festivals

Mike Leigh back at Cannes

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 07:35:12 +0100

Mike Leigh returns to Cannes Film Festival competition

Mike Leigh is the only British director nominated this year he will return to this year's Cannes Film Festival to compete for the event's top prize with his latest offering, Another Year.

US director Doug Liman makes his Cannes debut with Fair Game, alongside Abbas Kiarostami and Takeshi Kitano.

Woody Allen and Oliver Stone's latest movies will be premiered at the May event, out of competition.

Benicio Del Toro and Kate Beckinsale are joining the festival jury, which is headed by Tim Burton.Between them, they will decide the film which will take home the prestigious Palme d'Or prize.

Leigh won the prize for Secrets and Lies in 1996, three years after picking up the festival's best director award for Naked.

The Oscar-nominated director's latest movie stars Jim Broadbent and Imelda Staunton.

Last year, The White Ribbon by Austrian director Michael Haneke was announced as the winner.

A total of 16 directors will compete for this year's honour, including South Korea's Lee Chang-dong and France's Bertrand Tavernier and Xavier Beauvois.

Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, known for sprawling dramas Amores Perros and Babel, is also putting his latest - Biutiful - in front of the judges. The Spanish-language movie stars Oscar winner Javier Bardem.

Out-of-competition, Oliver Stone will showcase Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. The sequel to his 1987 hit reunites Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen, alongside younger stars Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan. Woody Allen's British-set film You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Naomi Watts, will also receive its premiere. And British director Stephen Frears follows up his Oscar-winner The Queen with Tamara Drewe - starring Gemma Arterton and based on Posy Simmonds' comic strip and graphic novel of the same name.

Kate Beckinsale will help decide the winner of the Palme d'Or

Both Leigh and Frears' movies received funding from the UK Film Council, as did Nakata's Chatroom, which has been nominated to take part in the Un Certain Regard section of the festival.

"This is a sign that right now British films, filmmakers and talent are delivering great work that the rest of the world wants to see," said John Woodward, chief executive of the UK Film Council.

Red Carpet Row

Cannes is the most prestigious event in the film calendar after the Oscars, and attracts more than 33,000 people to the French town each year. However, coverage of the event by news agencies around the world is in doubt.

Agence France-Presse, Reuters, AP and Getty TV did not attend a press conference to announce the line-up on Thursday in Paris, because of a row over red carpet access.

The agencies, which gather and distribute news stories to newspapers and broadcasters around the world, including the BBC, are upset over restrictions on video footage at the event. In a statement released earlier this week, they said they "may be forced to suspend their presence at the festival altogether" if the row was not resolved.

FILMS IN COMPETITION:

Tournee (Mathieu Amalric)

Des Hommes et des Dieux (Xavier Beauvois)

Hors la Loi (Rachid Bouchareb)

Biutiful (Alejandro Gonalez Inarritu)

Un Homme Qui Crie (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun)

Housemaid (Im Sangsoo)

Copie Conforme (Abbas Kiarostami)

Outage (Takeshi Kitano)

Poetry (Lee Chang-dong)

Another Year (Mike Leigh)

Fair Game (Doug Liman)

You. My Joy (Sergei Loznitsa)

La Nostra Vita (Daniele Luchetti)

Utomlyonnye Solntsem 2 (Nikita Mikhalkov)

La Princesse de Montpensier (Bertrand Tavernier)

Loong Boonmee Ralek Chaat (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)

Decisions for Cannes - still open

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:25:10 +0100

This year thee will be late decisions on the Cannes line up as the selection Committee is still watching films in what has been called a 'complicated' year .....

By John Hopewell and Justin Chang of Variety

New works by Jean-Luc Godard, Woody Allen, Abbas Kiarostami and Oliver Stone are among the few near-certainties in a Cannes Film Festival lineup that looks set to go down to the wire even more than in recent years.

