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2007-10-02T15:55:00.000-07:00

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Cartoon Forum: Cartoon d'Or & European TV Animation

2007-10-02T14:12:00.000-07:00

Bob Swain and Ron Diamond travel to Girona for Cartoon Forum 2007, chronicling the latest in European TV animation and the winner of this year's Cartoon d'Or.

By Bob Swain and Ron Diamond, Animation World Magazine

Cartoon Forum staged its 18th annual outing in September with over 800 participants gathering in the northern Spanish city of Girona. A unique event in the world of animation, the Forum moves around Europe year by year and in 2008 will open its doors in Ludwigsburg, Germany.

Courtesy of CARTOON.

Established in order to help European animation producers compete on the international stage, it provides an opportunity for them to unveil new television projects currently in development and attract interest from potential broadcasters, investors and co-producers.

Projects are selected in advance to fill the 60 presentation slots available over a three-day period. Producers then get 40 minutes to sell their concept to a theatre filled with potential collaborators. This year's top five in terms of numbers attending were: Oops -- Noah Is Gone, Magma Films (Ireland), Sally Bollywood, Tйlйimages Kids (France); How To Drive Everybody Crazy, TeamTo S.A.S. (France); Little J, Aardman Animations (UK); and The Bunjies, Studio Film Bilder (Germany).

Magma Films are Cartoon Forum regulars with a new project presented for each of the past 13 years. The latest series stars a cast of animals left behind when Noah sailed off in his ark -- which means these are like no animals you have ever seen before.

The producers of How to Drive Everyone Crazy presented their concept for the series to potential collaborators. © Team TO-france 3-2007.

"We all sometimes feel like we have missed the boat so I think there is a high degree of personal identification with this project," says Magma CEO Ralph Christians of the proposed 26x26 series.

"We are planning both a feature film and a series -- just as we did with Ugly Duckling and Me with A Film and Futurikon, and the project we pitched last year, Bug Muldoon. The Irish Film Board is already on board for the feature film, so we are well ahead in development.

"The feature is like a classic western where the animals have to cross from the East Coast to the West and have a lot of adventures along the way. The series is more in the High Noon style that is frozen in time."

Sally Bollywood is a 52x13 junior detective story in a beautiful Bollywood style from successful French producer Tйlйimages Kids. It aims at a six-to-nine age group and stars the daughter of a famous detective in Little Bombay who sets up her own investigation agency to solve cases for other kids.

The Bunjies was perhaps the surprise hit of the week. A tremendous trailer ensured it was standing room only for the show's presentation. © Studio Film Bilder.

How To Drive Everybody Crazy comes from French CGI studio TeamTo. The 52x4 series for six- to nine-year-olds was presented together with distribution partner Tom Van Waveren of Cake Ent.

Little J brought together two great British brands in the shape of Aardman Animations and Fresh One Productions -- home of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. The 52x11 Flash animation series is a madcap version of the childhood of the young Oliver, who will voice the series.

"A couple of years ago we were approached by Jamie Oliver, who wanted to come and see us about an idea for an animation series. We said we'd love to collaborate on something that helped kids have a more positive attitude towards food," says Aardman producer Helen Brunsdon.

Oops -- Noah Is Gone from Cartoon Forum veteran Magma Films stars a cast of animals left behind when Noah sailed off in his ark. © Magma Films/PMA.

Oliver's fame as a television chef has grown massively since he began a campaign on childhood nutrition with his show School Dinners, which resulted in major policy changes by the British government.

"He is a huge international personality-led brand," says Fresh One producer Zoe Collins.

"Jamie is really committed to doing something about children and nutrition. We all agreed that we wanted to make a children's program that tackled issues of food, but we knew that first and foremost it had to be entertaining. If it didn't engage and keep children committed, then it would make no difference. We knew we would have to find the right partner and to our delight we got together with Aardman, who really embody the values we were looking for."

The Bunjies was perhaps the surprise hit of the week. The 26x26 show about a junior rock band had been allocated the smallest room available. But a tremendous trailer ensured it was standing room only and organizers had to ask producers to leave in order to make room for broadcasters waiting in line outside. The signs are good for a successful series.

Tinga Tinga Tales collects African folk tales on the origins of all the animals and combines these with powerful designs drawn from the Tinga Tinga traditions of East Africa. © Tiger Aspect Prods.

Another of the most popular sessions was Tinga Tinga Tales from leading British producer Tiger Aspect. The 52x11 series collects African folk tales on the origins of all the animals and combines these with powerful designs drawn from the Tinga Tinga traditions of East Africa. And to ensure authenticity, Tiger Aspect has set up a studio in Nairobi, Kenya to animate the series. A commission is already in place from the BBC, and Disney and Nickelodeon have both expressed interest.

"Artwork was hand-colored in Nairobi and then scanned into the computer," says animation director Richard Jeffrey.

"This is where the design process really starts. The designers then separate the characters into the parts needed to make them move -- arms, legs, mouth, heads. We then give a printed template of all these body parts back to the Tinga Tinga artists and they design them. Finally these parts are used to make a skeleton -- a puppet for the animators to work with. Everything is hand-painted, from the backgrounds to all the animal parts, to the tiniest insects.

"We went out there to set up the studio, train the guys in Cel Action and come back with two minutes of animation -- all in eight weeks. There really is a wealth of talent out there -- both from a creative and a technical point of view. These guys are so keen and competent that within two weeks of intense training we had a studio up and running and were producing the same amount of animation in a week as the animators on Charlie and Lola. In the end we came back with a totally completed film."

The Cartoon D'Or 2007 was awarded to British director Luis Cook for his short film The Pearce Sisters. © Aardman Animations.

A number of Cartoon Tributes are made at the Forum to the top broadcaster, distributor and producer of the year as voted by the participants. This year an additional Tribute of Honour was presented to Spanish producer Claudio Biern Boyd.

The broadcaster and distributor awards went to local Catalan companies Televisio de Catalunya and Luk International. When it came to the producer of the year, delegates gave a standing ovation to legendary British producer John Coates of TVC, which this year celebrated its 50th anniversary.

