Friday, January 11-------With the explosion of film festivals over the past two decades, no specialized genre has been more potent, and had more loyal audiences, than the Jewish film festival, which has become a cultural staple in communities across North America, Europe and South America. In all, there may be almost 300 of these events in a given year.....each a mix of film appreciation and something more fundamental, an opportunity for the Jewish community (and those involved with them) to s...

 Friday, November 16-------Although every Friday sees a glut of film openings making their way to film theaters, the truth is that a large number of worthy films never find traditional theatrical distribution. That is one of the reasons that the brave new worlds of internet s and other non-traditional distribution methods hold such promise. However, until these new methodologies take hold in such a way that they can generate the same or similar revenue, theatrical distribution remains t...

The Popular Jury, made up of 50 and presided over by Ettore Scola, has assigned the RomeFilmFest’s official awards to the following films: The award for Best Film goes to Izobrajaya Zhertvy / Playing the Victim by Kirill Serebrennikov. The RomeFilmFest – BNL Best Actress Award is for Ariane Ascaride in Le Voyage en Arménie / Armenia by Robert Guédiguian. The RomeFilmFest – Chamber of Commerce award for Best Actor Award goes to Giorgio Colangeli in L´ aria salata by Alessandro An...

Did you ever see Bill Murray do the salsa? Or the mambo, rumba or any of that other Latin stuff? Well, let me tell you something. The guy’s got rhythm. I couldn’t help myself watching him in awe as he steered his way around the dance floor with a couple of breathless women. So, thinking I should get a firsthand experience, I navigated through the crowd of undulating bodies in a hope of being next in line. But woe is me, the music suddenly ended and Bill slipped off the floor.I found him in a...

“The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!”By Cassendra Gavawas all I could think of on that week leading up to the 4th annual RUSSIAN NIGHTS FILM and CULTURAL FESTIVAL, stationed in LA’s royal blue architectural gem, the Pacific Design Center. Now I love attending film festivals, especially exotic ones, but helping to organize them is another can of beans entirely. As a creative consultant to my “mad Russians”, as I tenderly refer to them, I was quickly driven to slurp the vo...

PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF SHORT FILMS The 11th Annual Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films concluded and the top winners announced on a beautiful warm Fall evening. Best of the Fest went to TORTE BLUMA and the Future Filmmaker Award went to Josh Staub for his beautiful heartfelt animation MANTIS PRABLE.Palm Springs have elevated it self to the top of the field as the largest short film festival and market in North America. More than 500 filmmakers and industry represen...

The best things in life are short, especially those screened at the 2005 Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films & Short Film Market (ShortFest), the largest short film festival and market in North America, now in its 11th year. Setting new records all around, more than 500 filmmakers and industry representatives from around the world participated in this year’s Festival which screened 324 short films in competition and included more than 2,400 of the filmmaker submissions, from ov...

The rehearsals are over. The inaugural edition of the New Montreal Montreal FilmFest is unspooling its first films to eager audiences. And the red carpet has been laid out to welcome its first guests... The opening of a new edition of any film festival is always filled with a mixture of hope, anticipation and anxiety. The launch of a brand new film festival, an event that wasn't even on the drawing board a year ago, quadruples these feelings. It would be dishonest to pretend that the NMFF is a f...

REVIEW OF THE OFFICIAL SECTION IN COMPETITION"The Three Rooms of the Melancholia" directed by Pirjo Honkasalo.This year diverse proposals in the official section in competition have appeared, among them stands out: The Three Rooms of the Melancholia directed by Pirjo Honkasalo, from Helsinki. Pirjo stands out as an excellent documentalist what is demonstrated in his film. The Three Roms of the Melancholia is a different documentary about the war between Chechen and Russians. The first room shows...

The Eighth Annual MGA Awards featuring the finalists in the Movie Gallery Student Video Competition gave more than $3,750 in prizes to worthy young filmmakers on March 16, 2005. The awards went to college and high school student directors. Daria Matza's moving documentary, Keep on Moving, took home first place for the college division and Diana Miernik's documentary, Keepers of Light, took home first place in the high school division. The students were excited to win not only the monetary prize ...

Student Film Festival A SuccessThe Eighth Annual MGA Awards featuring the finalists in the Movie Gallery Student Video Competition gave more than $3,750 in prizes to worthy young filmmakers on March 16, 2005. The awards went to college and high school student directors. Daria Matza’s moving documentary, Keep on Moving, took home first place for the college division and Diana Miernik’s documentary, Keepers of Light, took home first place in the high school division. The students were excited ...

THE 20TH EDITION OF THE MAR DEL PLATA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL WILL BE HELD ON MARCH 10-20 2005Last year the festival organizers sought to give the event a closer identification with the city and decided to rename the awards Astor, in honour of Mar del Plata's most famous citizen. This year the emphasis is on image, so a new logo has been adopted. It combines two basic elements intended to represent our city and country internationally: the sea lion, a symbol of the city, is framed by moving ...

THE 12TH ANNUAL IFF “FESTIVAL OF FESTIVALS ’2004”!International Film Festival In Saint-Petersburg23 - 29 June, 2004City istration of St. Petersburg, Ministry of Culture RF, the Committee of Culture, The “LENFILM” Studios, and the International Film Festivals Bureau are pleased to announce the XΙI ANNUAL IFF “FESTIVAL OF FESTIVALS’2004” which will be held in the historic centre of St.Petersburg, during the magical White Nights, between JUNE 23 - 29, 2004.“FESTIVA...

HIGHLIGHTS FROMTHE 28th CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (CIFF)MARCH 18-28, 2004TOWER CITY CINEMAS ON THE AVENUE AT TOWER CITY CENTERCLEVELAND, OHIOAWARD WINNERSThe Roxanne T. Mueller Award for Best Feature Film (audience choice award) goes to BORN INTO BROTHELS directed by Ross Kauffman & Zana Briski (USA).Runners up include HOME OF THE BRAVE directed by Paola di Florio (USA), BUDDY directed by Morten Tydlum (Norway), A PANTHER IN AFRICA directed by Aaron Matthews (USA), KOPS directed by J...

Features in competition at Tribeca FestivalMay 1 - 9, 20041/2 Price [HALFP] 62 min preceded by Paper Route A rare attempt to portray children's activities utterly without sentimentality, this debut by a 21-year-old actress follows a trio of kids aged 7, 8, and 9 as they fend for themselves in a world nearly free of adults. The film drew considerable attention in Paris after Chris Marker likened it to Breathless in its depiction of something we've never before seen on screen. ( more....