ROSSO COME IL CIELO 

Friday, April 18------The Palm Beach International Film Festival, which ended its week-long marathon of film screenings, film tributes, seminar events and nightly parties, came to a glittering close yesterday with the announcement of its Grand Jury and Audience Awards.

The big winner this year was the inspirational Italian film ROSSO COME IL CIELO (Red Like The Sky) by Cristiano Bartone. The film recounts the incredible true story of early life of blind sound editor Micro Mencacci, the victim of a childhood accident which robbed him of his sight.  The film shows how the imaginative and creative boy not only changes the lives of everyone around him, but contributes to change the country’s misguided treatment of children with disabilities. The film won the award for Best Feature and also Best Director.

The Features Jury awarded a Special Jury Prize to Lachen Zinoun, the world-famous dancer-choreographer for his directorial debut, OUD AL WARD (The Lost Beauty), which screened as part of the Visions of Morroco section and had its US Premiere at the Festival.

After viewing nine worthy competitors, the jury decided not to give the prize for “Best Performance” to an individual, but rather to the entire ensemble cast of the engrossing Irish film KINGS for their touching portrayal of Irish emigrants in England – a performance rich in humanity and emotion.  The cast was led by Colm Meaney, Donal O’Kelly, Brendan Conroy, Donncha Crowley, Barry Barnes, Seán O’Tarpaigh and Peadar O’Treasaigh.

The Award for Best Documentary Feature went to D'UNE SEULE VOIX (With One Voice), directed by de Lauzanne Xavier, which had its World Premiere at the event.  Long-time music vagabond Jean-Yves Labat de Rossi invited musicians from Israel and Palestine to join together on an extraordinary tour that would unite them in France for three weeks. On stage it was a triumph, but tempers flared backstage. But this inescapable proximity forced them to communicate. The stresses from the exhausting tour and political rivalries slowly developed into close ties, sustained and driven by the music.

A Special Jury Prize was awarded to Suzanne Chisholm and Michael Parfit’s SAVING LUNA, about a lost baby orca whale.  Seeking frie (...)

YOUNG@HEART 

Thursday, April 17-----The 13th edition of the Palm Beach International Film Festival ends tonight with its Gala Closing Night Film and its Awards Ceremonies. After presenting over 100 films from around the world, as well as in-depth seminars, gala tributes and some of the most fun parties on the festival circuit, the Festival calls it a wrap tonight.

As the film begins, the retirees, led by their demanding musical director, are rehearsing their new show, struggling with Sonic Youth’s dissonant rock anthem, “Schizophrenia” and giving new meaning to James Brown’s “I Feel Good.”  What ultimately emerges is a funny and unexpectedly moving testament to friendship, creative inspiration and defying expectations.

The film had its premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival last June, and has become a festival circuit hit around the world. It has begun its theatrical run this past week via Fox Searchlight Pictures (the company behind this year's indie smash JUNO), receiving glowing reviews.

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times has called the film "a heady tonic for those folks to take on these unlikely lyrics as it is for us to watch it all go down." Stephen Holden in the New York Times stated that the film "offers an encouraging vision of old age in which the depression commonly associated with decrepitude is held at bay by music making, camaraderie and a sense of humor." And Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film 3 1/2 stars in her review, calling the film "a heartening and poignant affirmation of the transformative power of music."

Sandy Mandelberger, Palm Beach FF Dailies Editor

 Jack Sheldon

Wednesday, April 15------Tonight, audiences at the Palm Beach International Film Festival were treated to a memorable film tribute to a jazzman's unique life and musical journey. TRYING TO GET GOOD: THE JAZZ ODYSSEY OF JACK SHELDON is an intimate portrait of a jazz giant whose personal story is one of triumph and tragedy.

National audiences know him as Merv Griffin’s trumpet-playing sidekick or as the indelible voice of “Conjunction Junction” and “I’m Just a Bill” from “School House Rock”, but Jack Sheldon is so much more.  One of the founders of the West Coast Sound in Jazz, he is an American treasure, a triple threat performer whose virtuosity on the horn is matched only by his distinctive voice and ribald humor. From Sinatra to the Simpsons, from dingy gin mills to Carnegie Hall, Jack Sheldon is one of the unheralded giants of American music.

