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 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 ] May 5, 2008 TRIBECA '08 | Catching up on 20 Interviews, Critics Notebooks Dispatches and More from the Festival
Tribeca Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, New York, Wrap Ups ] April 7, 2008 DISPATCH FROM NORTH CAROLINA | Full Frame Forges Ahead Without Its Charismatic Founder at the Helm
When the 11th edition of the Full Frame Film Festival unspooled in Durham, North Carolina last Thursday, many were watching to see if the festival would be fundamentally changed by the departure of founder and artistic director Nancy Buirski, long the festival's heart and soul. Buirski, who stayed on as advisor and sidebar curator after a leadership swtich, was still a looming and smiling presence in Durham this year, but the venerable nonfiction film event that she began carried on without her leadership, much the same as it had in previous years. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Lead Story, Wrap Ups ] April 6, 2008 DISPATCH FROM FLORIDA | "Midnight Kiss" and "Operation Filmmaker" Take Top Prizes at a Classy Florida Film Festival
It seemed the heavens were yearning for attention Saturday night in Orlando as torrents of rain poured down and the booming thunder crashed the party at the Winter Park Racquet Club where the Florida Film Festival capped its nine-day event, within the tony confines of a clubhouse overlooking an expansive lake. A well-heeled crowd sipped champagne as the festival, organized by the town's beloved Enzian Theater, unveiled its jury and audience winners. Also receiving FFF praise Saturday was actress Jennifer Tilly, taking home an artistic achievement award. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Wrap Ups ] March 31, 2008 DISPATCH FROM MICHIGAN | Back from the Brink: Ann Arbor Forges Ahead
The Ann Arbor Film Festival very nearly didn't make it to its 46th year. Known for its eclectic slate packed with shorts and experimental films and diverse features, the historic fest came dangerously close to folding last year due to money woes and a censorship battle against Michigan's obscenity laws. The fest, which doesn't shirk at controversy and subversion, went head-to-head with the Michigan legislature over funding issues, which ultimately resulted in the state adopting funding language for the arts in keeping with the National Endowment of the Arts. Thanks in large part to the powerhouse team of Executive Director Christen McArdle and Director of Community and Development Donald Harrison, the fest has continued its legacy and vision of highlighting cutting-edge work by a wide array of artists working in the medium of film. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Wrap Ups ] March 18, 2008 FESTIVALS | Eastern European Flare Sets Cleveland Fest Apart
As goes Ohio, so goes the nation. If the saying holds water regarding the upcoming presidential election, then so goes the nation--into a ditch, to paraphrase Senator Barack Obama. If only the expression were applicable to our cloned film festivals. Here's one that veers off in a different direction. The 32nd Cleveland International Film Festival, Ohio's biggest movie event, had two provocative strands that set it apart. (Nearly 300 films unspooled March 6-16 at a multiplex inside the city's restored 1929 train station, a fabulous structure that is more a naturally lit galleria than claustrophobic mall.) What other U.S. fest has been prescient enough to mount a retrospective of the work of fearless Filipino director Brillante Mendoza? His low-budget films, which fuse documentary and melodrama in a daring way, move you as they move: Motion and emotion co-exist, tugging at your viscera and heart in equal measure. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Wrap Ups ] March 8, 2008 FESTIVALS | Going for the Maverick; Cinequest 'Empowers' 18th Edition
"Empowering The Maverick" announced the signs visible everywhere throughout the small pedestrian area in downtown San Jose, California, striking sentiment for a city less known for its rebellious spirit than its more popular older sister, San Francisco. Swarms of uniformly enthusiastic young filmmakers converged excitedly in the pedestrian area surrounding South First street, clearly feeling the empowerment as the 18th annual Cinequest Film Festival got underway last Friday. "We didn't want to say 'independent' filmmaking," explains festival director and co-founder Halfdan Hussey, a filmmaker who started the festival in 1990 with his directing partner Kathleen Powell. "We felt that 'maverick' described the spirit of the best of cinema and the best of technology and innovation, something that leads the way." [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Wrap Ups ] March 7, 2008 FESTIVALS | Celebs, Ibero-American Film and a Surprise Chill Greet Miami Fest
It was an unusually cold night in downtown Miami for the premiere of "Under the Same Moon," the opening film of the 25th Miami International Film Festival, but the reception inside the historic Gusman Center for the Performing Arts was anything but frosty. Nearly 1,600 attendees gave the film, about a Mexican mother and son living on opposite sides of the U.S. border, a thunderous standing ovation, a hopeful beginning for a festival with more than 150 films and a concentration on Ibero-American cinema. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Wrap Ups ] February 26, 2008 FESTIVALS | No !Fs Ands or Buts, Turkey Eats up the Indies
