“The idea of a reverse alien invasion popped in my head a couple of decades ago while reading H.G. Well’s classic War of the Worlds.” recalls director Aristomenis (Meni) Tsirbas, “Beyond the novel’s allegorical use of imperialism, I was intrigued by the Martians’ backstory and their motives for invasion. However I was left wanting to know more about these violent aliens, and specifically why they were painted as uniformly evil. So out of these thoughts came ...
Last night I went to see a documentary of a belgian compatriot, Fabio Wuytack. Persona non grata tells the story of his father, a priest who lead revolutionary actions in Venezuela. The film really had a lot of success. Beautiful images, well thought script, intelligent editing... All the ingredients for an award, in my opinion...
After I interviewed Fabio, he offered me to have a drink in a bar on the seafront... We talked a lot and ended up ordering some food... It wasn't chea...
The Thalmässing short film festival is now entering ist sixteenth season. The Festival always presents new, unknown or unusual productions. The screening-print can be one of the following formats: Super 8, 16mm, 35mm, 8mm, Beta SP, BetaDigi, DV, DVD and any other digital Data.
Focuses on limited released foreign and domestic features (35mm only) as well as short films, comprising a variety of genres. Filmmakers, distributors, producers, animators, screenwriters, scholars, and journalists appear as guests.
Salman Rushdie, author of "Haroun and the Sea of Stories", "Midnight's Children", "The Satanic Verses", "Shalimar the Clown", "Grimus", "Shame", "The Moor's Last Sigh", "The Ground Beneath Her Feet", "Fury', and most recently published, "The Enchantress of Florence", answered the following questions.Q-"In "The Enchantress of Florence", East meets West and West meets East. What are East and West to you?"A-"This is something that has been mixed up inside me from the time I was born. I grew up i...
6th Zagreb Film Festival www.zagrebfilmfestival.com this year offered a pretty good documentary program.
A "Bomb Harvest" www.bombharvest.com
produced by Lemur Films Australia, established by the director/writer of film Kim Mordaunt and producer Sylvia Wilczyinski on Zagreb Film Festival went very well. Mourdaunt and Wilczynskiare are known by award winning dramas and documentaries done for ABC TV, SBS TV and Discovery.
...
Donald Mugisha is a founding member of Ugandan film-making
collective Yes! That’s Us. Their debut feature Divizionz is a
refreshingly authentic portrait of African inner city slum life,
centred around a group of young friends striving to make it in the city
as musicians.
Donald Mugisha
Could you start by talking a bit about your film-making
collective Yes! That's Us - how you formed, how you work together, and
how you came to make this feature?
We're a guerrilla filmmak...
Barry Jenkins has emerged as a talent to watch with his debut feature Medicine for Melancholy. The film charts the aftermath of a drunken one-night stand between two African-American twentysomethings, and has been described by the director (when pushed) as "Before Sunset meets Do the Right Thing… with a dash of French New Wave to sweeten the pot." It's a warm-hearted, witty romantic drama with a great indie soundtack, which also succeeds in raising questions about the relationship between race...
SIGGRAPH announced the Computer Animation Festival's Best of Show, Jury Award, Student Prize, Audience Prize, and a special Well Told Fable Prize for SIGGRAPH 2008, the 35th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques. "The caliber of submissions this year was truly phenomenal, which made the jury's job especially difficult," said Jill Smolin, SIGGRAPH 2008 Conference Entertainment Director. "The winners truly showcase what is possible today and provid...
REMARKABLE POWER! is the latest feature film from filmmaking duo, writer/producer Scott Sampila and writer/director Brandon Beckner whirling the audience through the trials and tribulations of a late night talk show host, Jack West, played by Kevin Nealon. His show is successful. His wife has an affair. He takes revenge on his wife. He concocts an elaborate scheme to win back his show. REMARKABLE POWER! refers to a self-help video to improve one’s wealth. The comedic thriller also stars Tom Ar...
On the margin of the 39th Budapest Film Week a conversation with Bela Tarr - the famous Hungarian filmdirector.Brigitta Bokor (Q): Recently when people are talking about Hungarian films, they usually mention your name - Bela Tarr. How do you deal with the fact there was no Tarr movie at the 39th Budapest Film Week competition and even the opening film - which supposed to be your "The Man from London" -- was cancelled? Béla Tarr (A):In fact we would have liked to be part of the Week, ...
John Cameron Mitchell InterviewHas Shortbus changed your attitude to sex?I don't know yet. I've been so busy that I haven't had any.One thing that interests me about your career is that you're very grounded in the theatre. How important do you think this background has been to your work?I think that the way that I work is based on the theatre education that I've had, certainly with Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which was a play originally. I took a bit from rock 'n' roll, a bit from theatre; we dev...
International Festival of Animation & Computer Games 6 - 10 February 2006, University of Teesside, MiddlesbroughThe World’s largest animation and gaming festival returns to Middlesbrough next year when another helping of Animex hits The University of Teesside and screens around the North East from 6th to 10th February. www.animex.netThe Festival will once again feature its highly successful trademark mix of prestigious international guests, talks and masterclasses, a focus on the best of Briti...
Animex Student Animation Awards The winners and runners up for the Animex Student Animation Awards were announced at Animex Talk! by Tom Martinek of Industrial Light and Magic, Rachelle Lewis of DreamWorks and Marc Craste of Studio AKA on Friday 4 February 2005. All the winners will screen at the BALTIC, International Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead on the 5 and 6 February 1.30pm – 4.00pm. Sponsors in this year's awards include Adobe, Alias, Apple, Character Animation Technologies, Chro...
Greetings from the quiet space below main street known as the digital center. It's peaceful here at 10:00 a.m. but once the sun sets, the v.i.p. lines form , the alcohol flows and the ego's engage it's total carnage.details so far:Emporer's Journey: this 84 minute french documentary follows the life cycle (in all it's romance and drama) of the emperor penguin. Filmaker Luc Jaquet spent 14 months on an antarctic iceberg shooting 140 hours of footage (including underwater scenes) with a crew of tw...
WALTER CRUTTENDEN’S ADVENTURES IN TIME AND SPACEThe Great Year features the combination of two documentary genres I’d typically cross county lines to avoid. It’s equal parts somber, Discovery Channel-style science doc and one of those mystical, astrological, hippie dealies of the Chariots of the Gods school. Yet somehow these two genres work surprisingly well together; the film’s seriousness and scientific rigor help to mitigate a lot of the New Age woo-hoo, while the more wacky stuff sp...
THE FIVE STAGES OF BEER IS KILLING BRIAN MIX SOFTLYLocal boy Brian Mix’s affable little ensemble picture The Five Stages of Beer is a romantic comedy with plenty of snark to ground it in reality and keep it interesting. It’s not the kind of movie that rocks anybody’s world, but the dialogue has the lazy charm of Kevin Smith on a good day, and it’s certainly refreshing to see a contemporary American comedy that looks at love from the straight-dude point of view without including a few doz...
Head On (gegen die Wand) won the Golden Bear at Berlinale.Let us hear the director speak about his film in a discussion with Feridun Zaimoglubr>Feridun Zaimoglu is a leading Turkish-German author and painter. His novel 'Abschaum' was transposed to the big screen as 'Kanak Attak', which enjoyed a successful run in German theaters. Zaimoglu has made a name for himself as a cultural spokesman for Germany's Turkish population.The synopsis:'You can put an end to your life without killing yourself', w...
