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HollyShorts, a monthly screening series of short films, returns on Friday, March 14 at the Echo Park Film Center in Los Angeles. The night will include 5 new acclaimed short films, and offer a Q&A; session with the filmmakers. Friday’s lineup includes the following shorts: The Chameleon by Elliott Owen (World Premiere) (8 minutes) (Comedy) Detective Jack T. Chameleon can become anyone or anything with his trusty fake mustache and aviator glasses. He is a legendary master of disguise, who will go deep undercover to crack the case. Signerz by Roman Cortez (15 minutes) (Comedy) One sidewalk. Three challengers. Sixty…

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“Flower in the Pocket”, the first film by Malaysian director Liew Seng Tat, has won the Regard d’Or at this years Fribourg International Film Festival, held in Fribourg Switzerland. In its 22nd year, the Fribourg Internationl Film Festival dedicates itself primarily to showing films from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The program of this year’s festival, which concluded on March 8th, included over 150 films.Striking both a grave and humorous note, Liew Send Tat’s “Flower in the Pocket” tells the story of two young boys who are abandoned by their mother and ignored by their father, and the optimism that…

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The process of updating cinemas to be equipped with digital projection technology will continue to be expanded throughout Asia. Today Dolby Laboratories Inc announced a partnership with the Chinese Production Company, Shanghai Film Group Corporation, and UFO India Limited, a top distribution company, to bring more digital cinema systems to China and India. The Shanghai Film Group will purchase 100 Dolby(R) Digital Cinema Systems that will be installed in its cinemas throughout China. The Chinese will also receive a Dolby 3D Digital Cinema to be installed in the Chengdu Theater in the city of Chengdu. This was also the first…

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Lisa Jackson’s, The Greatest Silence: Rape In The Congo, which won the Sundance Special Jury Prize, began its world tour on the opening night of the One World Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Prague. It is being reported that the film, produced in association with HBO Documentary Films and the Fledgling Fund, played to a packed, standing-room-only audience for both its screenings.After seeing the film, the director of the One World festival, Igor Blaževič, began a donation fund to assist the women of the DRC. The festival’s organizer, People in Need, then announced that it is donating $10,000 to…

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Balkan Travelers – 6 March 2008 | The twelfth edition of the yearly international Sofia Film Festival – Bulgaria’s most significant cinema event, begins today (3/6), to the delight of movie lovers in Bulgaria.The festival’s programme includes around 100 feature films, 20 documentaries and 60 short films. More than 150 international guests are expected to attend the festival which will officially close on March 16, though some of the films will continue to be screened until the 27. All the films in the programme, regardless of their original language, will have English subtitles.Among the festival’s guests will be Fatih Akin,…

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Director Sarah Polley’s “Away From Her” took home virtually all the major prizes at Canada’s Genie awards ceremony this past week. Held by the Academy Of Canadian Cinema & Television, the 28th annual Genie Award ceremony honors the best achievements in Canadian film over the past year. This year’s ceremony was held on March 3rd.The top prize of the night, Best Motion Picture, was awarded to “Away From Her”. The film—about the story of a woman undergoing symptoms of Alzheimer’s, and the love and sacrifices that it takes for her husband to cope with her disease—was nominated for two Academy…

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Kino Video this week released a new DVD box set that represents masterworks of German Expressionism, one of the most creative decades in the history of film. Working with dark, shadowy, and non-realistic aesthetics coupled with themes of mystery, insanity or madness, German filmmakers of the 1920’s embraced Expressionism on film with intellectual depth and creativity. The box set is a collection of 4 films from the era, including two that are first time available titles. Starting with a re-release of the classic, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1919) by director Robert Weine, the new box set by Kino Video…

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The 10th annual Mumbai International Film Festival, presented by the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI), kicked off its festivities on Thursday with a screening of the highly acclaimed film, “Katyn”. Director Andrzej Wajda’s film, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at this years Academy Awards, was the first of over 100 films to be screened throughout the weeklong festival. Festival goers will have other chances to view works by Wajda, as six of his films, including “Ashes and Diamonds”, “Conductor”, “Hunting Flies”, “Landscape after the Battle”, “Man of Marble” and “Man of Iron”, will be included…

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2 Czech Lions for EmptiesJan SvÄ›rák´s Empties, which had its international premiere in the Official Selection Competition at the 42nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2007 where it won the Audience Award and the Special Jury Mention for the screenplay, continues on its successful path. The film, nominated for nine Czech Lion national movie awards (selected annually by the Czech Film and Television Academy), received two prestigious awards – Czech Lion for Best Screenplay for ZdenÄ›k SvÄ›rák and Czech Lion for Best Director Jan SvÄ›rák (Oscar for Kolja 1997). As the film’s producer, Jan SvÄ›rák can also be pleased that…

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A Pakistani film about Muslims in a post-9/11 world is slated to open in India this month, a rare event considering political rivalry has limited cultural interaction between the two nuclear-armed rivals.Khuda Kay Liye (In the Name of God) focuses on the rift between radical and liberal Islam, an issue that also confronts India’s 140 million Muslims as they fend off charges that the community provides recruits for militant groups.Director Shoaib Mansoor hopes the Urdu-language film will engage audiences in Hindu- majority India when it opens in cinemas on March 28.“It is the first Pakistani film in India after several…

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