SCREAMFEST HORROR FILM FESTIVAL ACCEPTED INTO THE EUROPEAN FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVALS FEDERATIONRachel Belofsky, Founder and Festival Director of SCREAMFEST Horror Film Festival and partner Stan Winston have announced that Screamfest has been accepted into the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation (EFFFF). Screamfest is the first and only American festival accepted into the EFFFF and now joins the ranks of such prestigious European festivals such as Brussels, Fantasporto and Sitges. With o...

The 11th edition of Lund International Fantastic Film Festival takes place between the 16th and the 25th of September. During ten days almost 100 films from 19 countries are screened, which means that the festival is bigger than ever. Opening filmThis year's opening film is Hayao Miyazaki's animated masterpiece Howl's Moving Castle. The Japanese director, who won an Academy Award for his last film Spirited Away, will receive an honorary Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival at September 9.Film...

12th Oldenburg International Film Festival(September 7th to 11th 2005)will play a Retrospective on Ken Russell.A celebration of the works of Britain´s groundbreaking director.The 12th Oldenburg International Film Festival honours Ken Russell, one of the outstanding personalities of British independent cinema. Eight films by the cinematic provocateur and role-model to the lives of Peter Greenaway will be shown an the Festival. Ken Russell will attend the Festival as a guest of honour and his lat...

Copenhagen International Film Festival honored Nicolas Roeg as president of this year’s jury.The Festival runs August 18 (opening with Life is a miracle from Kusturica) to the 28th.The director, cinematographer, producer and screenwriter Nicolas Roeg was born in London on August 15th 1928. He began his filmmaking career in 1947, when at the age of 19 he got a job at Marylebone Studio serving tea for film crews and assisting in the dubbing of French films.He moved to MGM’s London studios, whe...

Guests and Special Events of the Retrospective "Schauplätze, Drehorte, Spielräume (Settings, Locations, Scenes). Production Design + Film"Ken Adam, one of the best-known and most influential production designers of the last forty years, once described himself as “the director’s eye”. The Retrospective “Schauplätze, Drehorte, Spielräume [Settings, Locations, Scenes]. Production Design + Film” is showing the two films in which Adam designed the set decoration for Stanley Kubrick: Bar...

Kate Winslet’s Eternal Star Shines on Santa BarbaraOn Tuesday night, the 20th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival presented Academy Award nominee Kate Winslet with the Sapphire Inspired Award for Outstanding Performance of the Year.Winslet was chosen based on her exceptional performances in 2004 as Sylvia Llewelyn Davies in “Finding Neverland” and Clementine Kruczynski, the uninhibited girlfriend of Jim Carrey in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” for which she recei...

BRITISH ACADEMY FILM AWARDS NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCEDThe Aviator has received 14 nominations for the forthcoming Orange British Academy Film Awards. Finding Neverland and Vera Drake have both received 11 nominations, and House of Flying Daggers has received 9.Kate Winslet has two nominations in the category Actress in a Leading Role, for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Finding Neverland. Jamie Foxx also has two nominations; Actor in a Leading Role for Ray and Actor in a Supporting Role f...

LEONARDO DI CAPRIO, KEVIN BACON AND KATE WINSLETTO BE HONORED AT 20TH EDITION OF THE SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVALLeonardo Di Caprio, Kevin Bacon and Kate Winslet, three of Hollywood’s most distinguished actors, will be honored for their achievements at the 20th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival, it was announced today by Artistic Director Roger Durling. Di Caprio, soon to be seen in Martin Scorsese’s “The Aviator,” has been selected to receive the “Platinum...

The fourth edition of the festival organized by the Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) wrapped November 7. Dedicated to showcasing filmmakers of Indian origin it had a successful four day run at Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theatre and the Anthology Film Archives. As Aaron Shivdansani, the executive director of IAAC stressed in her welcoming speech, the opening film BRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Gurinder Chandha was not meant for afficiendos interested in high culture, an observation applicable t...

The London Film Festival (November 20 – November 4) has opened appropriately, with a new English film, Mike Leigh’s “Vera Drake”, set in 1950s London. Mr. Leigh and the star of his film, Imelda Staunton, who is in line for an Oscar for her startling portrayal of a back-street abortionist in early post-war London, were guests of honour last night at the British premiere of the film. Other high profile guests were directors Anthony Minghella (“Cold Mountain”) and Ridley Scott. Vi...

