March 5, 2008

"Baby Mama" to open Tribeca



"Baby Mama," the comedy by first-timer Michael McCullers starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, will open the Tribeca Film Festival.  Produced by Lorne Michaels, Fey plays a woman who hires a surrogate (Poehler) to have her baby.

"Second Skin" vlogs SXSW

The doc "Second Skin" explores the world of MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) games, and the people who's personal relationships have all but been enveloped into World of Warcraft, Everquest, etc. 

The filmmakers have started to vlog their SXSW experience.  Much like online gaming, instead of actually attending the fest, you can watch these:

March 4, 2008

Full Frame gearing up


On the heels of their opening night announcement, we're starting to hear about other titles in the Full Frame program, including Bari Pearlman's doc "Daughters of Wisdom." about a rare Buddhist Monastery exclusively for women in Nangchen, in remote northeastern Tibet. The photography is stunning.

March 3, 2008

Cannes gets another aging action star?

Saying his "body looks like 30, but face looks like 50," Jean-Claude Van Damme announced to MTV that his film "J.C.V.D." will "premiere at Cannes."

While the question of whether it will premiere at the festival, in the market, or in an Airstream trailer wasn't answered, JCVD did claim it was the best film he's ever done:

It was well-written by Mabrouk El Mechri. They call him "the new Besson." He wrote a script about a guy who was arrested too many times in the U.S. Being drunk, my [character's] life was from success to failure. And this guy is now leaving the States to refresh himself, to go back to Brussels to see his parents. He's got no money and he's looking for any type of movie to pay his lawyers for child custody.

And then he shows up in a post office where a heist is happening, and people think I'm part of it. And then it becomes very "Dog Day Afternoon."

I think it's the best film I've done in my career. I didn't take any salary for it. I've got to respect my fanbase, the people who made me famous, but I'm trying to bring them something different. With me playing me, it was a very shocking experience. When I saw the movie a couple of weeks ago, I wasn't able to function for a few days. After 37 movies, I said, "I will never do another movie I would not like." What Mabrouk did to me, it's like Scorsese did to De Niro years ago. It's a very different picture for Jean-Claude Van Damme.

New fest is first for Downtown L.A.


by Pat Saperstein
Downtown Los Angeles is getting its first-ever film festival, skedded for August 13-17. Launched by the organizers of the nearby Silver Lake Film Fest to celebrate the resurgence of Downtown L.A., the inaugural Downtown Film Festival will be headquartered at the Barker Block loft complex on Hewitt St. in the Downtown Arts District. The venue will include a screening venue and cinema lounge. Screenings and events will are also planned for locations such as the historic Broadway movie palaces and Little Tokyo.

Special programming will include a film series spotlighting Latino-American filmmakers, historic films about Downtown L.A. and an environmental program called Sustainable L.A.
Filmmakers may submit narrative and documentary features and shorts for screening consideration until the April 1 deadline.

Submission forms are at www.downtownfilmfestla.com


What to see at SXSW
We pick the music fest's can't-miss shows

Interview with Joe Swanberg
Variety talks to veteran SXSW filmmaker

SXSW sets the stage for music
Festival likened to audio paradise for bands, fans

'Baby Mama' due at Tribeca
Universal's Fey/Poehler comedy to open fest

'She Found Me' opens AFI Dallas
Helen Hunt's debut kicks off festival

Sarajevo hands grants to young talent
Five projects given funds

Sundance Film Festival SUNDANCE
News
Reviews
Blog
Video
Photos
Features
Berlin Film Festival BERLIN
News
Reviews
Blog
Photos
Features
Lineup


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Focus Features leads the party patrol
Fancy-free at Capri fest
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A sip of Sundance in New York
'Spring Awakening' performs for attendees
Interview with Noam Murro & Mark Poirier 'Smart People'
Michael Jones interviews Noam Murro & Mark Poirier

Interview with director George Romero and cast 'Diary of the Dead'
Interview with director George Romero and cast
1920
Miami festival's global stature grows
The fest has grown into a significant event with ties not only to Miami but also Hollywood, Latin America and the international film sphere.
Lake Tahoe
Mexico's industry back from the brink
In the last decade there has been a slow resurgence of Mexican cinema, following the near-extinction of local film production in the 1990s.
A teenage skateboarder wrestles with the death of a security guard in Gus Van Sant's 'Paranoid Park.'
Paranoid Park
A portrait of a teenager's state of denial about a death he has inadvertently caused.

Letter to Anna: The Story of Journalist Politkovskaya's Death
The 2006 murder of crusading Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya gets a cool-headed, quietly insistent analysis in "Letter to Anna."

Max & Co
Social realism and critiques of capitalism amusingly enter the realm of the fantastic.

Five Centimeters Per Second
"Five Centimeters Per Second" refers to the rate at which a cherry blossom drifts to earth, and time forms the subject and substance of Makoto Shinkai's animated feature, in which events are measured in minutely detailed tableaux of passing clouds, eerily reflected lamplight or silently falling snow.

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