Bialystock & Bloom Theatrical Productions and February Films are the twin producers of the film, which had its world premiere screening here tonight. The film tells the story of Sheldon’s remarkable life and career—from his impoverished childhood in segregated Florida, to his formative Hollywood teenage years with the legendary Chet Baker, his stints with the legendary Stan Kenton and Benny Goodman bands, where he created a signature sound which still captivates audiences and fellow musicians to this very day.

With sidebar trips into the comedy world of Lenny Bruce and his own CBS sitcom, “Run Buddy, Run”, Jack Sheldon’s story is the tale of a serious artist with a decidedly non-serious persona. A personal story with a great score, archival footage of early Sheldon performances, and original scenes of Jack’s amazing 17 piece “Jack Sheldon Orchestra”, TRYING TO GET GOOD takes the audience into the head of a highly complex man who’s often times tragic life never derails his inspiring commitment to his art.

Sheldon’s story is told in his own words and on-camera interviews with friends and musical associates, including: Clint Eastwood, Billy Crystal, Merv Griffin (in his final on-camera appearance), Chris Botti, Grammy nominee Tierney Sutton, Terry Gibbs, three time Academy Awardã winner Alan Bergman, Dave Frishberg, Academy Awardã winner Johnny Mandel, “Indiana Jones”/”Borne Identity” producer Frank Marshall and many, many more.

The film was written, produced and directed by actress Penny Peyser, (“The In-Laws”/ “Crazy Like a Fox”) and Doug McIntyre, TV & Film writer/producer and host of “McIntyre in the Morning” on Talk Radio 790 KABC in Los Angeles. For more information on the film, log on to the website: www.TryingToGetGood.com

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 MAGIC FLUTE DIARIES

Tuesday, April 15------The Palm Beach International Film Festival will host the World Premiere screening this evening of MAGIC FLUTE DIAIRES. The film screens as part of the Reel Rhythms section of the Festival, devoted to music films (more on this tomorrow).

The Magic Flute's all pervading themes of love and betrayal, reward and retribution, coupled with the encompassing power of Mozart's brilliant score have given rise to a unique motion picture in the hands of filmmaker Kevin Sullivan, set during Mozart's 250th birthday celebration year. Young virtuoso singer Tom (Warren Christie) is cast in the lead role of Tamino in the staging of The Magic Flute in Salzburg.

Cast opposite Tom as Pamina, is a mysterious diva (Mireille Asselin) from Eastern Europe - a mysterious diva with whom Tom quickly falls in love. Nothing is as it seems and we soon learn that Tom's mysterious love interest is being held against her will in a lavish palace. Famed musicologist Dr. Richard Nagel has been forced to train her in The Magic Flute's arias. Sensing the danger that the diva is in, Dr. Nagel knows he must help her. He must shape her into the most mesmerizing Pamina Salzburg has ever heard. But the diva disappears, jeopardizing the premiere of the production and Tom's world careens out of control.

He enters a world of intrigue and danger that is reflected in his on stage role in Mozart's classic fairytale. Tom finds his life and fortunes held hostage, as he is forced into a perilous world in order to save his co-star. The Magic Flute transports the audience into an elaborate musical spectacle that brings to life all of the extravagance of the 18th century with the energy of a contemporary pop video. It's a world that is exotic, thrilling and beautiful.

Mixing on-stage performances with backstage drama, this is a unique rendering of one of the world's most beautiful operatic experiences.

Sandy Mandelberger, Palm Beach FF Dailies Editor

ANIMALS AND THE TOLLKEEPER 

Tuesday, April 15--------Today at the Palm Beach International Film Festival, filmmakers and industry representatives will be among the first in the world to preview an amazing new technology: 3D TV and displays that do not require any special glasses. CEO/Visionary/inventor Fernando Delmau of XES (Xtreme Electronics Systems) along with Sean McKee, CEO of distributor Screen Time Images will be on hand at the Delray Beach Marriot to introduce what's next after the HD revolution.

