Browsing: Festivals

It is to the credit of Bunyik Entertainment, presenter of the 8th Hungarian Film Festival Los Angeles, that local audiences — state-side Hungarians, industry professionals, cultural aficionados, and the simply curious — have had a chance to see films that far surpass the crowd-pleasing popcorn movies too many international programmers presume to be in demand in “sunny” southern California. With a stroke of pronounced fine taste, Mr. Bunyik launched the fest with Eszter’s Inheritance, an eye-opener adapting one of Hungary’s most esteemed literary figures to the screen; he followed it with Delta, last year’s FIPRESCI (International Critics) award-winner from Cannes;…

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For 29 years now, each fall the Museum of Modern Art together with the Goethe Institute New York, The Consulate General of German as well as German Films present an annual slate of new and noteworthy films from emerging and established German filmmakers. CHERRY BLOSSOMS – HANAMI (Kirschblueten- Hanami, 2008) by acclaimed writer-director Dorris Doerrie opened the series. The film premiered at this year’s Berlinale, had a successful theatrical release in Germany, and received a number of awards, including German Film Award for Best Actor for Elmar Wepper and Best Film in Silver. Doerrie and leading actress Hannelore Elsner were…

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The Philippines of Southeast Asia are an archipelago of 7107 islands with around 91 million inhabitants. Its capital, Manila, is located on the island of Luzon and with 15 million citizens is one of the worlds’ largest and most densely populated cities. Between October 16 and 29, CINEMANILA International Film Festival, celebrated its 10th anniversary in this exciting city. Named after legendary Filipino filmmaker Lino Brocka’s production company, CINEMANILA’s mission is to bring the best of world cinema to the Filipino audiences and the best of Filipino filmmaking into the world. The festival does well in fulfilling its mission –…

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In addition to presenting numerous films firmly rooted in reality, the 46th New York Film Festival also offered works focusing on family issues throughout different parts of the world . French filmmaker Agnès Jaoui’s latest work, LET IT RAIN, talks about politics within society, in families and relationships and between friends. Co-written with Jean-Pierre Bacri, who also co-stars with Jaoui in the film, Let it Rain continues the pair’s writing-acting collaboration. Joui plays Agathe Villanova, a feminist writer turned politician visiting her family home town to spend some time with her sister and family but also to take part in…

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In Canada, October brings fall foliage, low temperatures and rings the dinner bell for zombies and gore-lovers to surface and witness the spectacle of the 2008 Toronto After Dark Film Festival. This year, the festival showcased a myriad of award-winning international films and shorts with genres ranging from cult cinema to horror, sci-fi and back. Only in its third year, the festival received over 700 entries—200 of which were feature films—and over 8,500 fright fans in attendance. The festival runs in correspondence with the Toronto Zombie Walk, where hordes of horror buffs unite dressed as the living-dead and parade down…

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Rose Kuo is serving in her second year as Artistic Director of AFI FEST. During her first year, Kuo introduced “Showcases” to highlight global trends in cinema and created the “Milestones” section to honor filmmakers who had passed away. Kuo has a wealth of experience in film festival programming as well as production. In addition to serving as a programming consultant specializing in Asian cinema, Kuo has worked for San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Mill Valley Festivals.Kuo also possesses an extensive background as a filmmaker, working for Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker and on the camera crew of famed cinematographer Haskel…

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For the 46th time, this October, The Film Society of Lincoln Center’s New York Film Festival offered the crème de la crème of world cinema to New York audiences. It was a real treat and a great preview of the upcoming slated art-house films. Reality meets Fiction seemed to be the subtitle for a large number of this year’s festival’s films. The selected works were either based on true events, portraits of real people, or conceived and filmed with the goal to be as authentic as possible. Many of them resonated long after their onscreen conclusions. Following are some highlights…

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It was the business of the summer’s Los Angeles Film Festival to offer an eagle-eyed view of American culture and politics. Some of the festival’s best faire worked as a kind of “sociometer,” casting a gaze of conscience on various corners of a country riddled with contradictions in the face of historic divides and avid campaigns as volatile as the stock market. Sean Baker’s Prince of Broadway, which won the prize for Best Narrative Feature, invested the immigrant’s beleaguered chase after the American dream in the pint-sized performance of a talented and heart-tugging toddler. If this comedy, albeit guerrilla-style, strutted…

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Between Sunday, September 14 and Friday, September 19th, the IFP Market marked its 30th anniversary with a new name and a six day celebration filled with tons of valuable industry information and new and exciting film projects. The newly christened INDEPENDENT FILM WEEK (IFW) is the United States’s biggest and most established film market for developing projects seeking patrons and producers. In addition to changing its name, the IFW also moved from the elegant Puck Building (which housed the CONFERENCE) and Angelika Film Center (where all film presentations and screenings were held), to the centrally located FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY…

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A sensitive, intimate film opened the German Currents series at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica last night, “A Year in Winter” by Academy Award-winner Caroline Link (Nowhere in Africa). The movie explores grief and the process of mourning as well as the intricacy of relationships. Although it deals with very strong emotions, it keeps a certain delicacy and modesty throughout.We have five main characters: 22 year old Lili, strong-willed, talented dancer but rebellious, her father, her mother, her brother Alex, deceased a year earlier, and Max, the painter who is commissioned by the mother to paint a portrait of…

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