With the official selection set to be announced in Paris on Thursday (nearly a week earlier than last year's April 23 unveiling), fest director Thierry Fremaux and his selection committee are rushing to view as many submissions as possible in the scant time remaining. All signs suggest the lineup won't be finalized until the last minute -- and perhaps not even then, as a few key entries may be slotted after the announcement.

"It's a very difficult, complicated year," Fremaux told Daily Variety.

The title perhaps most emblematic of the committee's indecision is Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life." Fest officials are keen to lock in the Brad Pitt-Sean Penn starrer, which would not only put some high-profile talent on the red carpet but also land Malick back in the competition spotlight for the first time since 1979, when he won the director prize for "Days of Heaven." But given the helmer's reputation for taking his time in the editing room, the jury's still out on whether the Apparition release will be completed in time.

Elsewhere on the American front, what's out seems clearer than what's in: At least three high-profile pictures -- Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter," Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" and Gus Van Sant's untitled latest -- will not be finished in time for the festival.

Still, Cannes' 63rd edition so far seems primed to deliver a fairly robust lineup of U.S. studio and specialty-division fare -- starting with the previously announced opening-night attraction, Universal's Ridley Scott-directed "Robin Hood" -- as opposed to last year's Hollywood-light selection.

In keeping with his longtime rule of not competing at festivals, Allen should get an out-of-competition slot for Sony Classics' "You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger," a London-set feature starring Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts and Freida Pinto.

Stone's "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" looks set to cash in on a Cannes berth, though where it will wind up in the official selection remains unclear (Daily Variety, March 11). The Fox sequel sees Michael Douglas reprising the role of Gordon Gekko alongside Shia LaBeouf, Carey Mulligan and Brolin.

Reports are that Doug Liman's political thriller "Fair Game," starring Watts and Penn, had yet to be screened for the committee as of Saturday; ditto two potential British candidates, Mike Leigh's "Another Year" (featuring Jim Broadbent and Imelda Staunton) and Stephen Frears' still-in-progress "Tamara Drewe."

An Un Certain Regard slot seems likely for Godard's Swiss-funded "Socialism," though the film's exact placement has yet to be confirmed; the French New Wave vet's past two Cannes entries, "In Praise of Love" (2001) and "Notre musique" (2004), screened in and out of competition, respectively. An HD video feature described in an online synopsis as "a symphony in three movements," "Socialism" was helmed by Godard with six other filmmakers.

Two past Cannes prizewinners are widely expected to return to the Croisette. Palme d'Or laureate Kiarostami will bring his first film produced outside Iran, "The Certified Copy," which stars this year's Cannes poster girl, Juliette Binoche, and was shot in Tuscany. Romanian helmer Cristi Puiu may get his first crack at the competition with "Aurora" -- the second installment in the six-film cycle he began with "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu," which won the 2005 Un Certain Regard prize and marked the festival as an early champion of new Romanian cinema.

At least two Asian titles look ripe for competition slots: Takeshi Kitano's "Outrage," the Japanese helmer's first yakuza thriller since 2000's "Brother"; and South Korean director Lee Chang-dong's "Poetry," a drama about a cross-generational friendship, starring vet Korean actress Yun Jeong-hie.

Traditionally, the French-directed films are the last to be selected for competition, and while this year will be no exception, two pics that seem near the head of the pack are Olivier Assayas' "Carlos the Jackal," a three-part, 4 1/2-hour miniseries about Venezuelan terrorist Ilich Ramirez Sanchez; and Bertrand Blier's comedy "The Sound of Ice Cubes," toplining "OSS 117" star Jean Dujardin.

Fest runs May 12-23.

(Robert Koehler, Jordan Mintzer, Alissa Simon and Boyd van Hoeij contributed to this report.)

Cannes 2010 - first time visitor ?

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 09:18:00 +0100

Cannes 2010 - are you first time visitor to the festival?

