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 May 16, 2008 NY NY | Forum Screens Godard, BAM Screens Lachman, Doxita Screens Shorts
This week, New Yorkers in the film industry fled the city like rats from a sinking ship to attend the Cannes Film Festival. Those of us unlucky enough to be left behind at least had ample distraction from our jealousy, in the form of BAM's tribute to ace cinematographer Ed Lachman and Lachman's bevvy of oddball guests (Larry Kramer, William Schrader and David Byrne among them), as well as the Doxita festival of short docs, and Film Forum's retrospective of Godard's 60s. Anyway, supposedly it's raining in Cannes. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, New York Weekly ] May 15, 2008 CANNES '08 DISPATCH | Serious, Silly Intersect In First 24 Hours of 61st Cannes Festival
While attendees sat inside the Cannes Film Festival's Debussy theater on Wednesday watching the morning press screening of Fernando Meirelles' harrowing "Blindness," nearby on the Croisette dozens of costumed pandas danced with Jack Black to hype the animated festival entry, "Kung Fu Panda." Like the abandoned characters depicted in the horrific world of "Blindness," the French locals wearing the 100 lb. bear costumes yesterday had to be carefully escorted from the Carlton Beach pier because they were unable to see anything. Such was the scene during the first twenty-four hours of the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, an event comprised of serious films for cinephiles and PR stunts aimed at movie industry insiders and thousands of attending journalists. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Cannes, Festival Dispatches, Lead Story ] May 13, 2008 CANNES '08 DISPATCH | Rain or Shine? Cannes Market Opens Amidst Changing Forecast
Rainy skies and industry-wide gloom-and-doom hover over this year's Cannes, but the nearly 11,000 registrants attending this year's festival and Market can't all be depressed. With thousands of new films on offer, from auteur visions to star-driven genre pictures, and hundreds of distributors in need of product, the supply-and-demand business of Cannes must go on. Along the Cote d'Azur Tuesday, in fact, the dreary weather finally broke to reveal sunny skies. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Cannes, Festival Dispatches, Lead Story ] May 12, 2008 DISPATCH FROM KOREA | Jeonju Fest: Eyeing Korean Film, and Some Major Talent
This year's Jeonju International Film Festival, the 9th, boasted ten world premieres of features and feature-length documentaries. There was a retrospective dedicated to Bela Tarr, and another to Alexander Kluge. There were works by James Benning and Nina Menkes and sidebars dedicated to Vietnamese and Central Asian cinema. But with the exception of a brief revisit to Kluge's 1965 debut, "Yesterday Girl" (which still seems remarkable, more than four decades on), it was the Korean films that I chose to focus upon. It only made sense, having come so far to South Korea... [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, World Cinema, Wrap Ups ] May 11, 2008 NEWFEST '08 | 20th Anniversary Marked With 250 Films, New Additions
The New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Film Festival (NewFest) announced the program of films and events for its 20th annual edition. The line-up features nearly 250 films, representing over 30 countries, and including 49 New York Premieres, 14 U.S. Premieres and 8 World Premieres. "Each year we try to make NewFest bigger and better than the last one," Basil Tsiokos, Artistic Director of NewFest in a statement. Among the new additions is NewDraft Screenplay Competition & Reading Series, which is discovering and fostering LGBT features screenwriters and their screenplays. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Festival News, Lead Story, Lineups, Queer Cinema ] May 8, 2008 DISPATCH FROM SAN FRANCISCO | America's Oldest Fest Takes on the Future
"Last year we celebrated our past, but tonight we begin our future," commented San Francisco Film Society Executive Director Graham Leggat in his opening night remarks of the 51st San Francisco International Film Festival. Leggat was referring to the Film Society's plans to expand its identity into a more far-reaching and consistently present local force in terms of education outreach and year-round exhibition. But the promises, and more pointedly, the potential perils of what lies ahead in the larger scheme of things, seemed to be on many filmmakers' minds as well. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Wrap Ups ]  PANGEA DAY '08 UPDATE | Today's Inaugural Worldwide Event Brings Film and Dialog to the Globe
