances of several standout actors that has made the biggest impression. Of course, for an independent filmmaker, casting is a critical part of the process. Luckily, it has been par...
Le Giornate del Cinema Muto, XXVIII ed.: 3-10 October 2009
Von Stroheim´s MERRY WIDOW perks interest for GIORNATE opening
THE MERRY WIDOW (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, US 1925)
is the opening night film at the 2009 Giornate de Cinema Muto 200,
The Music
When I first accompanied The Merry Widow years ago, I was totally struck by this highly creative and inventive film adaptation of the operetta, di
At the Woodstock Film Festival, which today concludes its five-day marathon of film premieres, industry seminars, music concerts and groovy parties, film directors generally get all the attention. However, after my own personal marathon screenings, it is the performances of several standout actors that has made the biggest impression. Of course, for an independent filmmaker, casting is a critical part of the process. Luckily, it has been part of the appeal of independent cinema that name actors...
Media Personality and CEO of UAE-based production company Pyramedia, Nashwa Al Ruwaini, was unanimously elected last week as a member of the prestigious International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. With over 20 years of experience in the television industry in the Middle East, Nashwa has built a massively successful reputation for content creation in the Middle East.
After 11 years of presenting and creating content for the Middle East Broadcasting corporation (MBC), Nashwa estab...
DOK Industry:DOK Leipzig International Documentary Industry Gathering 2009In the past three years, DOK Leipzig has developed into the central German documentary film industry meeting place with a major international aura. An important function of DOK Leipzig is to offer the documentary film industry a lively platform for current debates, financing new projects and the distribution of finished works. DOK Leipzig offers international industry professionals both a window on the world of German docu...
Female directors have been the toast of town in Toronto this week, with films that have been embraced by the industry, film critics and audiences. Although women directors still make up an anemically small percentage of the ranks of film directors everywhere around the world, their special spins on a number of high profile films here are worth noting. No film premiere generated as much excitement as the red carpet gala of JENNIFER'S BODY, a vampire comedy scribed by Oscar-winning scenarist Diabl...
by Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor
Female directors have been the toast of town in Toronto this week, with films that have been embraced by the industry, film critics and audiences. Although women directors still make up an anemically small percentage of the ranks of film directors everywhere around the world, their special spins on a number of high profile films here are worth noting.
No film premiere generated as much excitement as the red carpet gala of JEN...
THE MERRY WIDOW (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, US 1925)
is the opening night film at the 2009 Giornate de Cinema Muto 200,
The Music
When I first accompanied The Merry Widow years ago, I was totally struck by this highly creative and inventive film adaptation of the operetta, directed by the genius Erich von Stroheim. Immediately I realized that my “one” piano + singer accompaniment wasn’t at all enough to serve this brilliant film. I started a serious quest to develop a score for the...
THE MERRY WIDOW is the opening film ofthe 2006 Giornate de Cinema Muto.
Comments on The Music
When I first accompanied The Merry Widow years ago, I was totally struck by this highly creative and inventive film adaptation of the operetta, directed by the genius Erich von Stroheim. Immediately I realized that my “one” piano + singer accompaniment wasn’t at all enough to serve this brilliant film. I start
THE NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM & VIDEO FESTIVAL "The Voice of Indie Film" October 22nd-29th, 2009Festival will feature the likes of Liam Neeson, Ed Asner, Vincent Pastore, Carmen Electra, Lydia Lunch, Regis Philbin, Danny Aiello, Lainie Kazan, Pat Cooper, Anthony Wong, John Lloyd Young, Jai Rodriguez, Bruce Vilanich, Eli Wallach, Russell Means, Talbot Perry Simons, Isaach de Bankolé and more. New Yorkers in need of an affordable yet satisfying indie film fix will be happy to hear...
From 24th September to 3rd October 2009 the 17th Filmfest Hamburg focuses in on films treating the topic of "Vibrant Metropolises". Claus Friede, the curator of the Focus' section, says that the selection of 12 international feature and documentary films presents: "metropolises of extreme contrasts. The films contain social criticism, deal with radical strategies of survival, and depict breathless hypermodernity alongside urban traditions that have developed over centuries." Festival Director Al...
From 24th September to 3rd October 2009 the 17th Filmfest Hamburg focuses in on films treating the topic of "Vibrant Metropolises". Claus Friede, the curator of the Focus' section, says that the selection of 12 international feature and documentary films presents: "metropolises of extreme contrasts. The films contain social criticism, deal with radical strategies of survival, and depict breathless hypermodernity alongside urban traditions that have developed over centuries." Festival Director Al...