The 63rd Cannes Film Festival will take place 12-23 May 2010

For all the information you need visit "Cannes - A Festival Virgin's Guide"

For 12 days in May the city of Cannes is transformed from a quiet seaside resort into the entire focus of the international film industry. Over 200,000 people - filmmakers, film fans, and star-gazers alike - descend on the Croisette to take part in the Cannes Film Festival (or more correctly, the Festival de Cannes). During these two weeks thousands of films are screened, careers are made (and ruined), and stars from all over the world gather to bask in the limelight.

Ever since the early 1950s, when a bikini-clad Brigitte Bardot frolicked on the beach for the cameras, Cannes has grown to embody two of the world's favourite pastimes: sex and cinema. Now easily the most famous film festival of them all, the mere mention of Cannes conjures up images of red carpets, palm trees, scantily-clad starlets, the blinding flashes of a million paparazzi cameras, and of course, celebrity parties.

Mumbai Film Fest Draws Big Names

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:23:41 +0100

From "mydigitalfc.com' by Reji John

The 11th Mumbai Film Festival, which opens on October 29 with American filmmaker Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant and ends on November 5 with Greek director Theo Angelopoulus’s The Dust of Time, is becoming bigger, better and certainly more glamourous. From 65 films representing 23 countries in its inaugural edition in 1997, the festival this year will feature 200 films from 56 countries. According to festival director S Narayanan, what makes the festival different and unique this year is the choice of films. "We have worked hard over the past one year to get the most recent films from around the world. The focus is on movies released in 2008 and 2009."

While the festival will screen some of the best global cinema to cinephiles, filmmakers in various competition categories are up for some really big cash prizes. The winner of the international competition of first feature film by a director will get a cash price of Rs 50 lakh and the first runner-up will get a cash price of Rs 25 lakh. Besides these, MAMI has introduced a Rs 10 lakh cash prize for the film that wins the audience choice award. All films featured in the festival, except retrospective and tributes, will be qualified to compete for this award.

"The festival has kept Rs 1 crore as the total prize money this year," said Narayanan.

The organisers of the festival have, for the first time, brought in a sponsor to the event this year. As a sponsor, Reliance Big Entertainment (RBE), a division of Reliance ADA Group, is spending close to Rs 4 crore. In fact, RBE’s chairman Amit Khanna is one of the trustees of MAMI, the organiser of the festival. "As the capital of India's film industry, we felt that Mumbai should have a festival that will be worthy of its status," said Khanna recently.

With a sponsor on board and a decent budget, the organisers have managed to get a better list of movies. "Earlier, we depended on favours from distributors and producers to lend their films. This year, with more money coming in, acquiring films was easy, said Shyam Benegal, chairman, MAMI. According to him all the sections of the festival carry some of the best films made the world over. "Whether it’s the thematic or the director’s point of view that makes every film so distinctive, our audience will be able to see and experience for themselves. And be enriched," said Benegal.

The festival is divided in five sections, featuring the best and the latest world cinema offering in the last 10 months. These include 13 feature films of first time directors from across the world, which include Rage directed by Sally Potter and Man On Wire directed by James Marsh. Reel Real will be dedicated to feature length documentary films. Above The Cut, an out of competition section, will highlight those debut features that are extraordinary but could not be included in the competition section. It will present 14 first feature films such as Should I really Do It? (Turkey) by Ismail Necmi and Rwanda, The Day God Walked Away (France) by Philippe Van Leeuw. World Cinema section will screen a spectrum of the latest and the best of cinema handpicked from festivals around the globe.

Indian Frame will showcase the best 15 Indian films made during the past year. They include Bengali films such as Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s Janala and Rituparno Ghosh’s Abohomaan, Marathi films such as Umesh Kulkarni’s Vihir and Renuka Shahane’s Rita and from Malayalam Madhupal’s Thalappavu (The Crown).

The Indian face in the five-member jury is cinematographer and director Shaji N Karun, whose latest film Kutty Srank: Sailor of Hearts, a RBE-produced Malayalam film, will also be screened at the festival.

The festival will also pay tributes to outstanding cinematic achievements of Hollywood screenwriter Paul Schrader. A jury member, Schrader is known for his screenwriting in Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Last Temptation of Christ.

Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos will receive the international lifetime achievement award, while Indian film actor-producer Shashi Kapoor will be honoured with the Indian lifetime achievement award.

Visit the OFFICIAL SITE of the 11th Mumbai Film Festival

Screenwriting Guide launch at SWF

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:10:54 +0100

The Writer's Guild's screenwriting guide to be launched at Festival

A new good practice guide for screenwriters produced by the Writers' Guild, to be officially launched at this year’s Screenwriters’ Festival, calls for writers and producers to be partners not enemies.

The comprehensive "how-to" document aims to bridge the gap between the art and the business of screenwriting. It stresses that to be a success in the industry you need more than just a great script. Careful collaboration with other key players is imperative to ensure a script’s successful completion and financial viability.

"With this Guide, we’re encouraging screenwriters to roll up their sleeves and get involved", says Olivia Hetreed, the screenwriter behind Girl with a Pearl Earring, and Chair of the Guild's Film Committee. "It's not enough to be good at writing scripts to be successful in the industry. In order to see your work through from first draft to completed film, and be appropriately acknowledged for your involvement, you need to know the business and build strong working relationships."

She is concerned that writers can be isolated and not know what to expect: "Screenwriters can be worryingly naïve or simply grow so desperate to see their script in production that they sign up to horrible contracts, giving up all their rights for little or nothing."

Bernie Corbett, General Secretary of the Guild, said: "The launch of the film guidelines is a big moment for the Writers' Guild. Now more than ever writers need to understand the deals they are making and the contracts they are signing. Terminology, fees, credits, rights . . . our new booklet sweeps away the mysteries and gives screenwriters a clear and realistic route map through the jungle of the film industry."

Feedback from big names in screenwriting has been very positive.

Deborah Moggach, who wrote the BAFTA nominated script for Pride & Prejudice, said: "What an incredibly useful booklet, packed full of helpful information. I wish it had been around when I was starting out."

Guy Hibbert, whose screenplay for Five Minutes of Heaven won him the World Cinema Screenwriting Award at Sundance Film Festival in January added: "It’s a guide which every writer without an agent must read, and a guide that every producer working with a writer should read. Screenwriters and producers need each other, and this sets up the basis for that relationship to work."

Screenwriter, Line Langebek, who wrote I’ll Come Running, said: "This guide is about taking ownership of your own career, knowing what a contract is or should be, and about what's involved in the entire process of screenwriting. To be successful you need to be a good writer, but more than that - you need to be a great collaborator."

The informative guide, developed through consultation with industry professionals and debates at last year's Screenwriters' Festival, hopes to enhance the rights and status of writers and safeguard original work. The guide aims to:

Give writers a taste of reality:

The UK industry has a continuing problem in finding a viable development process for screenplays

There is a gulf between pay and working conditions on the few larger budget films and the micro-budget end, where fees for writer, producer and director can be deferred, often indefinitely

Clarify key working relationships:

The catch-22 of "Can’t get work without an agent, can’t get an agent without work..."

What is realistic to expect from your director and producer

Suggest an alternative working arrangement, using a joint venture agreement, in conjunction with a licence.

Shed light on the process of screenwriting:

From option to turnaround and everything in between

Collaboration, taking criticism and agreeing on how much involvement the writer should have in the project

If you get hired you can get fired – even from your own original script.

Arm writers with the need-to-know terms by:

Defining screenwriting jargon such as logline, polish, treatment and tagline

Clarifiying the ins-and-outs of copyright, chain of title, assignment of rights and so on

Unravel the challenges and opportunities that new media present:

How to avoid unfair exploitation and make the most of these new avenues of distribution

Compares the deals being done in other areas of new media work.

….And if all this fails – how to resolve disputes

"Marriages based on true love can still end in divorce," so making a sound contract is advised - "The screenwriter’s pre-nup".

Procedure and contacts for legal help and other advice.