To be shown will be numerous examples, including scenes from the film ANIMALS WITH THE TOLLKEEPER, which premiered Monday night, starring Mickey Rooney, Tim Roth, John Turturro, Road Steiger, Barbara Bain and an all star supporting cast. That film's award-winning cinematography is amazingly enhanced by this 3D visual technique that will soon be available for television broadcast.

In addition to a 50" screen and a special 3D laptop, a 'vertical' 3D display will be shown, which lays flat on a table and projects 3D upwards.

Since this technology is the future of filmmaking, filmmakers will receive tips and techniques for shooting live action in 3D, as well as details on converting existing material to this new format. Ideas will be presented for applications and uses of the technology, and a Q&A session will follow.

Sandy Mandelberger, Palm Beach FF Dailies Editor

Monday, April 14-----Jason Reitman, the 30-year-old film director who scored an Academy Award nomination for his second feature film, will be honored this evening at the Palm Beach International Film Festival with the PBIFF Visionary Award. The honor will be given following a special screening of his hit comedy JUNO, which will be released on DVD tomorrow by Fox Home Video. Following the screening, Reitman will participate in an on-stage Conversation with National Public Radio host and film critic Peter Rainer.  Reitman is second generation Hollywood. He was born in Montreal, Canada in 1977, the first of three children of comedy director Ivan Reitman and Geneviève Robert. His father, Ivan, directed the box office blockbusters ANIMAL HOUSE, GHOSTBUSTERS, STRIPES and KINDERGARTEN COP. 

While describing his own childhood self as "a loser... a movie geek...and painfully shy”, he began appearing in small acting parts and serving as a production assistant on his father's films in the 1980s. . He spent time in the editing rooms of his father's movies, learning the process. Throughout his 20s, instead of accepting offers to make commercial feature films, Reitman began making his own short films and directing commercials.

In 2000, he wrote and directed the comedy short film IN GOD WE TRUST, which was a hit on the festival circuit, winning top awards at the Aspen Shortsfest and the Austin, Florida, Seattle, New York Comedy and Santa Monica film festivals. In 2004, he co-wrote the short film CONSENT with his writer wife Michele Lee, which also had success on the festival circuit, winning top prizes at the Aspen and Seattle film festivals.

In 2005, Reitman directed his debut feature film, THANK YOU FOR SMOKING. He had developed the satirical novel by Christopher Buckley into a screenplay and shopped it around to the major studios. The project was considered a rather hot potato, due to its controversial lead character, a shill for the tobacco industry. However, he eventually signed a deal with Fox Searchlight, the specialty distribution arm of Twentieth Century Fox. With the casting of Aaron Eckhart, the film became a cult hit, winning an Independent Spirit Award for its screenplay, as well as a Best Directorial Debut nod from the National Board of Review.

His second film would bring even more success and establish him as a m (...)

Sunday, April 13-------There is nothing in producer/director Emmanuel Itier's resume that would make you suspect that he is currently on his own spiritual quest. Emmanuel is a French-born, Hollywood-based producer whose oeuvre has been in the genre field of crime thrillers, soft-core erotica and horror films.

But he is indeed on a quest to find God, or at least define Him/Her/It with his latest project, THE INVOCATION. Itier screened a seven-minute trailer of the film, which includes contributions from interviews with religious leaders and international celebrities (among them Deepak Chopra, Jim Carrey and others) at a special screening held today at the Advent Lutheran Church in Boca Raton as part of the Palm Beach International Film Festival.

Using a church as the venue for a presentation of the trailer and subsequent discussion among a panel of local religious leaders (and one declared atheist) was controversial in and of itself. The discussion was indeed lively, as a rabbi, a Lutheran minister, a Greek Orthodox priest joined with writer/producer Veronica de Laurentiis (yes, of that de Laurentiis clan) to discuss how the idea of God fits into our current worldview.

Itier's quest is not to support or deny God's existence or to rally around any one religious viewpoint, but rather to look at how the question of religion and spirituality informs our history, politics, philosophy, entertainment and view of life on the planet. Interestingly enough, all the panelists (as well as eloquent members of the audience) seemed to point to one thing.....that a more tolerant worldview and the application of godly principles into daily life can only be helpful to the world as we undergo vast changes in technology and information sharing.