It was announced today that the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) will present Oscar® winner Roman Polanski with the Festival’s prestigious Golden Eye Award for his life’s work as a film director. The announcement was made today by ZFF Directors Karl Spoerri and Nadja Schildknecht.Roman Polanski is regarded as one of the most unconventional filmmakers of our time and will receive the Golden Eye Award on Sunday, September 27th, as part of ZFF’s ongoing “A Tribute To...” series during the 5th ...
The 47th New York Film Festival (NYFF) will be held at Lincoln Center, Friday, September 25 - Sunday, October 11, 2009. The festival presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, annually showcase the best in American and International cinema. This year's festival showcasing 29 feature films from 17 countries includes Special Events, HBO Films Dialogues, Avant-Garde, and Oshima. HBO Films Dialogues with directors Jia Zhangke, Wong Kar-wai, Darren Aronofsky and Arnaud Desplechin focusing on t...
By Maria Esteves - August 14, 2009
The 47th New York Film Festival (NYFF) will be held at Lincoln Center, Friday, September 25 - Sunday, October 11, 2009. The festival presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center, annually showcase the best in American and International cinema. This year's festival showcasing 29 feature films from 17 countries includes Special Events, HBO Films Dialogues, Avant-Garde, and Oshima.
HBO Films Dialogues with directors Jia Zhangke, Wong Kar-wai, Darren...
by Sandy Mandelberger, Online Dailies Editor
The Polish-Swedish Film Meetings introduced a number of exciting new projects from both Polish and Swedish producers. In networking meetings with producers, sales agents and financiers, these projects in development will undoubtedly profit from the atmosphere of cooperation that has been initiated between the Era New Horizons International Film Festival and the Swedish Film Institute.
“Callgirl“ is a ...
“THE NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL INDEPENDENT FILM AND VIDEO FESTIVAL RETURNS TO LOS ANGELES FOR 8 DAYS OF 100 SCREENINGS, RED CARPET PREMIERES, PARTIES, PANELS AND AWARDS CEREMONY & A NEW FEST PRESIDENT, ABEL FERRARA, THE KING OF INDIE FILM!”Featuring the talents of Susan Sarandon; Taryn Manning; Walter Cronkite; Arthur Laurents; Topmodel Venantia Otto; DJ Qualls; Mercedes McNab; Poet Steven Vincent Benét; Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer Douglas Moore; Tony Randall (final performance, The Od...
by Sandy Mandelberger, Online Dailies Editor
The ERA New Horizons International Film Festival is shining the spotlight on contemporary Swedish cinema in the program Kino Szwecji: Cinema of Sweden, which is introducing Polish audiences to a new generation of film talents.
“Darling” is a survey of the empty consumerist lives of a group of young women in contemporary Stockholm, that won the Nordic Film Prize at the Goteborg Film Festival for its writer/director/cinem...
The ERA New Horizons International Film Festival is shining the spotlight on contemporary Swedish cinema in the program Kino Szwecji: Cinema of Sweden, which is introducing Polish audiences to a new generation of film talents. “Darling” is a survey of the empty consumerist lives of a group of young women in contemporary Stockholm, that won the Nordic Film Prize at the Goteborg Film Festival for its writer/director/cinematographer Johan King. In “Fishy”, director Maria Blom, one such St...
The top 20 independent productions grossed about $50 million during first half of 2009 compared to the July 19 weekend gross of $80 million for the latest Harry Potter sequel. Indie's US revenues for the first half of 2009 are estimated to be about half of what it was scored last year. Whereas in all of 2008 20 studio films netted more than $100 million, it took only seven month into 2009 to reach that number, thus leading to a significant increase of high grossing studio films. In times of ...
LA Shorts Fest '09 has announced the jury for its thirteenth annual short film festival.
The jury is made up of a mixture of well known talent and industry executives, most of who are expected to be on hand to walk the red carpet on opening night, July 23.
Members of the LA Shorts Fest '09 jury are:
- Julian McMahon, Golden Globe nominated Acto...
The top 20 independent productions grossed about $50 million during first half of 2009 compared to the July 19 weekend gross of $80 million for the latest Harry Potter sequel. Indie's US revenues for the first half of 2009 are estimated to be about half of what it was scored last year. Whereas in all of 2008 20 studio films netted more than $100 million, it took only seven month into 2009 to reach that number, thus leading to a significant increase of high grossing studio films. In times of du...
The top 20 independent productions grossed about $50 million during first half of 2009 compared to the July 19 weekend gross of $80 million for the latest Harry Potter sequel. Indie’s US revenues for the first half of 2009 are estimated to be about half of what it was scored last year. Whereas in all of 2008 20 studio films netted more than $100 million, it took only seven month into 2009 to reach that number, thus leading to a significant increase of high grossing studio films. In times of...