But not content to retire gracefully, Coates was back at the Forum looking to follow up on past successes such as Yellow Submarine, The Snowman, Wind In The Willows and Grandpa. This year he was seeking collaborators to make a beautiful half-hour TV special based on the book Stefan and the Lost Dove by Eliane Wilson. The project is to be directed by Pat Gavin and French company Millimages is also on board.

"I always feel that for those of us who make commercial films, it is important to make something as poetic and beautiful as this. I think it is important that we continue to make half-hour specials in Europe -- which are rare things but I think they are part of our culture. So hopefully we will find the broadcasters because I think it will be marvelous," says Millimages chairman Jonathan Peel.

The Irresistible Smile by Ami Lindholm (l) and t.o.m. by Tom Brown and Daniel Gray were on this year's shortlist for the Cartoon d'Or. © Turko Arts Academy (l) and © Holbrook's Films.

The Cartoon d'Or 2007 was awarded to British director Luis Cook for his short film The Pearce Sisters, selected as a finalist after winning the Jury's Special Prize at Annecy. Cook is a graduate of London's Royal College of Art and has worked at Aardman Animations since 1994.

The Cartoon d'Or was established in 1991 as a supreme annual prize for European animation -- only films that have already won a major prize during the course of the year can be considered for nomination. The four other films on this year's short list were Life Line by Tomek Ducki (Hungary), Peter and the Wolf by Suzie Templeton (UK), The Irresistible Smile by Ami Lindholm (Finland) and t.o.m. by Tom Brown and Daniel Gray (U.K.).

Bob Swain is an animation scriptwriter based at Sidewinder Films in the U.K. He has attended every edition of Cartoon Forum since it began in 1990.

Ron Diamond is the president of AWN and the owner of animation production house Acme Filmworks.

Paul Schrader to Get Lifetime Achievement Award

2007-10-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

Source: Associated Press

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Paul Schrader, who gained his breakthrough with the script for "Taxi Driver," will receive a lifetime achievement award at this year's Stockholm International Film Festival.

The 61-year-old writer-director is being recognized for his "unique voice, which gives life to sharp, relentless characters in a modern city," festival organizers said Tuesday.

"With the linguistic brilliance of a screenwriter and a director's eye for visuals, Paul Schrader has helped advance the cinematic medium for over three decades," organizers said.

Schrader will receive the Bronze Horse award Nov. 18. His films as a director include "American Gigolo," "Cat People" and "Mishima — A Life in Four Chapters."

Last year's Bronze Horse winner was Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom. Previous winners also include Oliver Stone, Roman Polanski, David Lynch, Lauren Bacall and Gena Rowlands.

The 10-day film festival starts Nov. 15.

New film about Blair in the works

2007-10-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

Source: www.rte.ie

Peter Morgan, the Oscar-nominated writer of 'The Queen', is working on a new film about the relationships between former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and US Presidents George W Bush and Bill Clinton.

Variety reports that the film will look at Blair's reaction to the handover of power from Clinton to Bush.

Michael Sheen, who played Blair in 'The Queen' and Morgan's previous TV film 'The Deal', is expected to reprise his role.

Morgan is currently researching the film and plans to begin writing it before the end of the year.

Solinas script award finds home at Rome fest

2007-10-02T14:01:00.000-07:00

By Eric J. Lyman, www.hollywoodreporter.com

ROME -- The fledgling RomaCinemaFest will become the permanent home to one of Italy's best-acknowledged screenwriting prizes, plaudit organizers said Monday.

The second annual festival will lend the backdrop to this year's Solinas Awards for screenwriting, which will be dished out Oct. 24 during the Rome event.

Founded in 1985, the Solinas Awards -- named after Oscar-nominated Italian screenwriter Franco Solinas, who died in 1982 -- have been presented in several locations around Italy throughout their 22-year history. But organizers said they have found a home for it at the RomaCinemaFest.

The Rome festival runs Oct. 18-27.

The Solinas Awards are presented each year to honor excellence in Italian screenwriting. The two main prizes are the Story Award for original screenwriting and the Leo Benvenuti prize for comedy writing.

'The Jungle Book' Swings Back to DVD!

2007-10-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

Source: www.etonline.com

© 2007 Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Buena Vista Home Entertainment

The animated adventures of Mowgli and Baloo the bear are back on DVD for the 40th anniversary of the 1967 classic.

Disney goes way beyond the "Bare Necessities" with the all-new 'Jungle Book 2-Disc Platinum Edition' DVD, available today.

Finally released from the Disney Vault, the beloved jumpin' jungle classic is the 19th and last animated film that WALT DISNEY personally touched. Based on RUDYARD KIPLING's classic tales, the 1967 hand-drawn animated gem follows the adventures of Mowgli (voiced by BRUCE REITHERMAN), a jungle boy making his way back to the man-village with the wise panther Bagheera (Sebastian Cabot) and his best friend, the happy-go-lucky Baloo the bear (PHIL HARRIS), by his side.

Along the way he meets the hypnotic python Kaa (STERLING HOLLOWAY), an elephant troop led by Colonel Hathi (J. PAT O'MALLEY) and the swingin' monkeys led by King Louie the orangutan (LOUIS PRIMA) -- all the while making sure to avoid the menacing tiger Shere Khan (GEORGE SANDERS).

Special extras on the 40th anniversary Platinum Edition DVD include the featurettes "The Bare Necessities: The Making of The Jungle Book"; "The Lost Character: Rocky The Rhino"; "Disney's Kipling: Walt's Magic Touch on a Literary Classic"; "Mowgli's Return to the Jungle"; audio commentary by the original creative team who made the film; "Baloo's Virtual Swingin' Jungle Cruise" game and more!

YouTube, HP team up on filmmaking competition

2007-10-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

As posted by Caroline McCarthy on www.news.com

"I demand an explanation for these shenanigans. What do you have to say?" If you're a regular YouTube junkie, you might be hearing that phrase a lot more in the near future.

