Author: CWB News Department

Cannes 2009 – Meeting the press to answer questions about his latest feature, Spring Fever, which is screening in Competition, Chinese director Lou Ye was accompanied by actors Tan Zhuo, Chen Sicheng, Qin Hao, and Wu Wei. A number of political and social issues were discussed: for example, the censorship he faces in China, and the fact that his latest film deals with a subject which is taboo there, male homosexuality.Lou Ye, regarding the ban on his work in China:My answer is very simple: as a director, I make films, and so I continued doing my job as usual. I…

Charles Aznavour, the voice talent in the French version of the Pixar feature Up, and the young actress Hafsia Herzi had the honors of calling this 62nd edition of the Cannes Film Festival officially open in the Grand Théâtre Lumière. It was then Edouard Baer who came on stage as Master of Ceremonies for the second year in a row. One by one, the jury members came front and center: Asia Argento, Shu Qi, Sharmila Tagore, Robin Wright Penn, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, James Gray, Hanif Kureishi, and Lee Changdong, followed by President Isabelle Huppert. She paid homage to filmmakers: In…

The eighth annual Tribeca Film Festival announced the winner of The Heineken Audience Award – City Island – tonight at the Tribeca Filmmaker Lounge, sponsored by Union Square Ballroom, in New York City. The voting process for The Heineken Audience Award had been taking place throughout the duration of the Festival, as audiences were encouraged to fill out nomination ballots upon exiting screenings of Festival films. Final results were tabulated and announced during the Festival wrap party. Raymond De Felitta, director of City Island, will receive a cash prize of $25,000. City Island, which made its World Premiere at the…

Film Movement announces that UNDER THE BOMBS, about an expatriate returning to her native Lebanon in search of her son during the 2006 war, will be available on DVD beginning Tuesday, May 5th, 2009. All Film Movement releases include a short film—this month’s selection is Porn, from Poland. The DVDs will be available at Film Movement (www.filmmovement.com), and also through major retailers such as Blockbuster, Amazon, Netflix and at Passion River Films (www.passionriver.com).Synopsis of UNDER THE BOMBS: During a cease-fire in the Lebanon-Israel conflict of 2006, a Christian taxi driver brings an untraditional Shiite woman from Beirut to the heart…

BERLIN, Germany — The bitter winds of winter are back at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, and I don’t just mean the snow flurries and frozen writing fingers here in the Potzdammer Platz. (Global warming has made a brief appearance, but only as a film seminar topic, so bring along Arctic gloves.) Many of the official films themselves have gotten a chilly reception from the critics here, some justifiably, and some decidedly not. On the justifiable side is Stephen Frear’s disappointing period piece, Cheri, about an aging prostitute finding love in the very late afternoon of fin-de-siecle Paris. You…

Hollywood- Sunday January 11 – Tonight Waltz With Bashir won the Golden Globe’s Best Foreign Language Film Award.Other nominees were The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany), Everlasting Moments (Sweden, Denmark), Gomorrah (Italy) and I’ve Loved You So Long (France).Waltz With Bashir: One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there’s a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Ari is surprised that he can’t remember…

The 20th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) Awards Gala, presented by Cartier, was Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at the Palm Springs Convention Center hosted by “Entertainment Tonight’s” Mary Hart. Honorees Amy Adams and Gus Van Sant were presented with an original Chihuly Glass Sculpture designed by Dale Chihuly while the other honorees received the John Kennedy “The Entertainer” statue. Guests enjoyed “The Cîroc Desert Palm” created especially for the Festival by Diageo.The Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala honors individuals in the entertainment industry with several prestigious awards for acting, director, achievement in film scoring and life…

From October 17 to October 31, the YouTube Screening Room – a platform for premium film content from around the world – will showcase four films by some of today’s foremost Asian filmmakers. From award-winning festival darlings to undiscovered gems submitted directly to YouTube, The Screening Room is a special curation of high quality films from around the world. Rotating the films every other Friday, The Screening Room creates a space for filmmakers to engage a global audience like never before.Leading the line up is “The Princess of Nebraska”, a new feature film from BAFTA-award-nominated Chinese filmmaker, Wayne Wang, director…

Music on Film, Film on Music (MOFFOM) in Prague, Czech Republic announced the award winners of 2008. The festival jury evaluated the best of the competition section entries; here are the authors and films who received the awards at the closing ceremony at Lucerna: the main prize was given to Maciej Pisarek’s SOLO. This Polish movie gives a true picture of the MOFFOM festival vision Music on Film-Film on Music. Two directors received honorable mentions: Jim Heneghan for Kiss Loves You and Ben Herson for African Underground: Democracy in Dakar. Margarita Jimeno’s Gogol Bordello Non-Stop won the Audience Award at…

NICE, New Italian Cinema Events will start its 18th New York edition from November 13 to 17 at the Tribeca Cinemas (54 Varick Street at Laight Street) presenting seven North American premieres. The traveling festival is dedicated to presenting first films by Italian directors to an international audience. The festival will open with MAR NERO (“BLACK SEA”) in the presence of first-time director Federico Bondi, whose protagonist Ilaria Occhini won the award for Best Actress at the International Film Festival Locarno. “Acclaimed Italian star Ilaria Occhini and Romania’s Dorotheea Petre make a lasting impression in a variation on the odd…