"When I look at all the problems in the world, it makes me wonder where God is and whether religious feeling can unite instead of divide", Itier said. "I feel that this film can open up a dialogue among diverse peoples and religions that is necessary to bring world peace and racial tolerance to our troubled planet."

Itier, who has already traveled extensively across the United States and Europe, will be travelling to Asia to continue lensing the documentary film, with hopes of finishing it by the end of the summer. THE INVOCATION is indeed a passion project for Itier and the positive and thought-provoking messages that it will certainly engender can only help us grapple with the "big picture": who are we? why are we here? and how can we be the best we can be in this lifetime? Sober questions and important ideas indeed.

For more information on the film, log on to the film's official website: www.theinvocation.com

Sandy Mandelberger, Palm Beach FF Dailies Editor

GOODBYE MOTHERS 

Sunday, April 13------When Palm Beach International Film Festival Executive Director Randi Emerman visited the Marrakech International Film Festival last year, she was not prepared for what she would find. "Not only was the Festival very grand, in terms of its presentation, dinners and receptions", Emerman shared with me over breakfast in the Filmmaker Lounge at the Mariott Delray Beach, "but I went to see a number of the local films and was astonished at their quality and scope. It occured to me then that it would be great to showcase a few films from Morocco in our program."

In a relationship with Jalil Laguili, General Secretary of the Foundation of the Marrakech International Film Festival, the two selected five films that are making their US Premieres at the Festival. The film section, entitled Visions Of Morocco, is part of a World Showcase on films from the Middle East, that includes five films from Israle and a short film co-produced by Iran and Iraq (well, if they can come together to make films, can't they come together to make peace?).

"One of the purposes of the Festival is to bring our audiences in touch with the ideas and lifestyles from other countries", Emerman stated. "When you understand life from someone else's point of view, you have to deal with them on human, not idealogical terms. That seems very important for the U.S. right now."

I've yet to see the films but they certainly sound intriguing. GOODBYE MOTHERS, which has its premiere screening tomorrow night, looks back at the early 190s, when a wave of Jewish Moroccans left their native country for Israel and Europe. In this tale, directed by Mohame Ismail, the stoy focuses on the solid bonds between two families, one Jewish, the other Muslim and how destiny and fate plays a hand as Jewish Moroccans leave a land that they have shared with their Moslem neighbors for centuries.

In another immigrant drama, ISLAMOUR, written and directed by Chraibi Saad, a Moroccan-American family is compelled to return to their native land after the events of September 11 The film deftly shows the schism between generations and the conflict between modernism and conservatism that occurs when West meets East.

Relationships between men and women, a potent subject in Moroccan cinema, is explored in two films in the program. In LES JARDINS DE SAMIRA, directed by Latif Lahlou, a young woman marries a widowed and childless farmer, only to discover that her new husband is impotent. While keeping up appearances of a normal married life, she drifts into a relationship with her youg nephew. In OUD AL WARD (The Lost Beauty), director Lahcen Zinoun sets his story in 1913, when young women were kidnapped and sold into virtual slavery into loveless marriages. The film focuses on one such young woman, whose inherent musical talent creates an unexpected tender bond with her rich master and jealousy among his other wifes and slaves.  

WAITING FOR PAS (...)

Saturday, April 12--------Tonight, the Palm Beach International Film Festival holds its most glamourous event, the annual Grand Gala at the Boca Raton Country Club. This year, the Festival is honoring the likes of acting legend Mickey Rooney, Oscar winner Louis Gosset Jr., hot director Jason Reitman, actress Cheryl Hines and up-and-coming actor Josh Hutcherson. In a series of articles over the next few days, I will offer a bio and filmography of the honorees and why their careers have been dubbed worthy of recognition. 