The massive, Google-owned video-sharing site announced on Monday a new initiative called Project Direct, a contest sponsored by Hewlett-Packard in which aspiring filmmakers are encouraged to submit films between two and seven minutes in length. A total of 20 finalists will be chosen by a panel led by Thank You For Smoking director Jason Reitman; the final winner out of those 20 will be chosen by YouTube voters.

The contest comes with three somewhat quirky guidelines stipulated by Reitman: "a character in the film must face a situation above his or her maturity level," the aforementioned line--"I demand an explanation for these shenanigans. What do you have to say?"--must be included somewhere in the dialogue, and one scene must include one character passing a photograph to another character. (Perhaps that's a nod to HP's imaging and printing group, the division of the tech conglomerate that has been vocally promoting the contest.)

The contest will run from Sunday, October 7 through Friday, November 9 and is open to submissions from Brazil, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.--but films must be either in English or subtitled in English. One winner, in addition to a $5,000 prize and a featured spot on YouTube's home page, will earn a trip to an as-yet-unnamed international film festival as a guest of HP and will attend "surprise industry events" and a meeting with production executives from the indie-centric Fox Searchlight Productions, which released Reitman's Thank You For Smoking and his upcoming film Juno.

It is not yet clear why the contest will only run in seven countries; representatives from YouTube have not yet responded to requests for comment.

Belarusfilm to release 3 features

2007-10-01T13:12:00.000-07:00

By Glitter Impact

Today the Ministry of Culture executive Vladimir Kurilovich held briefing in Minsk and said the national Belarusfilm studio is planning to release 3 more features this year. He said these will be Andrey Golubev’s “Chaklun and Rumba,” Denis Skvortsov’s “Shield of Fatherland” and Gennady Poloka’s “Eye for Eye” (a joint Russian-Belarusian production.)

Besides, Mr. Kurilovich announced the selection of “The Enemies” – a movie Belarusfilm released earlier this year – to Listapad film festival in Minsk. The international Listapad 2007 will take place November 17-24.

Hong Kong's Wang wins film prize

2007-10-01T12:55:00.000-07:00

Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A low-budget film by Hong Kong-born director Wayne Wang has won the best film and best actor awards at Spain's annual San Sebastian film festival.

The movie, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, was about the tensions that arise when a Beijing widower visits his recently-divorced daughter in the US.

It was based on a short story by the same name by award-winning author Yiyun Li.

"It was a small film that needed a lot of time to be done," Wang said.

"I think films need to breathe, like us," he added, and commenting on the film's low budget, he said: "Not every story has to have Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie."

Veteran actor

Wang, 58, who was named after his father's favourite actor, John Wayne, also directed the 2002 film Maid in Manhattan, starring Jennifer Lopez.

He made The Last Holiday in 2006 with Queen Latifah and 1993's The Joy Luck Club.

His was one of 16 films competing for the Golden Shell prize for best film at the oldest and most prestigious film festival in the Spanish-speaking world.

The best actor prize went to Chinese-American character actor Henry O, 79.

O has also appeared in several US television series including The Sopranos, ER and The West Wing and films such as Rush Hour 3 and The Last Emperor.

The head of the jury deciding the prizes was US author and director Paul Auster.

He and Wang worked together on the 1995 independent film Smoke and its sequel, Blue in the Face.

US actor Richard Gere and Swedish actress Liv Ullmann were also given Donostia lifetime achievement awards at the 10-day festival.

Angola: Kwanza Sul - Theatre Group Launches Campaign Against HIV/Aids

2007-10-01T12:52:00.000-07:00

Angola Press Agency, source: allafrica.com

Sumbe

An awareness campaign on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases was Monday launched in Sumbe city, coastal Kwanza Sul province, by "Nova Lua" theatre group.

The campaign aims at keeping the population informed on the dangers of the disease and the consequent need to prevent them against the illness.

According to the group member, Artur Andrade, this activity foresees to reach about 3,000 people and encourage them to speak about its consequences and methods of prevention.

The campaign counts on the support of the provincial department of public health and control of endemic diseases.

Angola: Cunene Theatre Group to Record Films

2007-10-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

Angola Press Agency, source: allafrica.com

Ondjiva

The Olonguissi theatre group will record this year films relating to their works to enable the creation of a new bibliographic file and expand their works, Angop has learnt.

The group's director, Agostinho Tchovo, said among the works are "Domestic Violence", "The priest and the wizard" and "Juvenile Delinquency".

The recordings will take place in Ombandja and Kwanhama with the sponsorship of the municipal administrations.

Coppola loses new film and archives of 15 years in burglary

2007-09-28T17:18:00.000-07:00

DPA, as cited on www.earthtimes.org

Buenos Aires - Burglars stole 15 years of work from US film director Francis Ford Coppola, including the screenplay of his upcoming feature Tetro, he said in a newspaper Friday. "There is no film. They took all my archives, my memories, all my things of the past 15 years. It's terrible," Coppola said in the Friday edition of the Argentine daily La Nacion.

Police said four armed men entered the director's house in the Palermo neighbourhood in northern Buenos Aires late Wednesday. Initial reports said there were five burglers.

The thieves found no cash, and left with four computers, back-up copies and other electronic devices.

An employee offered a reward for the return of the computers or at least the hard drives on behalf of The Godfather director, who was born in the US city of Detroit.

The filming of his latest project, Tetro, set to tell the story of Italian artists who migrated to Argentina, was scheduled to start in February in Buenos Aires.

"The only thing we want to ask, on behalf of Mr Coppola, is that they please return at least the information that is inside his computer, which holds all his creative work of a very long time," an employee of the director said Thursday.

She added that the artist behind classic films like Apocalypse Now is very upset about the incident.

The house where Coppola lives in Buenos Aires also functions as the seat of his production company. The 550-square-metre, two-floor building was bought for 900,000 dollars, according to the public Argentine news agency Telam.

Coppola's total investment in Argentina in this project is set to amount to some 3 million dollars, not including the salaries of the stars of the film.

