Author: CWB News Department

The 3rd annual Awareness Film Festival awarenessfestival.org, May 3-6, is a one-of-a-kind film festival that promotes awareness of today’s issues through the timeless art of filmmaking. A dynamic fusion of filmmakers, artists, environmentalists, educators, alternative health practitioners and other industry professionals, the Awareness Film Festival aims to inspire the public through this engaging, entertaining and unique annual event in the film capital of the world.Film categories include but are not limited to: green and eco-friendly living, alternative fuel, veterans’ issues, animal awareness, political topics, preserving nature, alternative healing options, stories of hope, healthcare issues, the arts, spirituality and much more.…

Southeast European Film Festival, Los Angeles opens today and continues until Monday May 7th. With over 30 features, documentaries, and shorts, the festival gives a precious glimpse into the Balkan region, its troubled history, and its cultural diversity. Among the renowned organizations which now support the festival are California Arts Council and the Goethe-Institut, UCLA Center for European and Eurasian Studies, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, ELMA European Languages and Movies in America, Turkish Airlines, Women in Film International Committee, Consulates General of Switzerland, Austria and Hungary, Eurochannel and Dish Network, UCLA Anderson Center for International Business Education and Research,…

Seattle International Film Festival has announced the complete line-up of official selections, galas and special presentations. The 2012 Seattle International Film Festival is produced by SIFF, the non-profit arts organization that reaches more than 250,000 annually through SIFF Cinema, SIFF FutureWave Education and the annual Festival.This year the Seattle International Film Festival will screen 273 features and 187 shorts representing 75 countries, from more than 5,676 submissions worldwide, compared to 5,213 in 2011, with the final selections representing 24 World, 25 North American, 16 U.S. premieres and 56 short film premieres. There will be 180 features at this year’s Festival…

Four films by Parviz Sayyad were presented during the recent Celebration of Iranian Cinema by UCLA’s Department of Film & Television Archive at the Billy Wilder theater in Hammer Museum (April 13-29).Two films from the pre-Islamic Revolution era in Iran:Samad Becomes an Artist, 1973Dead End, 1976And the only two films he made after the Revolution in the US:The Mission, 1983 Checkpoint, 1987 After the showing of the last film on April 28th, when Shannon Kelley, the Festival director introduced Sayyad on stage, he made the following statement before a lively Q&A session: “At this point I would like to thank…

The 7th annual South East European Film Festival, proud recipient of the prestigious grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, will take place this year from May 3rd – 7th, at the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, and UCLA. Commonly known as SEE Fest, the festival presents films that explore religious, ethnic and cultural crossroads of South East Europe, from Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey… With over 30 features, documentaries, and shorts, the festival gives a precious glimpse into the Balkan region, its troubled history, and its cultural diversity. On Saturday May 5th SEE Fest’s Business…

The Consulate General of the Czech Republic in Los Angeles is pleased to announce the first annual Czech Filmfest 2012 which will take place at the Cinefamily in Hollywood on May 16 – 24, 2012. The festival will introduce both new and classic Czech movies to film audiences in Los Angeles and several successful directors and actors will be present to promote their films. “Czech cinema has always been a passion for The Cinefamily. It’s some of the most playful, cinematic, dynamic, and we think underappreciated national lineages in the film world. It’s exciting to work with the Czech Consulate…

UCLA Celebration of Iranian Cinema at Hammer Museum is featuring 3 films by Parviz Sayyad this month. The festival presents:Dead End on Sunday, April 22nd at 7 pm Samad Becomes an Artist on Friday, April 27th at 7:30 pmCheckpoint on Saturday, April 28th at 7:30 pm The 3 films show very different aspects of Iranian society both pre and post the Islamic Revolution and have universal messages very relevant to all of us today regardless of cultural background.There will be an engaging Question & Answer session with Parviz Sayyad after each film. Come let’s support this legend of the Iranian…

An indie film renaissance is emerging, and filmmakers like Alex Stapleton are pioneering it. Stapleton is the director of “Corman’s World: Exploits of a Hollywood Rebel,” a docu-tribute to Roger Corman, the B-movie master who launched the careers of so many A-Listers. (See review of “Corman’s World”)Stapleton’s own filmmaking reflects the Corman legacy—the die-hard, do-it-yourself, guerilla approach. She threw herself into the work with no directing experience, technical training, or initial funding. Living off her savings and going deep into credit card debt, she managed to pull off an extraordinary feat of indie filmmaking. I met with Alex to talk…

In April and May the Austin Film Society is holding a 7- week long retrospective of films from the South East European Film Festival (SEEFest) of Los Angeles. The program is part of ESSENTIAL CINEMA series, the brainchild of Austin Film Society’s legendary director of programming, and one of Society’s founding members, Chale Nafus. SEEFest’s artistic director and curator of the retrospective, Vera Mijojlic, will attend the May 15th and May 22nd screenings, at the famed Alamo Drafthouse Theatre on South Lamar. This is the first presentation of films from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Albania, and Romania in…

“The Salt of Life,” Gianni Di Gregorio’s follow-up to the sleeper hit “Mid-August Lunch,” is about a man caught between the sensual and the inevitable. Again, Di Gregorio plays an alternate version of himself, this time an aging retiree stuck in a limbo between the desires and pleasures of his former youth and the doddering idleness of old age. Gianni is a man of epicurean tastes. He is captivated by the lovely women who pop out at him from every corner of his life—his mother’s buxom caretaker, his young flirtatious neighbor, and a seemingly endless parade of pedestrian beauties. Gianni…