Silard Somorjay's Long Journey Live in Beijing just amazing.The speed and energy just one of kind.China Tour DVD coming soon.Long Journey is available to listen;http://www.myspace.com/silardsomorjaypiano...

From Sunday, September 30 until Saturday, October 6, 2007, the beautiful international resort destination of Phuket, Thailand will realize its first international film festival.To be held at the new SF Cinema theaters at the international shopping destination of Jungceylon Shopping Center on Patong Beach, the Phuket Film Festival (PFF) will feature over 30 award winning feature films, documentaries and shorts from around the world. In its first year, PFF is aiming for a “sanook” (Thai for �...

Directed in tandem by Bill Gutenburg and Dan Sturman, "NANKING" (USA 2007, RT, 91 minutes, in Mandarin, English and Japanese) is a startling and shocking reconstruction of a gigantic atrocity perpetrated by the Japanese army in China nearly 70 years ago, but presented in part by leading actors as if it were taking place today. The result, graphically depicting the sack and destruction of the city along with the indiscriminate bestial massacre of just about the entire civilian population, is a p...

The first international independent movie festival in Cambodia!June 16th and 17th, 2007 [Phnom Penh Edition]CamboFest: Film and Video Festival of Cambodia is the first annual international independent movie festival ever in Cambodia! During the time civil war and genocide under the Khmer Rouge, cinema, the arts, religion, and most other forms of expression were strictly outlawed.But now that peace and stability have returned to Cambodia, the world has once again taken an interest in the land of ...

His Excellency Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan Chairman, Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage invited the Cannes festival professionnals at Mint Villa to celebrate the launch of the Middle East International Film Festival and The Abu Dhabi Film Commission.Embracing both the art and business of film, the Abu Dhabi Film Festival aims to become the essential destination for film-makers looking to reach global audiences. The Abu Dhabi Film Festival will play host to financiers, studi...

Four years ago Dubai commenced their international film festival and today in Abu Dhabi, another Persian Gulf  town approximately 150 km south of Dubai, officials announced that they too will hold an international film festival during the second half of October.Dubai is well on its way to establishing itself as an regional film hub, and its own international film festival, set to run December 9-16, will be a direct competitor with Abu Dhabi's.  Although according to Abdulhamid Juma, Ch...

Thursday, May 3------The power of the individual to right wrongs, bring up issues and to literally move a society a few steps further is a message that one cannot hear enough these days. Such is the amazing story of Pakistani human rights activist Mukhtaran Mai, who drew on her own pain and abuse to become a positive symbol for the fair treatment of women (and all human beings). Her amazing story is recounted in SHAME, a documentary film by Mohammed Naqvi, that had its New York Premiere last eve...

The power of the individual to right wrongs, bring up issues and to literally move a society a few steps further is a message that one cannot hear enough these days. Such is the amazing story of Pakistani human rights activist Mukhtaran Mai, who drew on her own pain and abuse to become a positive symbol for the fair treatment of women (and all human beings). Her amazing story is recounted in SHAME, a documentary film by Mohammed Naqvi, that had its New York Premiere last evening, with the direct...

Maui Film Festival director Barry Rivers and co-director Stella Rivers had the honor and privilege of presenting the inaugural Maui Film Festival Visionary Award to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama during his recent visit to Maui.The Visionary Award was presented to honor H. H. the14th Dalai Lama's heartfelt and lifelong commitment to inspire Humanity to care for both each other and all life on Earth, to express the Maui Film Festival's appreciation for the many ways in which the deep wisdom of ...

Tuesday, March 27-----The Rubin Museum of Art, one of the foremost cultural institutions devoted to central Asian art, history and education, is hosting the New York premiere of ANGRY MONK, a documentary feature film directed by Luc Schaedler about the legendary Gendun Choephel (1903-1951). Choephel is a legendary figure in Tibet , not simply because he was believed to be the reincarnation of a famous Buddhist lama but also because he eventually turned his back on monastic life and became a fi...

by Alex Deleon, for <filmfestivals.sitesdebloques.org> March 20, 2007 After the opening weekend at the expansive Cinerama theater downtown the Festival has now moved over to more modest quarters in the auditorium of the Seattle Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) on the edge of the University of Washington campus. The museum  lobby is quite interesting itself with an exhibit of old Seattle photos currently on display featuring celebrity visitors to Seattle in the good old days. Among them, ...