David Goyer to Direct a Vampire Epic

2007-09-28T17:14:00.000-07:00

As posted by SERENA on themovieblog.com

I want to be the first one to say that "vampire horror" is going to be the next string of horror films we will be seeing for a while. (Good-bye "torture porn.") The next vampire project underway is from 'Blade' writer (and director of Blade 3) David Goyer. He will be directing the film adaptation to the graphic novel (penned by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden), 'Baltimore.' (Also known as 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire.')

Comingsoon.net gives us this:

Just-published by Bantam, the graphic novel tells the story of the awakening of supreme evil on Earth. Lord Henry Baltimore is bitten by a demonic vampire bat on a WWI battlefield. The plague destroys his family, and Baltimore creates a team to hunt and fight the Red King, the embodiment of all evil.

David Goyer is one busy man these days. He's signed to director "X-Men" spinoff, Magneto, and worked on Doug Liman's 'Jumper.' This sounds like a promising project, (especially since it's based off something Mike Mignola has done) and although I have some doubts about Goyer's ability to direct a decent vampire movie, (didn't care for 'Blade 3) I think he's hopefully going to learn from past mistakes and do well with this project.

James Snyder and Harriet Harris head the cast of La Jolla Playhouse musical

2007-09-28T16:56:00.000-07:00

From the review by Robert Simonson
at www.playbill.com

Complete casting was announced this week for the upcoming La Jolla Playhouse stage debut of

the new musical Cry-Baby. Newcomer James Snyder will star in the title role and Harriet

Harris will be Mrs. Vernon-Williams, joined by Elizabeth Stanley as Allison, Carly Jibson as

Pepper, Chester Gregory II as Dupree and Christopher Hanke as Baldwin.

The California run is slated for Nov. 6-Dec. 16 at the La Jolla company's Mandell Weiss

Theatre. A March 2008 bow on Broadway is targeted with an official opening in April. Mark

Brokaw stages and Rob Ashford choreographs.

James Snyder and Harriet Harris

Russell Mulcahy to direct Vampire Film

2007-09-27T16:37:00.000-07:00

As posted by SERENA on themovieblog.com

Russell Mulcahy (director of the ‘Highlander’ series) directed the recent box office success ‘Resident Evil: Extinction’ and now that he’s directed a zombie flick, he’s now moving onto another beloved monster genre, the VAMPIRE genre. Mulcahy is signed to direct the upcoming vampire film based off a novel by Steven-Elliot Altman called ‘Zen in The Art of Slaying Vampires.’

ComingSoon.net gives us this:

The protagonist is turned into a vampire as he and his lover are attacked in lower Manhattan. She dies, and he struggles to overcome his murderous instincts and thirst for blood through Zen meditation. A struggle for his soul ensues between the bloodsuckers and the zen masters.

I don’t know if this movie sounds brilliant or incredibly stupid. A vampire overcoming his killer instincts through ZEN meditations?! That doesn’t even work for me when I’m STRESSED!

Although, Russell Mulcahy is a fine director and a viligante vampire flick sounds highly tempting for me considering I love vampire and viligante films. (It can’t be any worse than this year’s ‘Rise: Blood Hunter.’)

I’ll guess we’ll have to wait to see who has been cast in the roles….then we’ll know if this is going to be a film that’s going to suck or something we should SINK our teeth into.

Thousands compete for Jordan’s screenwriting prize

2007-09-27T16:28:00.000-07:00

By Matthew Hemley, source: thestage.co.uk

More than 2,000 aspiring screenwriters have entered a competition being run by EastEnders’ former chief writer, Tony Jordan.

Jordan, the creator of Hustle and HolbyBlue, organised the competition through his independent production company, Red Planet Pictures.

He invited writers to submit the first ten pages of a script and promised that every submission would be read by a panel of judges, including Stephen Fry and The League of Gentlemen’s Mark Gatiss.

The deadline for submissions has passed, and the judges will now decide which writers they want to submit full scripts.

From them, six will be chosen to spend the day with Jordan as he whittles the competition down to one, who will win a chance to write a script commission for the production company.

Jordan said the competition had been a “huge success” and commended all those who had entered for their enthusiasm and interest.

He added: “We’ve had around two thousand entries to the competition, which is daunting but shows how much talent there is out there.”

American Directors Dominate NY Film Fest

2007-09-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

By JAKE COYLE, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — From Wes Anderson to Sidney Lumet, this year's New York Film Festival is dominated by top American directors spanning generations.

Though the NYFF has always put forth a highly international slate of selections, this year's fest — the 45th annual — features 11 movies (out of 28) from American filmmakers.

Wes Anderson's comedy "The Darjeeling Limited" will open the festival Friday at the Frederick P. Rose Hall, the festival's temporary home while construction in completed at Lincoln Center.

Joel and Ethan Coen's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy "No Country for Old Men" is the festival's centerpiece. The other U.S. filmmakers include Noah Baumbach ("Margot at the Wedding"), Gus Van Sant ("Paranoid Park"), Brian De Palma ("Redacted"), Todd Haynes ("I'm Not There"), Julian Schnabel ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"), Abel Ferrara ("Go Go Tales"), Ira Sachs ("Married Life"), John Landis ("Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project") and documentarians Ed Pincus and Lucia Small ("The Axe in the Attic").

Films presented at the festival are not in competition, but are meant to "expose people to the broadest and best that contemporary cinema has to offer," said Richard Pena, the Film Society of Lincoln Center chairman and program director.

"The Darjeeling Limited" stars Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman, but its North American premiere (which coincides with Friday's opening night) has been obscured by coverage devoted to Wilson's attempted suicide in late August. Anderson has said Wilson is doing well and recuperating.

As it has at other recent festivals, the movie is preceded by a short film by Anderson titled "Hotel Chevalier." A kind of prologue to "Darjeeling," it stars Natalie Portman and Schwartzman as former lovers who meet at a Paris Hotel. Anderson hopes to add it to the movie's theatrical release a few weeks into its run.