Last week, the Tribeca Film Festival turned a spotlight on the pending launch of Pangea Day, which can probably be best described as the first "worldwide film festival." For four hours on May 10, 2008, twenty-four films "made by the world for the world" will be broadcast live around the globe via the Internet and at organized events around the globe. In a discussion ahead of today's event, the movers and shakers behind Pangea Day discussed the beginning of a global film experiment. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Trends ] May 7, 2008 CineVegas '08 | "Rocker," "Howard" and Debuts Crown 10th CineVegas Fest
The world premiere of Peter Cattaneo's "The Rocker," starring Rainn Wilson as a failed drunmmer who joins his nephew's high school band, will open the 10th annual CineVegas Film Festival, taking place in Las Vegas June 12 - 21. Among this year's debuts are seven world premieres the festival has packaged in its "Jackpot Premieres" section (listed below) in addition to the festival's documentary section (including three world debuts), a sidebar on Mexican films and directors as well as high profile work that have been making the festival rounds and more. Closing the festival is Sean McGinly's "The Great Buck Howard," starring John Malkovich, Colin Hanks, Emily Blunt and Tom Hanks. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Lineups ] May 6, 2008 LAFF '08 | Universal Pics "Wanted and "Hellboy II" Bookend Los Angeles Fest in June
Universal Pictures' "Wanted" by Timur Bekmambetov will open the 2008 Los Angeles Film Festival June 19 in Westwood, organizers announced Tuesday. Based upon Mark Millar's graphic novel series the film tells the story of one apathetic nobody's transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice. Closing the festival, which is organized by Film Independent, is writer/director Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" also from Universal on June 29. Sundance 2008 doc "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" will screen as the Centerpiece June 26 at the Ford Amphitheater in a program that will include live musical performances and "special guests." "I am proud of the festival's on-going growth within the community, and pleased that we continue to attract world-class filmmakers like Guillermo Del Toro and Timur Bekmambetov," said festival director Rich Raddon in a statement. "The Los Angeles Film Festival celebrates the best in filmmaking as well as discovering new voices from around the world." [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Lineups, Los Angeles Film Festival ] May 5, 2008 TRIBECA '08 | Catching up on 20 Interviews, Critics Notebooks Dispatches and More from the Festival
The 2008 Tribeca Film Festival came to a close over the weekend in New York City and indieWIRE is wrapping up its coverage from the 12-day event. Our festival dispatches, interviews, critics notebooks amounted to twenty related articles on this year's festival, which took place April 23 - May 4 in addition to iPOP photos and buzz items. We invite you to check out iW's coverage from Tribeca. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, New York, Wrap Ups ] May 1, 2008 TRIBECA '08 | "Let the Right One In" and "Pray the Devil" Among Top Tribeca Fest Winners
Swedish director Tomas Alfredson's "Let the Right One In" (Lat den ratte komma in), recently acquired by Magnolia Pictures' genre label Magnet, won the Founders Award for Best Narative Feature tonight at the Tribeca Film Festival's awards event held at the Target-Tribeca Filmmaker Lounge in downtown New York City. The prize includes $25,000 in cash and an art award entitled, "Maternal Nocture: Clearing Storm" created by Stephen Hannock. Director Gini Reticker's "Pray the Devil Back to Hell" won best documentary feature, also receiving $25,000 and a piece of art called "Liza Minnelli" by Timothy White. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Festival News, Lead Story, New York ]  DISPATCH FROM MIAMI | Miami Gay Fest Tosses on the Go-Go Boots and Throws a Bash
It's hard to believe that it's only the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival's 10th anniversary. In only a decade, it has established itself as the first major stop on the annual U.S. gay and lesbian festival circuit. Filmmakers, sponsors and audiences alike have jumped at the invitation to spend time amongst Miami's famed art deco facades, shirtless rollerbladers, and endless parade of girls pulling at their short skirts and falling over their heels. It's a distinctly Miami affair. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story, Queer Cinema ] April 30, 2008 TRIBECA CRITICS NOTEBOOK 3 | Some Gems at TFF: "Bitter & Twisted," "Bart Got a Room," "Days in Sintra"
