At a film festival that totals more than 250 feature films (not to mention an additional 250 features in the accompanying European Film Market), one can only skim the surface of an event as wide-ranging as the Berlinale. Film choices are often based on schedule availability....grabbing a screening in between meetings or making sure one is awake to catch the early morning press screenings of the Competition program. In a sense, one only gets a random taste of the very far-flung program...

  by Sandy Mandelberger, Online Dailies Editor The Swedish master filmmaker Jan Troell is the subject of a major retrospective tribute at this year’s ERA New Horizons International Film Festival in Wroclaw, Poland. The 78-year-old film auteur has amassed a string of film jewels over a career that stretches back five decades. Many of these gems, including his latest masterpiece “Everlasting Moments”, nominated this past year for the Oscar, will be screened.    &nbs...

The Sarasota Film Festival celebrates its 10th Anniversary April 4-13th 2008. What began as a three-day festival with a handful of events has grown over a decade into one of the leading regional festivals is North America. As previously announced, this year the festival is thrilled to have as its honorary chairs, Governor Charlie Crist, United Artists CEO Paula Wagner and Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Co-Chairman Rick Nicita. They are all expected to attend the 10th Anniversary Ball, where th...

Dario Argento, Asia Argento, Takashi Miike, Guillermo Del Toro, Kim Ki Duk, Tsui Hark, the Coen Brothers, Frank Darabont, Stephen King, Lars Von Trier, Fernando Lopes, Max Von Sydow, Kelly LeBrock, Olivie Assayas, Michael Madsen, John Ventimiglia, Johnnie To, among others Once again Fantasporto will be the meeting point of the cream of the world cinema. The biggest names in the world of cinema again return with their latest productions. As the guilty one always returns to the site of the crime, ...

Favorite Actor of Ingmar Bergman with significant career in  fantasy films HOMAGE AND CAREER AWARD TO MAX VON SYDOWHalf a century of life dedicated to the film, protagonist in one and a half hundreds of movies, Max von Sydow is on the eve of completing 80 years one of the great faces of the screen. Ingmar Bergmans' favourite actor and the priest in "Exorcist" by Friedkin will be honoured at Fantasporto 2008 with the Career Award. The 28th edition of the International Film Festival of ...

Hong Kong-born director Wayne Wang's "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers" won the best film and best actor awards at the 55th annual San Sebastian film festival in Spain on Saturday.Based on a short story by the same name by award-winning author Yiyun Li, the movie depicts the tensions that follow when a widower from Beijing, Mr Shi, goes to the US to visit his recently divorced daughter Yilan."It was a small film that needed a lot of time to be done because I think films need to breathe, like us,...

As the Toronto International Film Festival enters its final weekend, it has saved some of its choicest Gala Films for last. The Red Carpet arrivals continue tonight and tomorrow evening, with such luminaries as Shirley MacLaine, Max Von Sydow, Susan Sarandon, Christopher Plummer, Brenda Fricker and Sir Richard Attenborough expected the walk the walk. Set against wars both between nations and within hearts, CLOSING THE RING is an intimate epic, the latest work of Oscar-winning director Sir Richar...

 Friday, September 14----------As the Toronto International Film Festival enters its final weekend, it has saved some of its choicest Gala Films for last. The Red Carpet arrivals continue tonight and tomorrow evening, with such luminaries as Shirley MacLaine, Max Von Sydow, Susan Sarandon, Christopher Plummer, Brenda Fricker and Sir Richard Attenborough expected the walk the walk. Set against wars both between nations and within hearts, CLOSING THE RING is an intimate epic, the latest work of ...

Wednesday, September 5--------While high potency celebrities making their way on the red carpet capture the bulk of media attention here (hey Brad, take off those sun glasses, we want to see your fabulous face.....), the Festival has assembled a group of true cinema greats for a program it calls DIALOGUES: Talking With Pictures. This is the rare opportunity for film buffs (comme moi) to hear from some of the most illustrious names of the past half century in film in an intimate setting. This is ...

AN SEBASTIAN POST-MORTEM SPLIT TOP PRIZE QUESTIONED AND LACK OF STARS LAMENTEDIn my last report I got so carried away by the phenomenom of Bahman Ghobadi's second straight Golden Concha Best-Film prize, that I failed to mention that the award was an "ex-aequo" or shared award. I did, however, note that it might come in for some discussion in the post-festival press -- which, in fact, it did ---Bigtime!The top prize was shared with Mr. Ghobadi by Martial Fougeron of France for "Mon fils à moi" (...

Nursing a bit of a "resaca" (aka "jengober", or just plain hangover) ... after the JAMAN reception yesterday at the Hotel Londres, which has leapt to the fore as a hot contender for the unofficial "BDPW" Concha, or "Best Damn Party of the Week Award. The thing that characterized this reception -- which started at eight and went on until well after midnight -- was, understated class and a quality mix of people, exquisite "amuse-gueules" (bitey snacks or 'pintxos'), and an endless supply of tasty...

Tuesday, September 26---One of the iconic images in international cinema is the sight of the Grim Reaper, the devil who seperates the spirit from the body of men, playing a strategic game of chess with a Knight during the Black Plague in Ingmar Bergman's landmark 1957 film THE SEVENTH SEAL. A new 35mm film print of this venerable film classic will be screened as part of the 50 Years of Janus Films celebration at this year's New York Film Festival. Legendary actor Max Von Sydow, one of the acto...

The legendary Swedish actor, Max von Sydow, had the chance to provide an overview of his long, illustrious career in film and theatre at the press conference that he gave before receiving the first of this year’s Donostia Awards yesterday. He admitted that it was “a great pleasure and honour to accept this award”, as he very much admired the great Spanish filmmakers. Several of the questions inevitable focused on his work with Ingmar Bergman and he acknowledged that he owed him tremendous ...

This year at Cannes directors are no longer the only ones to be given the chance to discuss their work. The 57th Festival sees the annual Leçons de Cinéma lecture series extended to actors, with the first lesson delivered by Max von Sydow. Born in Lund, Sweden, Max von Sydow studied at the Stockholm Drama Conservatory before beginning his career on stage. It wasn't until he met Ingmar Bergman, however, that he let himself be seduced by the silver screen. From that moment on he split his time b...