"It's especially fun that both Noah and myself have movies at the festival," Anderson, a New York resident, said Wednesday, referring to his friend and collaborator Baumbach.

"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" is Lumet's first film at the NYFF since "Fail-Safe" played there in 1964, a surprising bit of trivia for a director so synonymous with New York, and more specifically, the Upper West Side. Alluding to one of the neighborhood's famous restaurants, Lumet proudly proclaims he's the "son of Zabar."

Lumet told The Associated Press that his long absence from the festival — during which he made "Network," "Dog Day Afternoon" and "The Verdict" — was more a matter of timing and studio release strategies that didn't include festivals.

Still, the large presence of American and New York directors cheers Lumet.

"When I see fresh talent coming along with studio support, with private support ... bless them all," said Lumet. "I'm thrilled at the number of New York directors that are at the festival, not out of any parochial sense, just out of the fact that it's a different kind of energy if it hasn't come out of the studio system."

Lumet's film, which stars Ethan Hawke and Philip Seymour Hoffman as two brothers who attempt to rob their parents' jewelry store, has been hailed as a return to form for the 83-year-old director.

Pena doesn't believe the Tribeca Film Festival — which had its sixth annual fest earlier this year — has affected the NYFF, but he acknowledges the overall glut of festivals has.

"It certainly has robbed the New York Film Festival of its specialness in a way," Pena said.

Two European heavyweights are also returning again. French director Eric Rohmer appears for the 13th time with "The Romance of Astree and Celadon," and Claude Chabrol brings "A Girl Cut in Two," his ninth film at the festival.

Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien — who Pena calls a modern-day Michelangelo Antonioni — will show "Flight of the Red Balloon," his 10th film at the festival.

But this year's festival, which runs through Oct. 14, remains most dominated by the Yanks. While pessimism often prevails over the commercialism of Hollywood and its affect on the country's film culture, for at last a few weeks, all is well in American cinema.

"It really does show that both among the most established directors, the kind of middle-range directors and even young directors starting out, there's a lot of creativity," said Pena, who's in his 20th year as the festival's program director.

Martin Scorsese to make new Beatles film

2007-09-27T16:21:00.000-07:00

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr may act in the new flick

Source: www.nme.com

Oscar-winning film director Martin Scorsese has been signed up to make a biopic of late Beatles guitarist George Harrison.

According to Variety magazine, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr may appear in the film, which will cover both Harrison's time in the Beatles and his solo career, as well as his foray into films.

Scorsese is set to begin production for the film before the end of the year. Harrison's widow Olivia will aid Scorsese during the making.

"It would have given George great joy to know that Martin Scorsese has agreed to tell his story," she said.

Rome fest's love affair with Hollywood continues

2007-09-27T16:17:00.000-07:00

By Eric J. Lyman, source: www.hollywoodreporter.com

ROME -- With the RomaCinemaFest's in competition lineup hailing from points scattered around the globe, the event's main out of competition strand has a decidedly Hollywood flavor.

The competition section for the sophomore festival includes production or co-production credits from 18 countries among the 14 films scheduled to screen, including 10 world premieres, organizers said Thursday.

Two U.S. films -- Terry George's "Reservation Road" and "Juno" from Jason Reitman -- will be among those challenging for Rome's main Marcus Aurelius prize.

But the 12 film Premiere sidebar includes eight more, not counting "Youth Without Youth" from American director Francis Ford Coppola, which is a German-French-Italian production.

And the out of competition films in the main section include still more U.S. titles, with Robert Redford's directorial effort "Lions for Lambs" and Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" among the highlights.

Festival organizers said they did not set out to pick films from any particular country.

"We looked for films of a certain quality, and that's what we got," festival co-director Giorgio Gossetti told a packed auditorium at Rome's Parco della Musica after the lineup was announced for the event, which runs Oct. 18-27.

"Lions" -- which stars Redford, alongside Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise, in a story of political intrigue set partially in Afghanistan -- joins "Into the Wild" from Sean Penn, an adaptation of the best-seller from Jon Krakauer about a young man who gives away everything to move to the Alaska wilderness, in the lineup.

"Wild," which will join Coppola's "Youth" in the Premiere section, stars Emile Hirsch in the main role and boasts a supporting cast featuring William Hurt and Vince Vaughn.

Organizers hope Redford, Cruise and Penn will add star power to a red carpet in Rome already expected to feature Coppola, Lumet, Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Monica Bellucci, Patti Smith, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, Colin Firth, Val Kilmer, Matthew Modine, Sophia Loren, Terrence Malick, Jane Fonda, Gerard Depardieu and Bernardo Bertolucci.

Dario Argento will be in town for the European premiere of "La Terza Madre" (The Third Mother), the final film in the "Three Mothers" trilogy, but he won't appear on the red carpet. Organizers said they would roll out a special black carpet to honor the famed Italian horror film director, who also is being feted in Rome with a retrospective that includes the other two films in the trilogy: "Suspiria" and "Inferno."

Among the non-U.S. films in competition are "Barcelona, un mapa" (Barcelona, a Map) from Spain's Ventura Pons, "Ce que mes yeux ont vu" (The Vanishing Point) from France's Laurent De Bartillat, fellow Frenchman Alain Corneau's "Le deuxieme souffle" (Second Wind), "Fugitive Pieces" from Canadian Jeremy Podeswa, "Li Chun" (And the Spring Comes) from China's Chang Wei Gu, and two homegrown products: "L'Uomo Privato" (The Private Man) from Emidio Greco and "La Giusta distanza" (The Right Distance) from Carlo Mazzacurati.

The Premiere sidebar will feature the much-awaited "Silk," an English- and Japanese-language Canada-Italy-Japan co-production from Quebec director Francois Girard. The film, which tells the story of a 19th century silkworm merchant turned smuggler, stars Keira Knightley and Alfred Molina.

Other highlights of the Premiere section include "The Dukes" from Robert Davi, Martin Schmidt and Henry Bean's "Noise," "Enchanted" from Kevin Lima, Julie Taymor's "Across the Universe" and "I Giorni e le Nuvole" (Days and Clouds) from Italian director Silvio Soldini and starring Margherita Buy.

