The Astronaut on the Roof by Spanish director Sergi Portabella starts off the next round of the Campus short film competition.   On July 7, 2009, shooting begins in Berlin for The Astronaut on the Roof, a comedy about two young screenwriters torn by the trials and tribulations of developing a screenplay who end up shamelessly quoting the films of their director idols. The film is one of five short film project finalists for the Berlin Today Award 2010, the short film competitio...

 Burt Young told me how excited he was to finally see Hal's version.  Hal Ashby's "Lookin' to Get Out" screened last night at the UCLA Billy WIlder Theatre We saw this film at CineVegas, where we met writer Al Swartz, along with his co-writer Jon Voight.  When I saw Jon, Sunday at the LA film festival award brunch, he invited us to see the film again last night at the UCLA Billy Wilder Theatre. During his introduction Jon announced that he wanted to sit in Billy Wilder's s...

Michael Jackson Planned to Step into Jimmy Cagney’s Shoes, says ‘Captain EO’ Producer and Longtime Pal Rusty Lemorande Unlike his idol Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson never established himself as a movie star - namely in a musical remake of the 1938 James Cagney flick Angels with Dirty Faces - and it’s a reget he took to his grave. That, according to the King of Pop’s Captain EO collaborator, and friend of 25 years, Rusty Lemorande. "He really wanted a film ca...

*** CamboFest to nominate Cambodian & Cambodia-made/produced films for 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards *** CAMBOFEST: Film, Video and Animation festival of Cambodia (http://www.cambofest.com) today announced its appointment as the Official Submission Organization for Cambodia for the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) for the 2nd year in a row, in part due to CamboFest's diligence regarding IP rights vis-a-vis motion picture exhibition in the region. CamboFest was invited by ...

*** CamboFest to nominate Cambodian & Cambodia-made/produced films for 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards *** CAMBOFEST: Film, Video and Animation festival of Cambodia (http://www.cambofest.com) today announced its appointment as the Official Submission Organization for Cambodia for the 2009 Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) for the 2nd year in a row, in part due to CamboFest's diligence regarding IP rights vis-a-vis motion picture exhibition in the region. CamboFest was invited by ...

Deadline for film submissions: August 22, 2009 Fee: $15.00 USD Student fee: $10.00 USD for more info: www.sunnysideshorts.net ...

The 23rd Wine Country Film Festival : September 17th - 27th, 2009 "I loved what you wrote about the terroir of cinema. We were drawn to the Napa Sonoma Wine Country Film Festival not only because our film was made in Sonoma county about Sonoma county people, but also because this festival isn't about running madly from film to film, hair on fire. It's about balance. The careful creation of tasting events built around the selected films sets a very special tone for filmgoers,...

The Karlovy Vary IFF (July 3 - 11, 2009) presents over 220 feature films from all over the world every year. Apart from the films in the special retrospectives, most of the films are screened in the Czech Republic each year for the first time, many of them in their world, international or European premiere as well. This year again, the audience will have chance to see interesting retrospectives and focuses apart from the traditional program sections. Official Selection - Competition ...

By Maria Esteves - June 20, 2009 The 12th Brooklyn International Film Festival 2009 (BIFF) New York Premiere of EM, written and directed by Tony Barbieri, was held at the Brooklyn Heights Cinema, New York, Tuesday, June 9, 7:00 pm. A special Q&A with producer Jim Jermanok preceded the film's premiere after party at Rebar. Producers Jim Jermanok and Harry Gregson-Williams were honored the 2009 BIFF Outstanding Achievement in Production Award.   EM is the most extraordinary and cap...

  by Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor Nothing is more prized at a film festival than a World Premiere, the first go out of the gate of a film that can trace its origin to that very film event. It is what builds reputations for festivals and captures the attention of media professionals and press with special attentiveness. The Silverdocs International Film Festival, which ends on Sunday, has a good number of World Premieres to tantalize. Chief among them is tonight's...

An interview with the director of Butterflies, Ester Brymova will be in the next issue of Reflex, the equivalent of Time magazine in the Czech Republic.  The issue goes on sale Thursday and you can also read the article online at www.reflex.cz. Also, history of YouTube, and short interviews with some of the characters in the film, like LisaNova, DaveDays, Mr Safety or XgobobeanX are part of the article. You can see the World Premiere of Butterflies at the NewFilmmakers series in New...

  by Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor President Barack Obama is, if nothing else, very telegenic.....the camera simply loves him and cannot get enough. This fact plus his historic ascendancy in a mere two years from junior Senator to the top political leader of the world is an astounding one that will certainly be the stuff of legend in years to come. But for the moment, we are living that legend and the media fascination on and surrounding Obama is electric. Afte...