Download the Writers' Guild publication Writing Film - a good practice guide (pdf)

THE SWF NEEDS YOU !

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:00:04 +0100

Dear Fellow Writer,

My apologies for this intrusion but I write on a matter of some urgency.

You are probably aware that the annual International Screenwriters’ Festival is set to start next week in Cheltenham, running from Monday 26 to Thursday 29 October. It is the only festival in the world that celebrates both the art and business sides of screenwriting and that brings together both the British and international community of writers.

And it needs you.

The Screenwriting Festival’s reputation has grown from year to year as the place to hear from and meet with the cream of writing talent and key decision-makers and to network not only with fellow writers but also TV executives, agents and product-hungry producers.

This year the line-up is stellar – including James Schamus, Simon Beaufoy and a serious who’s who of writers of the great Dr. Who series. There is a new town centre venue – Cheltenham Ladies College – which boasts fantastic facilities, more space for the many popular practical seminars from lawyers, producers, agents and developers, and a greater opportunity of public engagement with the Festival.

There are Script Bites, where you get to sit round the table with the major speakers and players; Speed Dating – a chance for a one-on-one with producers and agents; and the ever-popular Pitch contest. Former winners are now seeing their projects rolling on to production – so it really does work.

However, we all know that this has been a very tough year and that television and film have been particularly hard hit. Funding, both public and private, is in short supply and, with great regret, some of the Festival’s significant sponsors have had to reduce or withdraw their sponsorship. Without this support the future of the Festival begins to look very uncertain.

I therefore urge you, if you are still undecided, if you have thought of attending but never quite got round to it, if you are wondering if it is a good investment when money is tight, or have been before and are not sure whether to come again this year: please, buy a ticket now.

If you are in a position to sponsor an individual event that would be wonderful. If cost is a major factor (and tickets, though incredibly good value for money, are not cheap) and you are working for a production company, why not ask them if they will subsidise your ticket cost? In return they will get a happier, better informed and even more eager writer. Or they might be interested in sponsoring an individual event.

There are still two and four day tickets available (not very many so don’t delay) and discounts for multiple buys. The Festival or the Writers’ Guild will be happy to put you together with other writers to take advantage of this or you can join up with other writers from your region, old writing course or other writers’ networks. Cheltenham has a great range of places to stay and details are available on the Festival website, along with special offers.

You will, without doubt, be informed, entertained and inspired by the experience, and your ticket purchase will ensure that this festival – our Festival – survives to continue the crucial work of connecting screenwriters within the business and celebrating writers and screenwriting to the wider public.

You can buy tickets from our WEBSITE or TwelvePoint.com at or from The Screenwriters’ Store

I can’t promise Gordon Brown’s vision of Apocalyptic doom if we don’t rally round to help the Screenwriters’ Festival now, but I can say that its survival depends on our support.

Thank you,

OLIVIA HETREED

WGGB Film Committee

Board Member, Screenwriting Festival

Zurich Film Festival stunned by Polanski arrest

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:38:34 +0100

from : Screen Daily.com
27 Septmber 2009

The Polish director was the subject of a special tribute at this year’s festival and was en route to Zurich to take part in a masterclass with young filmmakers when he was taken into custody.

His arrest, which took place late on Saturday night, was linked to the charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor brought against him more than 30 years ago in Los Angeles. According to US news reports, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office learned of his Zurich trip and presented an arrest warrant to Swiss authorities. He is now awaiting extradition to the US.

None of the young filmmakers and guests at Zurich’s Corso Cinema for the Sunday morning masterclass were aware of the arrest until festival officials belatedly informed them what had happened.

"The events of last night threw me because I met Polanski first in 1965 and he has transcended all the borders - not just national borders - with his art. Also, he has transcended his own life in the way he has been able to
make these great films," British film historian and critic Peter Cowie, who had been due to moderate the masterclass - told a stunned audience.

In the place of the masterclass, the Festival screened a copy of acclaimed documentary Roman Polanski - Wanted and Desired, which had shown at last year’s festival and deals in detail with the events surrounding the sex crime allegations levelled at Polanski.