Now that I have seen dozens and dozens of films in this 7th Tribeca Film Festival, I want to correct myself. I was wrong in my first report. Tribeca is unique, and occupies a certain niche in New York that belongs to it alone. It is neither film festival nor film market. It is closer to Las Vegas's Showest, or Orlando's Show East, which are more mainstream in their focus than, say, artier events like the New York Film Festival, although it is eclectic enough to include "high art" movies, too. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 4 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story, New York ] April 28, 2008 TRIBECA CRITICS NOTEBOOK 2 | Docs: Topical or Art? Or Both? The Highs and Lows
EDITOR'S NOTE: In the second of three critics notebooks, New York-based film critic Howard Feinstein takes a look at some of the documentary offerings at this year's Tribeca Film Festival. Feinstein, a former editor at the Village Voice and a current programmer at the Sarajevo Film Festival, also offers up some opinion on presenting docs as vehicles for discussion vs. their worthiness as art. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 1 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story, New York ] April 27, 2008 TRIBECA '08 DISPATCH | Clive Owen, Film Critics and "Squeezebox!"
Recalling a night at former New York City club Motherfucker back in 2002 where he watched early footage of "Squeezebox!," Tribeca Film Festival programming head David Kwok saluted a group of local filmmakers (and their fans) for their perserverance and patience in bringing the documentary to the big screen. At the time, the group -- including directors Steve Saporito & Zach Schaffer and producer Lyle Derek -- expected to finish their film by the end of 2002. Yet, even back then they warned that it might take longer than that, "This is a personal project for all of us," Derek told indieWIRE six years go, "We want to really just take our time, this is a labor of love." [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story, New York ] April 25, 2008 CANNES '08 | Skolimoski's "Four Nights" Leads Fortnight; Fest Roster Unveiled
Jerzi Skolimoski's "Four Nights With Anna" will open the 40th Director's Fortnight in Cannes. Organizers unveiled the entire roster for the annual independent sidebar to the Festival de Cannes, choosing thirty-three features for the 2008 festival. The event emerged amidst the tumult of 1968 when the fest was canceled in solidarity with striking French workers. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Cannes, Festival News, Lead Story ] April 24, 2008 NY NY | Bailey Talks TIFF, Prostitution in NY and Kim Ki-Duk Takes MoMA
This was a relatively quiet week for film in New York, as the city prepared for the Tribeca Film Festival. Cameron Bailey gave a little 'hello' from the Toronto, where he is the new co-director of that city's renowned festival, while fellow TIFF programmer Thom Powers used his weekly "Stranger Than Fiction" series to highlight the problems of sexual exploitation in New York. And South Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-Duk brought even more prostitutes to MoMA's screens with the start of his full retrospective. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 1 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, New York, New York Weekly ]  CANNES '08 | International Critics' Week Line-up Announced
The International Critics' Week, a parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival, has dedicated itself to discovering new talents. Among the filmmakers whose first or second feature films were showcased during the program are Bernardo Bertolucci, Ken Loach, Wong Kar Wai and Francois Ozon. In the past few years, the program has received particular attention for winning 4 of last 5 Camera d'Or (which is awarded to best first feature film among all sections of Cannes). Last year, that winner was "Jellyfish" by Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen. The 47th line-up was announced Thursday, with 7 features and 7 shorts in competition, including the lone American entry, Jeff Vespa's short "Nosebleed." Ronit Elkabetz and Shlomi Elkabetz's "Les Sept Jours" was announced as the opening feature film, while Rodrigo Pla's "Desierto Adentro" will close the week. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Cannes, Festival News ]  TRIBECA CRITICS NOTEBOOK 1 | Taking on Art vs. Biz and Finding Some Gems--and then some
EDITOR'S NOTE: In the first of three critics notebooks, New York-based film critic Howard Feinstein takes a look at some of the fiction offerings at this year's Tribeca Film Festival. Feinstein, a former editor at the Village Voice and a current programmer at the Sarajevo Film Festival, also offers up some opinion on the event itself, now in its seventh year. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 1 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story, New York ]  TRIBECA '08 | Diversity, Tina Fey, and New Yorkers as 7th Tribeca Fest Kicks Off