Also announced Thursday was the lineup for the competitive Alice in the City sidebar, Rome's well-regarded event for films aimed at young viewers. Of the 14 films in competition in that event, eight are world premieres. Among the sidebars world premieres are "Have dreams, Will Travel" from Brad Isaacs and starring Kilmer, "Survivre avec le Loups" (Surviving with wolves) from France's Vera Belmont, and "Un Chateau en Espagne" (My Very Best Friend) from Isabella Dova, also from France.

As previously announced, Loren will appear in the Italian capital to receive a career achievement award and Blanchett will break in the red carpet when she arrives to give a boost to "Elizabeth: The Golden Age." Blanchett will be the second Australian in the Rome event's two editions to open the festival, following in the wake of Nicole Kidman, who opened the festival a year ago with "Fur."

A complete list of RomaCinemaFest films follows:

Premiere selection
"Across the Universe," Julie Taymor, U.K., U.S.
"The Dukes," Robert Davi, U.S.
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age," Shekhar Kapur, U.K., France
"Giorni e nuvole" (Days and clouds), Silvio Soldini, Italy
"Youth Without Youth," Francis Ford Coppola, Germany, Italy, France
"Into the Wild," Sean Penn, U.S.
"Noise," Henry Bean, Martin Schmidt, U.S.
"Rendition," Gavin Hood, U.S.
"Silk," Francois Girard, Canada, Italy, Japan
"Things We Lost in the Fire," Susanne Bier, U.S.

Premiere/Alice in the City events and films
"August Rush," Kirsten Sheridan, U.S.
"Winx -- il film: il segreto del regno perduto," Iginio Straffi, Italy (35-minute preview)
"Enchanted," Kevin Lima, U.S.

Special events
Argento Night: Marathon of the "Three Mothers Trilogy"
Screening of "Suspiria," "Inferno" and the European premiere of "La terza madre" (The Third Mother), Dario Argento, Italy
Homage to Gilles Jacob -- Gilles Jacob presents "Chacun son cinema"

In competition
"Barcelona, un mapa" (Barcelona, a Map), Ventura Pons, Spain
"Caotica Ana" (Chaotic Ana), by Julio Medem, Spain
"Ce que mes yeux ont vu" (The Vanishing Point), Laurent De Bartillat, France
"El pasado" ("The Past") by Hector Babenco (Argentina, Brazil)
"Fugitive Pieces," Jeremy Podeswa, Canada
"Hafez," Abolfazl Jalili, Iran, Japan
"Juno," Jason Reitman, U.S.
"La giusta distanza" (The Right Distance), Carlo Mazzacurati, Italy
"Le deuxieme souffle" (Second Wind), Alain Corneau, France
"Li Chun" (And the Spring Comes), Chang Wei Gu, China
"L'amour cache" (Hidden Love), Alessandro Capone, Luxembourg, Belgium, Italy
"L'uomo privato" (The Private Man), Emidio Greco, Italy
"Mongol," Sergei Bodrov, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhistan, Germany
"Reservation Road," Terry George, U.S.

Special events, out of competition
"L'abbuffata," Mimmo Calopresti, Italy
"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," Sidney Lumet, U.S.
"On dirait que ..." (Let's Say), Francoise Maire, France
Tribute to Raul Ruiz -- "La recta provincia," Raul Ruiz, Chile, France
German Days -- "Liebesleben" (Love Life), Maria Schrader, Germany
"Lions for Lambs," Robert Redford, U.S.
Focus India -- "No Smoking ...!" Anurag Kashyap, India

Alice in the City, in competition
"Un Chateau en Espagne" (My Very Best Friend), Isabelle Doval, France
"Have Dreams, Will Travel," Brad Isaacs, U.S.
"Buda Az Sharm Foru Rikht" (Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame), Hana Makhmalbaf, Iran
"And When Did You Last See Your Father?" Anand Tucker, U.K.
"Seachd -- The Inaccessible Pinnacle," Simon Miller, Scotland
"Choose Connor," Luke Eberl, U.S.
"Canvas," Joseph Greco, U.S.
"La tete de maman" (In Mom's Head), Carine Tardieu, France
"La misma luna" (Under the Same Moon), Patricia Riggen, Mexico, U.S.
"Partes Usdas" (Spare Parts), Aaron Fernandez, Mexico, France
"Survivre avec les loups" (Survive With the Wolves), Vera Belmont, France
"September," Peter Carstairs, Australia
"Toku no sora ni keita" (Into the Faraway Sky), Isao Yukisada, Japan
"Noonbushin Narae" (Meet Mr. Daddy), Kwang Su Park, South Korea

Alice in the City, out of competition
"Pride," Sunu Gonera, U.S.
"Il nostro Rwanda," Cristina Comencini and Carlotta Cerquetti, Italy
"Die drei rauber" (The Three Robbers), Hayo Freitag, Germany

Strange + 8-Bit + Anime = Str8nime. Learn DIY Filmmaking from M dot Strange.

2007-09-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

By Jason Silverman, source: www.wired.com

It's anime on amphetamines — with a throbbing techno beat and a dash of Kabuki. Most of all, M dot Strange's berserk and beautiful We Are the Strange is a triptastic triumph of DIY filmmaking. Strange (former Web designer Michael Belmont) spent three years and roughly $20,000 crafting his feature-length debut — learning animation, creating virtual landscapes, and scouring gutters for props. Last December, he went into lockdown mode, working 30-hour shifts to finish in time for Sundance. The plot? Something about an anime waif and a mopey porcelain doll searching for safe haven in a vicious videogame world. But that's beside the point. The visuals are dazzlingly hypnotic, dropping references from the Brothers Quay to Super Mario Brothers. Strange calls his technique Str8nime (strange + 8-bit + anime). After 86 brain- melting minutes, viewers may not know what hit them. (The Sundance crowd didn't — there was a minor stampede for the exits long before the closing credits.) Still, Strange has attracted a fierce online fan base — eager acolytes are even learning how to make their own Str8nime via his "Film Skool" clips on YouTube. This fall, he's self- releasing a DVD, with free parking-lot screenings across the country. "People have to stop jumping for the Hollywood carrot," he says. "I'm training a new generation of filmmakers." Check out Strange's technique below.