12th Raindance Film FestivalLondon, 1-10 October 2004Raindance just kicked off last Thursday September 30 with the London premiere of Shane Meadows hotly anticipated and highly rated new film Dead Man’s Shoes, this year’s Raindance Film Festival which celebrates independent filmmakers and filmmaking, promises ten days of discovery, debate and surprise with probably the richest slate of films in the Festival’s history.French shock-filmmaker Catherine Breillat’s Anatomy of Hell, (Friday Oc...

This is the first time in Mike Leigh's nine feature films that he has used the name of a character in the title. There is a reason for this. Most of his other films had various characters revolving around a central theme. Here, everything revolves around one protagonist, Vera Drake, a cheerful cleaning lady, who helps everybody she can. She is a loving wife and mother. However, sornething else she does out of the goodness of her heart, though unknown to her family, is help young girls get aborti...

58th EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2004 AWARD WINNERSBest British Short Film JOINT WINNER: BILLY˜S DAY OUT directed by Iain B MacDonald WHO KILLED BROWN OWL directed by Christine Molloy & Joe LawlorAward for New British AnimationJOINT WINNER: Shynola for Blur ­ GOOD SONG John-Paul Harney - BRAND SPANKINGNew Director's Award SUPER SIZE ME directed by Morgan SpurlockAndrew Pulver, Judge of the Guardian New Directors Award and Arts Editor of The Guardian said, "Super Size Me is the latest...

The Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature Film Named in homage to one of Britain˜s most original filmmakers, the Michael Powell Award is sponsored by the UK FILM COUNCIL and LOVEFiLM. Rewarding imagination and creativity in British filmmaking, the Award is judged by an international jury and carries a substantial cash prize.2003 Winner: Young Adam directed by David McKenzie - Previous Winnersare: 2002 Out Of Control directed by Dominic Savage; 2001 Gas Attack directed by Kenny Glen...

Going now to its 25th edition, Fantasporto has brought to Portugal for the first time the films of such names as David Cronenberg, André Tarkovsky, Brian de Palma, John Carpenter, Alain Resnais, David Lynch, Pedro Almodovar, Andrzej Zulawski, Ridley Scott, Luc Besson, Peter Greenaway, Neil Jordan, Jean-Jacques Beneix, Joel and Ethan Cohen, Sam Raimi, Brian Yuzna, Peter Jackson, Hal Hartley, Anthony Minghella, Quentin Tarantino, Roberto Rodriguez, Danny Boyle, Paul Anderson, David Fincher, James...

SIR MICHAEL CAINE TO BE HONORED AT THE ANNUAL GALA TRIBUTE AT THE FILM SOCIETY OF THE LINCOLN CENTER7 pm, APRIL 26, 2004 at AVERY FISHER HALLThe event, which annually honors major figures in the film world, will take place Monday, April 26, 2004 at 7pm at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. The evening will consist of highlights from Caine’s impressive film career and on-stage appearances by actors and directors with whom he has worked. Confirmed participants (as of March 29) are Sean Conner...

The 47th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 15–29) is set to close on Thursday, April 29, 7 pm, at the historic Castro Theatre with Peter Howitt’s LAWS OF ATTRACTION. A humorous depiction of two warring lawyers who fall for each other, the film stars Pierce Brosnan, Julianne Moore and Parker Posey.Divorce attorneys Audrey and Daniel have seen love gone wrong in all its worst case scenarios. So, how bad could their chances be? Academy Award nominee Julianne Moore and Pierce Bro...

24th OPORTO FILM FESTIVAL WITH A STRONG NORTH AMERICAN PRESENCEWith the High Patronage of the Ministry of Culture and the Oporto City Hall, the 24th edition of Fantasporto (Oporto International Film Festival) will be held on the 20th February till March, 1st), with its main Competitive Sections beginning on the 20th February (Official Fantasy Film Selection and Directors Week). Retrospectives and Homages complete the programme, as usual. Showcasing, as usual, the best of European Cinema, the p...

The Times BFI 47th London Film Festival has now ended, the closing night brought Gwyneth Paltrow, Daniel Craig and screenwriter John Brownlow on Sylvia, and Anthony Minghella on a festival which “celebrated the power of women in film.” ...This year the Festival seems happy with attendance gathered from 22 October to 06 November.The diverse films on offer captured the imagination of the 115,000 people who attended the 350 screenings, 123 of these being sold out. Attendance is 6% higher than l...