"Holy shit, its Tiny Fey!" screamed a stock broker looking New Yorker on 54th St. in Midtown this evening (Wednesday), walking by the Zeigfeld theater with a female companion on a warm Spring night. A large crowd of onlookers were watching the half-block long red carpet arrivals for the Tribeca Film Festival's opening night screening Michael McCullers's "Baby Mama," starring Fey and Amy Poehler. As the couple watched the arrivals for a moment, an older woman wandered up to the scene. Studying the crowd for just a moment, she asked nobody in particular, "Does anyone know what's going on here?" After a few moments in which not a single person responded to her she turned and made her way toward 5th Ave. and wandered off. With a mix of enthusiasm and slight disorientation the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival officially kicked off on Wednesday night. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story, New York ] April 23, 2008 CANNES '08 | Dardennes, Desplechin, Egoyan, Eastwood, Martel, Salles, Soderbergh, and Wenders Among Those Set for 61st Festival de Cannes Competition
A number of familiar names are set to compete at the 61st Festival de Cannes organizers announced today in Paris, revealing the official selection of 52 feature films during a morning press conference. While the fest has yet to designate its opening and closing films, nineteen features are set to vie for the Palme d'Or. Among the films in competition are new work by The Dardenne Brothers, Arnaud Desplechin, Atom Egoyan, Clint Eastwood, Lucrecia Martel, Walter Salles, Steven Soderbergh, and Wim Wenders. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 1 comments ] [ filed under Cannes, Festival News, Lead Story ] April 22, 2008 DISPATCH FROM TORONTO | Documentary Filmmaking and "The Long Haul"
Termed "the longitudinal documentary" by Hot Docs Director of Programming Sean Farnel, films that follow a character or story over an extended period of time are increasingly problematic these days. Deals with distributors or television networks put pressure on the time a doc has to finish, often limiting the diachronic scope of the project. Three feature films screening at the 2008 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival: Jens Hoffman's "20 Seconds of Joy," Greg Kohs' "Song Sung Blue," and Nik Sheehan's "Flicker," exemplfy this increasingly rare form in documentary filmmaking. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Festival Dispatches, Lead Story ]  TRIBECA '08 | Eating, Drinking, and Shopping in New York: An indieWIRE Insiders Guide
EDITORS NOTE: This article was originally published one year ago. We invite indieWIRE readers to post comments, suggestions and updates to the recommendations included here. Last year, the Tribeca Film Festival stretched across Manhattan, from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine to the Winter Garden in Manhattan, and into the surrounding boroughs for the "Spiderman 3" premiere. This year the event is anchored near Union Square and in Tribeca. That means for locals and visitors alike, attending TFF has involved exploring parts unfamiliar. How can you encapsulate a city of with so many wonders? Not easily -- everyone's got their own opinion on everything, especially food, which triggers all sorts of rhapsodic recollection. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 1 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, New York ] April 19, 2008DISPATCH FROM TORONTO | Hometown "Demi-Gods of Metal" Kick Off Toronto's Hot Docs Fest
The 15th edition of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival started off with a (head) bang in Toronto Thursday night, showcasing the Canadian premiere of Sacha Gervasi's "Anvil! The Story of Anvil." Taking the stage of the historic Winter Garden to introduce the film, Hot Docs' Executive Director Chris McDonald proudly declared the festival "the finest collection of documentaries anywhere." With 174 films from 36 countries screening over 11 days, Hot Docs has grown into the largest documentary festival in North America, blasting out of the shadow of the Toronto International Film Festival to become a major industry event in its own right. The festival now welcomes some 2,000 delegates and 80,000 filmgoers, double the numbers from just three years ago. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Festival Dispatches, Lead Story ] April 18, 2008 In a Time of Change, Pondering the Tension Between New Film Journalism and Old