Although in my last report from the Antalya/ Eurasia Film Festival back in October 2007, I had mentioned that there were two major film festivals in Turkey, it was a comment that I had not wholly given due care. The cities of Istanbul and Ankara have for the past seven years given way to a movement and creation of the !F Istanbul Film Festival whose onus was to promote global independent films to Turkish audiences and to screen international works that would not have necessarily secured a domestic theatrical release. The main event in Istanbul took place between the 14th - 24th February and in Ankara a smaller selection of Istanbul's screenings will be held between 28th February - 2nd March. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under World Cinema, Wrap Ups ] February 3, 2008 DISPATCH FROM SANTA BARBARA | Universal Pictures: SBIFF Celebrates the Yin and the Yang
Nobody can accuse this festival of not being well-rounded. The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is motivated by high contrasts. Though it began with a high-profile studio premiere of "Definitely, Maybe," clearly the biggest hit was a locally-produced surf film. And this eclectic approach applied equally to the celebrity tributes, which have been a big part of this festival and grew much larger this year, with honoree nights ranging from silver screen veterans like Tommy Lee Jones and Julie Christie to a whole new category of awardees the festival labeled "The Virtuosos--a group" that included indie stars Casey Affleck and "Juno"'s Ellen Page. The common denominator is an eye on the Academy Awards, which festival chief Roger Durling now in his fifth year seems quite skillful at predicting. "But we want to reach out to all the people who come to Santa Barbara," Durling told me. "The people who go to see Julie Christie are not the same as those who are there for Ryan Gosling." [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Wrap Ups ] November 29, 2007 DISPATCH FROM GREECE | Festival Vets, Master Classes and an Eclectic Line up for 48th Thessaloniki Fest
In a twist of fate, a film by a native of Thessaloniki garnered the most awards at Sunday night's closing ceremony of the 48th Thessaloniki International Film Festival. "PVC-1," directed by Spiros Stathoulopoulos, is a thriller made with one continuous 81-minute take, and earned the Silver Alexander, the audience award, and several other honors. The jury looked to China to award the festival's Golden Alexander top prize to "The Red Awn," a father-son drama directed by Shangjun Cai. Located in a northern port city on the Greek Aegean Sea, the festival continues to grow under the leadership of Despina Mouzaki, a whirlwind of energy with a charming, elegant demeanor. Variety recently named the 10-day event one of "50 Unmissable Fests" and The New York Times dubbed the city a counterculture center or "the Seattle of the Balkans." [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under World Cinema, Wrap Ups ] October 23, 2007 Hamptons '07 | Enchanted Hamptons Draws Celebs to Familiar Grounds Amidst Fest Change
Despite the autumn serenity in East Hampton last weekend where the leaves are turning and the boutiques are marking up their prices on muted fall sweaters, there was much tumult to be found at the 15th annual Hamptons International Film Festival, and not just within the festival's films (17 of which were premieres). The festival recently lost both festival chief Denise Kassell and artistic director Rajendra Roy, though programming consultant David Nugent, managing director Gianna Chachere, and programmer Josh Koury managed a seemingly effortless segue. The well-healed audiences were likely too busy ogling the myriad attendant celebrities to notice a difference, in any case. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 2 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Wrap Ups ] October 21, 2007 DISPATCH FROM LOS ANGELES | Hard Talk and Cold Facts at 3rd FIND Forum
"Producing a film is not just getting a film in the can," warned veteran producer and former Hollywood studio exec Stephanie Allain on Saturday morning in Los Angeles, "It's getting a film to the audience." The shepherd for such films as "El Mariachi" and "Boyz in The Hood" -- which launched the careers of Robert Rodriguez and John Singleton respectively -- recounted in detail her recent experiences as producer of Craig Brewer's "Hustle & Flow," making the remarks early Saturday morning during a keynote speech that formally opened this weekend's 3rd annual "Filmmaker Forum" organized by Film Independent. Some 250 emerging producers and filmmakers participated in the engaging event -- at a cost of up to $400 each -- held this year at the DGA on Sunset Blvd. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Wrap Ups ] October 16, 2007 DISPATCH FROM TEXAS | Austin Film Festival Fetes the Screenwriter and Keeps it Weird
"Keep Austin Weird" reads the famous T-shirts available around town, proclaiming the city's pride as a Texas anomaly, from the artsy, reclaimed highway strip of South Congress Street to the dozens of live music venues scattered around 6th street and the warehouse district. Scores of the T-shirts were on view at the historic Driskill Hotel, which this weekend was the headquarters for the 14th annual Austin Film Festival. "When we first started, we doubted we could survive as a local festival," says AFF executive director and co-founder Barbara Morgan. "Austin wasn't at all as big, and this was before South by Southwest really put its indie scene on the map, so we needed something else. We looked at over a thousand festivals, and not one of them was done for screenwriters. I knew a lot of screenwriters living here, and it just made sense." [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Wrap Ups ]  DISPATCH FROM S.F. | Mill Valley Fest Fetes 30th Year with Some Celebrated Friends