Festival officials weren’t able to cast much light on the circumstances of his arrest. However, they made the observation that he had clearly been convinced that it was safe for him to travel to Zurich without fear of extradition. At the time of his arrest by Swiss authorities, Polanski was allowed to make two telephone calls. One was to the festival to apologise for his non-appearance.

Speculation was that Polanski had been arrested under the terms of an arrest warrant which had been renewed secretly four days ago.

The Zurich Film Festival issued a statement that read: "We are unable to judge the legal background surrounding the arrest of Roman Polanski. We are shocked and unable to comprehend this situation, which has affected us deeply. This evening’s scheduled homage to Roman Polanski’s cinematographic oeuvre was intended to express our admiration for one of the most exceptional filmmakers of our time.

"The ‘A Tribute To…’ lifetime achievement award for his work as a director will be conferred at the soonest possible opportunity. This incident will not affect the rest of the Zurich Film Festival’s programme, which will continue as announced."

It remains to be seen what impact the arrest might have on release plans for his new film, The Ghost, which is post-production. Summit International declined to comment.

The 5th Zurich Film Festival runs from 24 September to 4th October.

Zurich Film Festival

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 08:24:50 +0100

Zurich becomes film capital

The 5th Zurich Film Festival will take place at the cinemas corso and Arthouse Le Paris from September 24 until October 4, 2009. A public festival for those who have already seen it all. The Zurich Film Festival will screen more than 60 Swiss and international film premieres in the International Feature Film Competition, the International Documentary Film Competition, the German Language Film Competition, the Out of Competition and New World View Argentina series. Entering just its fifth year, the Zurich Film Festival has established itself as a marquee European Festival, discovering and promoting independent voices and talent from around the world and showcasing a diverse array of international films. Zurich Film Festival continues to serve as the setting for many World and European premieres.

A fine selection of side events and parties will complete the programme of the 5th Zurich Film Festival.

Renowned guests from all over the world turned Zurich during the last years into a bustling film capital, and established filmmakers as well as up-and-coming newcomers presented their latest work in person. In 2007, we had the honour to welcome Oliver Stone as A Tribute to ...guest and awarded him for his lifetime achievement. In 2008, the A Tribute to... Award was dedicated to Costa-Gavras, the grand old man of political thriller. A special highlight was the Golden Icon Award ceremony, where Sylvester Stallone was honoured for his lifetime achievements and personally accepted the award to thundurous applause and standing ovations.

Venice Film Festival

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 07:41:13 +0100

from : Time magazine 21 September 2009

They're supposed to be glittering showcases for the finest new movies from around the world, but film festivals get their juice from Hollywood's most venerable and precious commodity: stars. So on the red carpet at the 66th Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica — better known as the Venice Film Festival — were Nicolas Cage, Matt Damon, Viggo Mortensen and, for a little old-fashioned glamour, Omar Sharif. Inside the Sala Grande, George Clooney introduced his new girlfriend, TV presenter Elisabetta Canalis; and when the projector broke down at a screening of his film The Men Who Stare at Goats, he entertained the audience with a vigorous rendition of "O Sole Mio."

But there are stars, and then there's Hugo Chávez, the prime subject of Oliver Stone's docu-pic South of the Border. The Venezuelan President arrived on the Lido with a couple dozen bodyguards — an unnecessary precaution since the festival crowd greeted the movie with rapture, applauding Chávez's more fiery statements and booing whenever George W. Bush came on the screen. At the end, el Presidente strode into the audience, giving an impromptu five-minute speech and shaking the hand of anyone within reach.