If the primary accomplishment of the Moving Image Institute in Film Criticism and Feature Writing--a five day workshop for film critics that completed its second year at the Museum of Moving Image on Tuesday--was New York Times film critic A.O. Scott's diminished hesitance to comment on blogs, its contributions to the larger issues of the discipline would be moot. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 3 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Trends ] April 17, 2008 NY NY | Lincoln Center Sings the Praises of Meryl Streep and Turns a Spotlight on Romania
This week in New York, throngs of admirers flocked to Lincoln Center, tuxedo-clad patrons shelled out hundreds of dollars for good seats, and trumpeters proceeded ceremonially down the aisle at Avery Fisher Hall to celebrate one fundamental fact: Meryl Streep is rad. With considerably less heraldry, Lincoln Center also confirmed that the history of Romanian Cinema is, likewise, rad. Mid-April reminds Upper West Siders of two things: taxes, and tax-deductible ways to spend refunds. Enter the Film Society of Lincoln Center, with its annual Gala Tribute, an all-star parade that has celebrated a different living legend every year since it began in 1972, with Charlie Chaplin. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, New York, New York Weekly ]  SHORTS COLUMN | Jury, Audience, and Industry Buzz Agree: Docs Rocked Aspen Shortsfest 2008
The jurors at this year's Aspen Shortsfest, which took place April 2 - 6 in Aspen, Colorado, were so enamored with the shorts in the documentary competition category that they couldn't pick just one. Instead, they split the prize between two British films, "Elegy for the Elswick Envoy" and "Peter and Ben." The ticket-buying public was also doubly impressed and voted two American docs, "Come Back to Sudan" and "One Bridge to the Next," co-winners of the Audience Favorite Award. Even the industry insiders were abuzz. "This was the strongest doc lineup the festival has ever had," declared Scott Dwyer, a PBS programmer who has attended Aspen Shortsfest for the past seven years. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 1 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story, Shorts ] April 15, 2008 DISPATCH FROM TEL AVIV | Doc Aviv's 10th Anniversary Presents a Strong Israeli Scene
The appearance of Shimon Peres on stage for the opening night of Doc Aviv's 10th anniversary was an early indicator that the Israeli documentary scene deserves attention. The 84-year-old former Prime Minister, who now serves in the more ceremonial role of President, addressed the packed house at Tel Aviv's Performing Arts Center. Often such an occasion is susceptible to formulaic remarks. Think of the political welcome letters that preface most festival catalogues. But Peres surprised this jaded festival goer with his eloquent perspective on the role of documentary film. Speaking in Hebrew (translated on headsets for international guests), he observed that memory has a tendency to focus on the best of times, whereas the documentary camera can keep a more accurate record of the things we might prefer to forget. He wryly noted that Israel supplies so much drama that it's an ideal home for documentary makers. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Festival Dispatches, Lead Story ] April 13, 2008 DISPATCH FROM SARASOTA: Festival Celebrates Tenth Anniversary with Fun, Sun, Glamour, and Of Course, Films
Sunny, warm weather and a sea of smiling faces greeted attendees of The Sarasota Film Festival as the southwestern Florida event wrapped its tenth anniversary and continues to grow in prominence as an important part of the film festival circuit. With screenings of over 105 features, tributes to film industry talent, as well as an impressive twelve film retrospective of actress and filmmaker Liv Ullmann's collaborations with the late great Ingmar Bergman, Sarasota impresses strongly as an event that caters beyond that of merely a regional festival for a city of 55,000. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story ] April 10, 2008 NY NY | Gotham Fetes United Artists, Africa and a Bit of Religion
As spring lured New Yorkers outside this week, the Film Forum lured them back in again with its month-long tribute to United Artists. Zeitgeist's reception for the Israeli film "Jellyfish" was a bit overshadowed by the neighboring celebrity nuptials, Ondi Timoner's "Join Us" put the fear of God into its audience, and the New York African Film Festival got started, with some help from Danny Glover and Charles Burnett. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, New York, New York Weekly ]
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