[EDITOR'S NOTE: Dennis Harvey's coverage of the 30th Mill Valley Film Festival was originally published in indieWIRE's sister publication covering the Bay Area's film scene, SF360.] Like its late-'70s-birthed classmate Sundance, the Mill Valley Film Festival has a long-standing emphasis on American independent cinema. The difference being that at this point anything premiering at Sundance is instantly "discovered" by international media, sussed by agents, studio scouts and distributors. As its profile has risen, "indie cred" has perhaps inevitably lowered -- several titles each year are just uninspired, starry if relatively low-budgeted quasi-mainstream flicks. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Wrap Ups ] October 15, 2007 DISPATCH FROM WOODSTOCK | Celebs and Stellar Line-up Head Upstate at 8th Woodstock Fest
Tribeca Film Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under New York, Wrap Ups ] September 18, 2007 FESTIVALS | Martha's Vineyard: Thinking Globally From an Gilded Isle
Martha's Vineyard is one of the most beautiful places on the Atlantic coast, a scenic haunt of the Kennedys and the Clintons full of rambling hills and quaint New England architecture that has taken a special place in the American imagination. It may seem strange, then, that the organizers of the Martha's Vineyard International Film Festival, which this weekend held its second annual run in the town of Vineyard Haven, would choose "Other Places" as their theme. Why bother with other places, when you're on Martha's Vineyard? "This is really an ideal place," says Nevette Previd, who runs the festival with co-chair Richard Paradise, "but in order to really appreciate it you have to leave, get away from your surroundings. And film can really take you somewhere else, even just for a few hours." [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 1 comments ] [ filed under Wrap Ups ] August 7, 2007 FESTIVALS | Yoopers and Borat Behind the Scene at Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival
Since "Sicko" opened in theaters seven weeks ago, Michael Moore has been energetically speaking to the press about health care--including a sparring match with CNN's Wolf Blitzer that became a hit on YouTube. But that hectic schedule didn't deter Moore from presiding over the third annual Traverse City Film Festival that he co-founded in the Michigan resort town where he also keeps a home. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Wrap Ups ] July 24, 2007 Outfest Celebrates Silver with Films, a Legacy and a New Boom
It was a big year for Outfest, one of the nation's preeminent gay & lesbian film festivals, which concluded its 25th run on Monday in Los Angeles. To celebrate its silver anniversary festival organizers honored the history of queer cinema, publishing the "25 Films That Changed Our Lives," a list compiled from over 1,000 responses to their inquiries, and held special screenings for four of those films including "High Art," "I've Heard the Mermaids Singing," "Longtime Companion," and "Poison," the last accompanied by a tribute to actor and editor Jim Lyons. The big news, however, was the world premiere of Outfest's restoration of Bill Sherwood's landmark 1986 film "Parting Glances," one of the pioneer gay films from the early years of the AIDS epidemic. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Queer Cinema, Wrap Ups ] July 19, 2007 DISPATCH FROM IRELAND | 19th Galway Film Fleadh Wraps Up
The 19th Galway Film Fleadh came to an end on Sunday and by all accounts it was a rousing success. Success is certainly the word for debut director Marian Quinn (sister of Aidan Quinn) whose "32A" nabbed the Best First Feature award at the fest. The Best Feature doc prize was split between Christopher Dillon Quinn's "God Grew Tired of Us" and "The Cats of Mirikitani," directed by Linda Hattendorff. Attendance this year has been estimated at 15,000, up significantly from 2006, according to a festival representative and every attendee I spoke to had a hell of a good time. The Fleadh (pronounced flah, means "festival" in Irish) is a low-maintenance, low-stress (except for the staff of course) event, meant largely to benefit the local community which is without a regular art house cinema the rest of the year. [ read more in On The Scene ] [ 1 comments ] [ filed under Festival Dispatches, Lead Story, Wrap Ups ] Older Entries from Wrap UpsJuly 6, 2007 June 19, 2007 June 19, 2007 June 18, 2007 June 12, 2007 May 7, 2007 April 30, 2007 April 30, 2007 April 25, 2007 April 23, 2007 April 20, 2007 April 19, 2007 April 17, 2007 March 27, 2007 March 26, 2007 March 13, 2007 March 11, 2007 March 5, 2007 February 5, 2007 February 5, 2007 January 16, 2007 December 10, 2006 November 27, 2006 November 21, 2006 October 28, 2006 August 9, 2006 July 20, 2006 July 19, 2006 June 22, 2006 June 20, 2006 June 18, 2006 June 14, 2006 May 10, 2006 April 27, 2006 April 19, 2006 April 13, 2006 April 12, 2006 March 30, 2006 March 19, 2006 March 2, 2006 February 16, 2006 January 21, 2006 December 19, 2005 December 1, 2005 November 17, 2005 November 9, 2005 November 3, 2005 October 24, 2005 October 21, 2005 October 19, 2005 October 12, 2005 September 21, 2005 September 19, 2005 September 5, 2005 August 31, 2005 August 26, 2005 | |