Politics — national, global, financial and sexual — dominated the festival and its awards. The Golden Lion, the top prize from the jury headed by filmmaker Ang Lee, went to Lebanon, Samuel Maoz's potent memoir of the first Israeli–Lebanon war. Women Without Men, a feminist drama set in Iran during the 1953 U.S.-backed coup that placed Reza Pahlavi on the Peacock Throne, earned the runner-up Silver Lion prize for director Shirin Neshat. Ksenia Rappoport took Best Actress as a Slovenian immigrant with a mysterious agenda in the Italian thriller The Double Hour. And Britain's Colin Firth was named Best Actor for his role as a gay professor in mourning over the death of his lover in A Single Man.

The impact of Lebanon should reverberate beyond the Adriatic. Maoz served in the 1982 conflict, and says it took him this long to turn his haunted recollections into cinematic form. Except for the opening and closing shots of a field of sunflowers, the entire film takes place in an Israeli tank holding four very nervous soldiers. The only view to the streets outside is through the gunsight aimed at insurgents and civilians. Which ones to shoot at? Which ones to save? Working as both a horrors-of-war screed and a depiction of men under impossible stress, Lebanon is an unrelentingly claustrophobic nightmare.

A film needn't take a prize at Venice to grab the attention of the world press. Michael Moore, whose Fahrenheit 9/11 is the top-grossing documentary of all time, shifted his focus to the financial meltdown in Capitalism: A Love Story. Provocative and wildly ambitious, it expands beyond the housing and banking crises of the past year into an epic of malfeasance: capital crimes on a national scale. With enough corporate villains to stock a hundred melodramas, who is the hero? The writer-director-star himself. There he is, attempting to make a citizen's arrest of AIG executives and parking an armored truck in front of one bank to reclaim the billions it received in government largesse. Of course the film is one- sided; that's the nature of a political tract. But Capitalism is filled with vigorous vignettes that support Moore's case, in a movie that's as entertaining as it is impassioned.

Not so South of the Border, which is amateurish as cinema, myopic and cheerleaderish in its worldview. Stone sees the geopolitical glass as all empty (the U.S. and its world banking arm, the International Monetary Fund) or all full (Chávez and his comrade Presidentes in South America). As big a celebrity as any of the leaders he interviews, Stone kicks a football around with Chávez and shares coca leaves with Bolivian President Evo Morales. Never does he raise prickly questions — for instance, about human-rights violations and attacks on journalists in Venezuela. The director leaves those stinging salvos for his Hollywood movies about U.S. politicians.

The festival has another mission, beyond showing left-leaning films to left-leaning audiences. It wants the world to know that Hollywood's Oscar season does not begin at the much larger Toronto Film Festival, held a week later than Venice. It starts right here. Clooney's Goats, a kooky satire about U.S. soldiers in Iraq who've been trained as "psychic spies," is unlikely to get much attention at the Academy Awards; nor is Cage's work in Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, though the star's intensity as a   cop deranged by painkillers is fun to watch. But The Informant!, starring Damon as a paunchy, middle-aged, real-life corporate whistle-blower with some weird secrets, deserves the approval of Oscar   voters. In its oddball, deadpan fashion, Steven Soderbergh's comedy-drama says as much about the chicanery of the American business establishment as any Michael Moore diatribe.

The worthiest Venice entry was A Single Man. The first film directed by renowned fashion designer Tom Ford, it provides Firth, best known as the dreamboat Mr. Darcy in the BBC's 1995 version of Pride and Prejudice, with the role of a lifetime. No less than Lebanon, this is a film of man in extremis, seen in extreme close-up. Firth's professor, disconsolate over the death of his longtime beau in a car crash, meticulously rehearses his own suicide, by gunshot, but can't find a practical or aesthetically elegant way to carry it off. The Southern California setting casts an orange glow on Firth's handsome, mourning face, and lends A Single Man a delicate warmth that should touch all who see the picture. Firth may not have been the most famous actor to tread the Lido carpet, but don't be surprised if he earns an Oscar nomination to match his Venice win.

Naperville Independent Film Festival

Thu, 17 Sep 2009 09:28:10 +0100

80 films in 8 days : 19th - 26th September

Naperville Independent Film Festival organizers are on a mission to change people's view of festivals.