M dot's 8 Steps to Str8nime

1) Shoot the stop-motion doll in front of a homemade closet greenscreen.

2) Launch Maxon Cinema 4-D and render the 3-D background for the shot. Remember: "Blocky makes better; 8 bits was always enough."

3) Import stop-motion sequences into Adobe After Effects and remove the greenscreen.

4) Import the 3-D background renders into After Effects and match them with the movements of the stop-motion doll.

5) Create the most evil 8-bit sky you can in Mario Paint and add it to the scene. "It won't be that scary, but that's the point."

6) Add 3-D particle effects or hand-drawn wind.

7) Str8nime is not photorealistic, but it is photographic. Create depth-of-field blur and lens distortion.

8) Dial in the color. "If it doesn't burn your eyes, it's not bright enough. If the voice in your head doesn't scream 'WTF?!' it's not strange enough. When you're finished, chant, 'This is Str8nime. This is Str8nime.' Over and over."

Russian documentary on Vitebsk in production

2007-09-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

By Glitter Impact

September 26, the first draft version of the film titled “Flight over Vitebsk” was presented in the city on Dvina. The film is directed by Igor Shadhan, Russian director famous for his documentaries on Vladimir Putin. His current work is a part of Swedish-Latvian-Belarusian tourist project Panorama Dvina / Daugava.

Director Igor Shadhan, photo from peoples.ru

The idea of Panorama Dvina / Daugava belongs to Swedish tourist businesses that see many of their customers interested in traveling to the Dvina River. According to Igor Shadhan, the main purpose of his documentary is to attract people from other parts of the world to Vitebsk – the largest cultural center on the Dvina.

Yesterday presentation has gathered Vitebsk local authorities, cultural workers and representatives of Belarusian tourist business. Prior to the event, Mr. Shadhan said his film will eventually have two versions – one for the CIS countries, and one for the citizens of Europe (in English.) The director’s intention is to present Vitebsk the way it was percepted by the world famous artist Mark Shagal; born in Vitebsk, Shagal dedicated many of his best works to his home.

The approach of presenting Vitebsk in the context of Mark Shagal’s art and life is not new in documentary filmmaking. In 1991 Belarusian director Vladimir Bokun used the same angle in his “When Vitebsk was Paris.” The latter work was awarded at the Arsenal film festival in Latvia, and in Scandinavia it had the audience of 250.000 viewers.

Buñuelathon '07!

2007-09-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

By Chicago Sun-Times' JIM EMERSON, Scanners Blog

Flickhead is hosting a Buñuel blog-a-thon this week, with postings on famous and obscure Buñuelian objects of desire. From the intro:

Few filmmakers have held my attention, respect and admiration for as long or as deeply as Luis Buñuel. For years I’ve thought of him as my ‘favorite’ director, mostly due to a personal connection I feel with his attitudes, humor and outlook. A surrealist, a wandering spirit, a cynic, a recovering Catholic…Buñuel used the cinema to explore these areas and took special delight in society’s inexorable draw to the seven deadly sins—especially pride, lust and greed. Among the very few masters capable of channeling elevated social and cultural criticisms into popular cinema, he took aim at the whole of humanity, recognizing the folly of our desires.

My contributions are previous posts about the relationships between Jonathan Glazer's "Birth" and "Un Chien Andalou" ("'Birth' of a Buñuelian notion") and Buñuel's autobiography, "My Last Sigh."

A dream of dying: "Los Olvidados."

Oscar Watch: The Gurus Have Voted

2007-09-26T14:51:00.000-07:00

By ANNE THOMPSON, Variety.com deputy editor

OscarWell, the awards season has begun. Movie City News' David Poland has assembled a stellar group to weigh in on the Oscar race. Here are the first round of results, which reflect some educated guesswork, given that we haven't yet seen all the films, even the ones that have started screening.

I won't name a film, like Charlie Wilson's War, that I haven't seen a lick of footage from. At least with Sweeney Todd, There Will Be Blood, or American Gangster, I've seen a trailer or some footage, or talked to more than a few people who have seen the film. (I'm seeing Gangster next week.) Until some of these movies get open, we won't know where they stand. Each distributor has to do everything right, make no mistakes, and hope for boxoffice success.

The other issue at this stage is that people don't know what category some of the actors belong in. I understand that Miramax is campaigning for Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones for supporting for No Country for Old Men, and Josh Brolin for lead. Jones will be lead for In the Valley of Elah, if the movie can hang in long enough. Cate Blanchett is lead for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, supporting for I'm Not There.

Hugo Chavez Funds State-Run Film Studio

2007-09-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

By FABIOLA SANCHEZ, Associated Press

GUARENAS, Venezuela (AP) — Lights! Camera! Revolution! Unhappy with what he considers Hollywood's monopoly on the silver screen, President Hugo Chavez is bankrolling Venezuelan movies through a state-run film studio.

Now rolling are biopics about national heroes and villains, including Luis Posada Carriles, the former CIA operative who allegedly masterminded a jetliner bombing and tried to kill Fidel Castro.

Scenes are being shot in and around Caracas this month for the movie about Posada, considered by Chavez to be a Latin American version of Osama bin Laden. Scheduled for international release next year, it's one of a growing number of films the socialist government is financing in a fusion of politics and art.

The trend is a boost to homegrown cinema in Venezuela, but critics say it reeks of Soviet-style propaganda efforts.

Chavez has long demanded that the United States extradite Posada to stand trial in the 1976 Cuban jetliner bombing, which killed 73 people. Posada allegedly masterminded the attack while living in Venezuela, where he was a member of a secret police force dedicated to rooting out Marxist rebels.

