HeSaid SheSaid Movie Reviews

62nd Cannes Film Festival Winners

 
Austrian director Michael Haneke poses next to the president of the jury French, actress Isabelle Huppert, after being awarded with the Palme d'Or for his movie "Das Weisse Band" (The White Ribbon) during the Closing Ceremony of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. Valery Hache / AFP / Getty

It was a blood-and-guts year for the Cannes Film Festival, but in the end, indie art films won the show. A complete list of winners is available here.

2009 Boulder International Film Festival slated for Feb. 12-15

The Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF) will kick off Thursday, Feb. 12, at 6:30 p.m. with an Opening Night Party and screening of Nothing But the Truth, starring Kate Beckinsale, Alan Alda, Matt Dillon and Angela Bassett.  During BIFF's Red Carpet Valentine's Gala on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 7 p.m., Chevy Chase will be honored with an Award of Excellence in Comedy and participate in a Q&A session with Ron Bostwick, BIFF executive producer, following a retrospective of his work.

BIFF's Closing Night Awards Ceremony, taking place Sunday, Feb. 15, at 6:30 p.m., will include a special screening of Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country, a top prize winner at IDFA Amsterdam, one of the world's premier documentary festivals. The film will be followed by a Q&A with Burmese Princess Inge Sargent, author of Twilight over Burma and a recipient of the United Nations Association International Human Rights Award. Sargent is a longtime Boulder teacher, and heads a Burmese expatriate organization that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund Burmese refugees in Thailand.

Festival tickets go on sale Friday, Jan. 23, and are $10 for adults and $8 for students and seniors 65 and older. All-access Festival VIP passes, including tickets and access to the Red Carpet Valentine's Gala and the Closing Night Awards Ceremony, can be purchased for $345 or for a discounted rate of $295 if purchased before Sunday, Feb. 1. Tickets for the Opening Night Party and Closing Night Awards Ceremony can be purchased for $35. Individual tickets for the Red Carpet Valentine's Day Gala with Chevy Chase are $85. Tickets can be purchased at www.bouldertheater.com or by calling (303) 786-7030. For more information about the Festival, visit www.biff1.com.  

Everyone's a filmmaker for 15 seconds...

 

The 15 Second Film Festival is the brainchild of Irish filmmaker Peter Johnston. He created the festival to showcase Ireland's up-and-coming (and already established) artists, writers, and filmmakers.

And this year notables like Roddy “Fecking” Doyle, Oscar nominee Seamus ‘Atonement’ McGarvey, Shimmy ‘Headrush’ Marcus, Tim ‘World of Wrestling’ Plester, Mik ‘Hitch’ Duffy, Jo ‘The Performance Corporation’ Mangan and Enda ‘Flying Saucer Rock ‘n’ Roll’ Hughes all contributed micro-budget microwork to this year’s showcase of 30 15-second films.

In the famous words of Shakespeare, "Brevity is the soul of wit."

Call for entries for the 33rd annual Cleveland International Film Festival

The 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF), to be held March 19-29, 2009, is now accepting submissions. Narrative, documentary, animated and experimental films of all lengths are eligible for submission. For more information, visit www.clevelandfilm.org.

The remaining deadlines for submissions are:
Late Deadline: October 31, 2008
Extended Deadline: November 30, 2008

Asian American Film Festival offers six (free) movies from Japan

The Asian American Film Festival 2008, co-sponsored by the Asian Educational Media Service and the Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is set for this weekend. Admission is free, but donations are welcome.

Previous festivals have showcased films from throughout Asia, but this one concentrates on Japan. With its theme of "Young in Japan," the festival offers six films, including one documentary and one especially for kids.

Here's the schedule and the slate of movies.

Scottsdale International Film Festival set for Oct. 3

The last time I was in Arizona I got a (ridiculous) ticket while taking (what was supposed to be) a joyride from Tucson to Phoenix. About the only thing that could get me back in that state is a damn film festival. And, Amy Ettinger, organizer of the Scottsdale International Film Festival has almost convinced me. (Almost, but not quite. Maybe next year, Amy.)

The 2008 festival lineup features 26 films from 20 countries over six days. The festival concludes on Thursday, Oct. 9, with a screening of Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky. And Leigh will be on hand to introduce the film and take part in a question-and-answer session following the screening.

Tickets are $10; passes range from $20 to $150; for more information call (602) 410-1074 or visit www.scottsdalefilmfestival.com.

Rome Film Festival announces lineup

The Rome Film Festival recently announced its 2008 lineup. "The festival puts the spotlight on Italian films a lot more than in the past two editions," said festival coordinator Piera Detassis, presenting the program of the October 22-31 showcase.

Keira Knightley, Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen are due to attend, while Al Pacino will receive a lifetime achievement award.

8, a collection of eight short films inspired by the U.N. Millennium Development Goals on poverty, is also one of the festival's highlights and should bring to Rome a host of acclaimed directors including Gus Van Sant and Jane Campion.

Six titles by Italian film-makers are in the main 20-title competition, including L'Uomo che ama (The Man Who Loves) with Bellucci which will kick off the festival.

French drama The Sea Wall, with Isabelle Huppert, is also in the main contest.

See the full line-up here.