While most area residents tend to think of carnival rides and bands, this one is all about movies and creativity.

The second annual Naperville Independent Film Festival runs from Saturday, Sept. 19, to Saturday, Sept. 26, at several venues around the city. The event will feature 80 movies by filmmakers from around the world and appearances by celebrity guests.

This year's event begins with a party that is part busting ghosts and part busting moves. The "Ghostbusters" Tribute Bash runs from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at the Holiday Inn Select, 1801 N. Naper Blvd.

In honor of the film's 25th anniversary, the party includes samples of Dan Aykroyd's Crystal Head Vodka and a demo of the new Atari "Ghostbusters" video game as well as a buffet and dancing. There also will be a performance by musician Jim Peterik who is known for hits like "Hold on Loosely," and "Eye of the Tiger."

"Everybody knows 'Ghostbusters' and it's a great family film everyone can identify with and it will be a lot of fun," co-founder Gary Pradel said.

Tickets are $10 per person or $15 per couple.

Throughout the week, movie lovers will be able to check out 80 films that were culled from about 130 submissions, including screenplays. While they aren't the slick Hollywood films many are used to, Pradel said, they are clever stories that will "stretch your mind."

"It's fascinating to watch movies that are from the perspective of people around the world, how they view life, how they view the United States, how they view different cultures," Pradel said.

Some of the filmmakers will be on hand throughout the festival to discuss the pieces they created.

"At film festivals a lot of the time people that made the movies are there to talk about what they were feeling and going through when they made their films and you don't have that when you watch Hollywood movies," Pradel said.

Films will be shown from 5 p.m. to midnight Sept. 20 through 25 at Ogden 6 Theatre, 1227 E. Ogden Ave., and 6:30 to 11 p.m. at Holiday Inn Select.

Tickets to the screenings are $3 or buy two and get one free at Ogden 6.

Showing the movies only at night is one of the changes Pradel and his co-founders made this year as they learned lessons from last year's inaugural fest. Pradel started the event with area filmmakers Edmond and Glessna Coisson and Daniel Nigg. The event is presented by Pradel's nonprofit organization, the Arthur Ray Foundation.

The group also expanded one of its most popular features, Family Day, which will go from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 20, at the Holiday Inn Select. Family Day includes a "High School Musical" pep rally, performances by local actors and dancers, demonstrations, workshops and films created by kids and teens. All of the Family Day events are free.

Tonight, people who like to put in their two cents while they watch movies can try out MuVChat, new technology that allows moviegoers to post text messages to the movie screen.

MuVChat will debut during the grand opening celebration of the Hollywood Palms Cinema, 352 S. Route 59, during a free showing of "Zoolander" at 9 p.m.

Film fanatics also can earn more about the process of creating them as two pros share their knowledge Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Holiday Inn Select. Actor/writer/comedian Rodney Lee Conover will lead a panel discussion from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m. Dan Decker will lead a workshop on screenwriting from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m.

The week culminates in an Awards Gala from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at Hollywood Palms. Filmmakers will be vying for 10 awards including best feature film, short subject, animation, foreign language and screenplay.

The red carpet also will be out for several celebrities who will be on hand to help celebrate. Guests include film critic Roger Ebert, actress Karen Allen from "Raiders of the Lost Ark" as well as Conover and Peterik. All four of the guests have Illinois ties. Ebert is an Urbana native, Allen is originally from Carrollton, Conover hails from Aurora and Peterik is from Berwyn.

Tickets for the gala are $25 each and include dinner.

For a full schedule of films and events, visit www.naperfilmfest.org

Naperville Film Festival

The second annual Naperville Independent Film Festival runs from Sept. 19 to 26 with activities at the Holiday Inn Select, 1801 N. Naper Blvd., Ogden 6 Theatre, 1227 E. Ogden Ave., and Hollywood Palms Cinema, 352 S. Route 59. Tickets to film screenings are $3 or buy two and get one free at Ogden 6. Info: naperfilmfest.org.

From the Chicago Herald