After the opening weekend at the expansive Cinerama Theater downtown the Festival has now moved over to more modest quarters in the auditorium of the Seattle Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) on the edge of the University of Washington campus. The museum lobby is quite interesting itself with an exhibit of old Seattle photos currently on display featuring celebrity visitors to Seattle in the good old days. Among them, a very young Marlon Brando, shown fishing with a local native American,...

New York Arab & South Asian Film Festival 2007, 2/23 – 3/4There is a constant creation of new film festivals defined by regional, thematic, distribution (such as video ipods), or other parameters, propelled by a large supply of production and an ever increasing number of new film makers. This phenomenon is caused by expansion of film schools, access to low cost production equipment, and last not least public and corporate funding for film festivals. By now it is hard to ascertain how many fes...

The JAC Jewish Film Festival in Seattle opened its gates for the twelfth consecutive year last night at the massive CINERAMA Theater down town, with a slam-dunk opening gala double-header, (films from USA and Israel), and an aimiable audience chat with actor Judd Hirsh, following the screening of his latest film, "Brother's Shadow" which opened the festival. "Brother's Shadow" is an absolutely new film, still in search of a distributor, by first-time director Todd Yellin, telling the story of a...

For its 2007 edition, the Oriental Film Festival has selected a few movies in English or with English subtitles. Asia and society, Nadia Naffa, documentary, Jordan, 5’, DVD. A disabled woman fights for recognition in Jordan. Being Osama, Mahmoud Kaabour and Tim Schwab, documentary, Canada/Emirates, 2004, 42’, DVD. An intimate portrait of six men with different personal histories, interrests and personalities, but which have two things in common: their Arab origin, and a first name, Osama. Wh...

Tuesday, February 27----New York film buffs have the opportunity to experience the creative vitality and sociopolitical realities of North Africa, the Middle East and South Asia at the 2007 New York Arab & South Asian Film Festival (NYASAFF), which began last weekend and continues through Sunday, March 4th. The Festival is a collaborative effort among several cultural and media organizations, including Alwan For The Arts, 3rd i NY, South Asian Women's Creative Collective and Downtown ...

Friday, February 9----Four films shared the top Festival prizes at the Rotterdam Film Festival, which ended its 36th edition this past Sunday. Top winners of the VPRO Tiger Awards include: LOVE CONQUERS ALL (Tan Chui Mui, Malaysia), THE UNPOLISHED (Pia Marais, ), BOGS OF BEASTS (Baixo Des Bestas, Brazil) and AFR (Morten Hartz Kapler, Denmark). Each winner received a 10,000 Euro cash prize, as well as a guaranteed broadcast by Dutch public television network VPRO. In other prizes, FOURT...

Last month, on December 4, 2006 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the Audiovisual Resource Center Bophana was inaugurated. A lifelong dream of acclaimed Cambodian film director Rithy Panh, (director of award wining ‘The Khmer Rouge Death Machine’ 2003) president of the Association for the Research, Production and Archiving of Audiovisual documents (ARPAA), the opening of the Bophana archives was, in Mr. Panh’s words, “Symbolic for us – because the Khmer Rouge did not only kill people but they ...

“17 Sept”. a documentary about Hyderabad freedom movement, Produced by Gulbarga DD station, won best Doordarshan documentary award in a glittering event at Jallunder in India. Station Director Mr. Chandrakant Barve received the award on behalf of the creative team. The documentary is about struggle by people of Hyderabad State during British India. It was against atrocities by s under Nizam rule. The freedom movement was parallel to Indian Freedom movement and was lead by Sw...

The New York International Independent Film and Video Festival (NYIIFVF) proudly announces Star Circle Pictures (S) has won the award for BEST SUSPENSE SHORT for the N.Y. premiere of “SAMARITAN” at its 2006 festival.NYIIFVF is ionate about exposing films and documentaries of emerging filmmakers from all over the globe,” says NYIIFV Festival Executive Director and Founder Stuart Alson. “Star Circle Pictures had demonstrated it’s skill with new technologies, being the first in the ...