The biggest name of the bunch is a true living legend. At age 88, Mickey Rooney surely has the longest continued active career in show business. He is also one of the only remaining links to the “golden age” of Hollywood, when his career was in full blossom in the 1930s and 1940s. Most of his contemporaries from the MGM studio that boasted having “more stars than they are in heaven” have long since go on to their next reward. But Rooney is still here, irascible, talented, full of stories and a living link to classic Hollywood.

Rooney was born Joseph Yule Jr. in Brooklyn, New York in 1920 to a vaudeville family. He began performing at the age of fifteen months as part of his parents' routine, wearing a specially tailored tuxedo. As vaudeville went into a slump in the late 1920s, his mother moved the family to Hollywood. She answered a newspaper ad for a dark haired child to play the role of “Mickey McGuire” in a series of short films. Dying his son’s hair, she accompanied the 5 year old to an audition, which he eventually got. Young Joe played “Mickey” in 78 short comedies from 1927 to 1936.

In 1937, MGM signed the 17 year old Mickey, who had since changed his last name to Rooney, to a contract and cast him as the teenage son of a judge in A FAMILY AFFAIR, which started Rooney in his most successful role, that of Andy Hardy. The film had been planned as a B-movie, but after Lionel Barrymore was cast as the judge father, the film became a more top-drawer project. It became an unexpected success, spawning thirteen more “Andy Hardy” films between 1937 and 1946, with one final film in the series in 1958.

1937 was a pivotal year for the young actor. It was also the year that he made his first film co-starring Judy Garland (a forgettable trifle called THOROUGHBREDS DON’T CRY).  In the second year of his contract, Rooney was cast against type in the drama BOYS TOWN, opposite Spencer Tracy. The film was a major hit, winning Best Picture and Best Actor Oscars, and catapulting the young Rooney into major actor status at the tender age of 18.

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ANIMALS WITH THE TOLLKEEPER 

Saturday, April 12-------One of the rarest things to find at a medium-sized film festival are films that have never been seen at another festival venue. World Premieres are a highly prized status that most festivals attempt to attract, but with the exception of the largest, rarely succeed in attracting.

So, it was with a mix of curiosity and excitement that I noticed that at this year's Palm Beach International Film Festival, there are a number of films making their world debuts at the event. The decision to showcase one's work at a more intimate festival, as opposed to the five-ring circuses of Cannes, Sundance or Toronto, is certainly an idiosyncratic one. What Palm Beach can offer is a supportive environment, an intelligent audience and the opportunity to get valuable feedback on one's film creation.

In the Features section, four films are making their first foray on the film festival circuit. 305, by American co-directors Daniel and David Hoelechek, is based on the online smash hit. The film is a mockumentary detailing the misadventures of five not-so-brave members of the Spartan army charged with guarding a seemingly ordinary goat path. But when their actions lead to the death of King Leonidas and his army of 300 men, the five must find a way to redeem themselves and save Sparta from invasion. The film obviously takes its cues from 300 and other sandal-and-sword epics of late, giving it an ironic twist and tongue-in-cheek acting style.

ANIMALS WITH THE TOLLKEEPER is not strictly a World Premiere, but the film, which was made over a decade ago, has been mired in legal disputes that prevented its exposure and release. Here at Palm Beach, to coincide with tonight's Gala Tribute to acting legend Mickey Rooney, producer Gabrielle Tana and writer/director Michael De Jiacomo are unveiling a newly remastered version of the film, which also stars such heavyweights as Tim Roth, John Turturro, Rod Steiger and Barbara Bain. In this lush romantic fantasy, a borken dreamer finds new meaning in ove and life after a trio of elderly French documentary filmmakers hijack his taxi cab to drive from New York to North Carolina. When the film was first released, it won a Best Director prize at the Sitges Film Festival, which specializes in sci-fi and fantasy films. However, with the exception of a handful of industry screenings, the cult film became "lost" over the years. Kudos to the Palm Beach Film Festival for resurrecting this unusual and heartwarming tale.

American director Avery Pack illustrates the clashes between American and Chinese culture in FOREIGN DEVILS, which is getting its first screening on Monday evening here. The film portrays the story of Nate, an American ex-patriot who thinks he is leaving his job in Beijing for  business school in the U.S. When his deal fa (...)