Burbank, CA (June 26, 2008): The international film website Cinema Without Borders announced today that Mr. Fred Nassiri is the winner of its 2008 Bridging The Borders Award. A singer, songwriter, filmmaker and peace activist of international renown, Mr. Nassiri has received the award in recognition of his extraordinary and ongoing mission to help children throughout the world generate hope for world peace, and to bring all people of the world closer together through the arts of film and music.“Mr. Nassiri is an exceptional humanitarian as well as an accomplished artist in the fields of film and music,” noted CWB’s…
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Wall- E is a nostalgic film that brings back the magic of old Disney Classics. At the Roundtable interview that took place at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills on June 20, Academy Award- winning director/ writer Andrew Stanton said that he had to pull from individual emotional experience in order to feel in the moment while filming the movie and thus make it believable to the audience. From the beginning Stanton knew that Wall-E was going to be a box with a timid personality. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where consumerism has killed all signs of life, most…
A week packed with 300 short films ended on Monday June 9th in Hamburg. The 24th International Short Film Festival screened 214 of almost 4.000 submitted short films in the competitive categories and a further 100 films in non-competitive special programmes. Overall more than 30.000 euros of prize-money were poured out. Awards in the international competition: ”Jury”: Netalie Braun, Bren O’Callaghan, Jens Eder, Miranda Pennell, Holger Tepe.Jury Award: ”Puppet Boy”, Johannes Nyholm, Sweden 2008, short fiction, 26:36 min.Jury substantiationA disturbing and comic reflection on obsession and self-loathing that delivers an unsettling experience for the viewer. What at first appears to…
Women Make Movies (WMM), the independent production and distribution company dedicated to the promotion of films by and about women, has announced that their release, “Sisters In Law”, directed by Kim Longinotto and co-directed by Florence Ayisi, has been recognized with a George Foster Peabody Award for outstanding achievement in electronic media. WMM Executive Director Debra Zimmerman will accept the award at the ceremony on Monday, June 16.Winner of the Prix Art et Essai at the Cannes Film Festival, “Sisters In Law” has been screened to acclaim at more than 120 festivals around the world. Peabody judges said of the…
Actor, director and producer Robert De Niro, will be presented with the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Contribution to World Cinema at the 43rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic on July 4, announced JiÅ™í BartoÅ¡ka, festival president.“What Just Happened”, starring De Niro, a Tribeca/Linson Films production from 2929 Productions, will be the opening night film at Karlovy Vary. The film premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival and was the closing night picture at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Academy Award® winning Barry Levinson, the film is based on the acclaimed, best-selling memoir by veteran…
The 23rd Israel Film Festival, the largest showcase of Israeli films in the United States, will screen close to 60 Israeli features, documentaries and award-winning student films. The festival will take place in Los Angeles from June 12th – June 26th, 2008. In honor of Israel’s 60th anniversary, the Festival will host an unprecedented Retrospective of classic Israeli movies, including all seven Israeli films nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. The Gala Awards Dinner, on Wednesday, June 11th at The Beverly Hilton Hotel, will include IFF Award Presentations to Jeffrey Berg (Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sydney Pollack was remembered Tuesday as a generous, unpretentious talent by the elite actors he directed in films such as “Out of Africa,” “Tootsie” and “Absence of Malice.”Pollack, diagnosed with cancer about nine months ago, died Monday afternoon, surrounded by family, at his home in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles, said his publicist, Leslee Dart. He was 73.Unlike many other top directors of his era, Pollack was also a film and television actor himself, and he used this unique position to forge a relationship with Hollywood’s elite stars and create some of the most successful films…
Today the official jury of the 61st Cannes International Film Festival announced the winners of this year’s competition. Presented by actor Robert Deniro at today’s closing ceremony, the Palme d’Or was given to French filmmaker Laurent Cantet, whose film “The Class” (Entre Les Murs), took home the festivals top prize. This marks the first time in 21 years that a French film has won the Palme d’Or, the last French filmmaker to win being Maurice Pialat for “Under the Sun of Satan”. Mr. Laurent was gracious in his acceptance, thanking both his cast and producers. He remarked, “We were supported…
Today it was announced that Belgian director Bouli Lanners’ “Eldorado” has won the Europa Cinemas Label (http://www.europa-cinemas.org/en/index.php) as Best European film in the Directors’ Fortnight section in Cannes. Eruopa Cinemas is a network that provides financial support for cinemas that commit themselves to playing non domestic European films. This marks the sixth year the Label has been awarded in the section. “Eldorado” will now receive the support of the Europa Cinemas exhibitors who commit themselves to extend the length of its run on screen and additional promotion across the network. The Jury issued the following statement about the film, “This…
DAMMAM, Saudi Arabia (AP) — It’s a far cry from the glamour of Cannes: No celebrities strutting their stuff; an all-male audience drinking coffee and juice rather than champagne; and if any female spectators showed up — well, no one knew. They came in through a back entrance into a separate hall, off-limits to the male organizers.Still, there was an undercurrent of excitement at the cultural club in this eastern Saudi city. The four-day film festival that kicked off Tuesday night was the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia — one that many hope will boost the kingdom’s fledgling…