"The film argues he should be condemned and returned here to Venezuela or to Cuba to be tried for his actions," director Eduardo Barberena told The Associated Press during one recent filming session.

Cameras rolled last week among the wooden shacks of a modern-day shantytown in Guarenas, near the film studio east of Caracas. An actor playing a communist rebel in 1970s Venezuela rode a bicycle down a dirt road, destined for a shootout with Posada, as lights illuminated a row of shacks where barefooted children stood watching.

The movie (budgeted at $900,000) is one of several being produced by the Cinema Villa studio, which Chavez founded last year with $13 million in government money as an alternative to the "dictatorship of Hollywood."

The studio's first feature film will be released next month. It's about Venezuelan independence hero Francisco de Miranda and has Danny Glover in a supporting role.

A third production in the works is about Ezequiel Zamora, who led a 19th century land revolt in Venezuela and is a key ideological figure for Chavez.

"Venezuelan cinema for the world," Chavez exclaimed, praising what he called a "cultural revolution" as he excitedly described the films during his radio and TV program Sunday and criticized the global influence of U.S. films. "They make us admire Superman, Spider-Man," Chavez said.

"Spider-Man 3" was a hit in Caracas, both in theaters and through pirated DVDs sold in the streets, and most Venezuelans, like people all over the world, continue to be big Hollywood fans. But left-leaning documentaries are already altering Venezuelan television, appearing on government-supported channels alongside the traditional soap operas of commercial channels.

Barberena, who has mostly made TV commercials, sees Cinema Villa as a chance for Venezuela to expand a tiny movie industry — which has made only a few internationally known movies, such as "El Pez que Fuma" (The Smoking Fish) in 1977 and "Secuestro Express" (Express Kidnapping) in 2005.

Three dozen feature films, documentaries and TV programs are now in production at the center, according to Culture Minister Francisco Sesto. They include "Imagining Revolution," about the development of Chavez's socialist movement, and "Venezuela Petroleum Company," about corporate exploitation.

The new film center is both financed and controlled by the government, similar to how Cuba runs its Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry. Scripts are selected by a committee that includes Venezuela's culture minister, who reports directly to Chavez.

Cinema Villa director Lorena Almarza said the goal of the state film center is nothing less than the "transformation of the cultural hegemony" that has long bombarded Venezuelans through their TV and movie screens.

Some critics see a heavy government hand that will result in lousy art.

Communications professor Antonio Pascuali of Venezuela's Central University accuses Cinema Villa of "putting political slogans above the quality of their productions," just as the Soviet Union did.

But Barbarena denies getting any pressure to make his movie conform to Chavez's political views. Although the thriller takes a clear stance on Posada, the script "allows a bit of freedom for him to defend himself," the director said.

Posada, 79, denies involvement in the 1976 jetliner bombing off Barbados. He escaped from a Venezuelan prison in 1985 and was detained in Florida in 2005 for entering the U.S. illegally, but was freed in May when a judge dismissed his immigration fraud case. The Cuban and Venezuelan governments want him tried for murder and treason in Venezuela, where he holds dual citizenship. But a U.S. immigration judge ruled in 2005 that he could not be deported to Venezuela, saying he faces a possibility of torture.

Posada, who trained with the CIA for the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, also allegedly plotted to assassinate Castro, and allegedly planned the 1997 bombings at tourists sites in Havana.

Barbarena says filming will move to Havana later this year to recreate the 1997 bombing of the Hotel Copacabana, which killed an Italian tourist. The movie's title, "Bambi C-4," combines the explosive allegedly used by Posada and the nickname he used years ago in Venezuela.

Venezuela's director Eduardo Barberena gives instructions to assistants during the filming of "Bambi C4" at a shantytown in Guarenas, in the outskirts of Caracas, Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2007, which is about Cuba's militant and former Venezuelan secret police agent Luis Posada Carriles. The movie is one of several being produced by state-run Cinema Villa studios, which Chavez started last year in an attempt to offer alternatives to Hollywood. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Samsung Announces Independent Film Support

2007-09-26T14:36:00.000-07:00

Source: www.dealerscope.com

Samsung Electronics last week announced a new initiative, along with the Landmark Theatres chain, to nurture and reward independent filmmaking talent. Under the name “True Vision Should Lose Nothing in Translation,” the campaign will have three components: a contest, a sponsorship, and a special seat.

The campaign includes a competition for independent filmmakers whose finished films do not yet have distribution, called Truly Indie. The winner will receive distribution and support in at least five markets. In addition, sports owner and movie producer Mark Cuban, who co-owns Landmark Theatres, will join Samsung CEO D.J. Oh at the premiere of the new film “Into the Wild,” directed by Sean Penn. The film marks the launch of Samsung’s new Independent Film Program.

Finally, Samsung has designated special blue seats in 10 of its theaters as “the best seat in the house,” recognizing them as having the best sight and sound quality in the theater.

To learn more about Samsung's Independent Film Program, please visit www.blueseat.com .

NEW Toshiba Gigashot A100F, A40F, K80H and K40H

2007-09-25T15:30:00.000-07:00

Source: http://www.i4u.com/article11722.html

Toshiba announces two full HD digital camcorder and two hi-Vision resolution models.

The new Toshiba Gigashot A100F (GSC-A100F) features a 100GB HDD and measures only 78.1x135.4x79mm. Toshiba says this is the world's smallest full HD camcorder using a wide-angle lens.

The new Toshiba Gigashot A40F (GSC-A40F) comes with a 40GB hard-drive. Other features of the Gigashot A100F and A40F include a 3 inch screen, HDMI port, SD Card slot.

The Toshiba Gigashot K80H (GSC-K80H) comes with a 40GB HDD and the K40H (GSC-K40H) has a 40GB hard-drive. Features of the Gigashot K series include 3 inch screen and HDMI port.

The design of the new Toshiba Gigashot A and K-series is very similar to the first JVC Everio HDD camcorder line.

Via this Toshiba press-release (Japanese).
Pricing and a possible release outside of Japan are not known at this point.