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Margaret
Mead Film and Video Festival
November 3 - 11
The 24th annual Festival screens an abundance of mostly documentary
films [some 90 titles] from around the globe. The event's program
explores four major themes: a retrospective of the documentary films
of Mira Nair, Science is Fiction, Reframing Disability, and New
World Border.
Stockholm
Celebrates Asian Cinema
November 9 - 19
Ang Lee together with Swedish Film Institute director, Åse Kleveland
will kick off the 11th Stockholm International Film Festival on
November 9. Lee's Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon will be the opening film, which will
be included in the new festival section "Asian Images."
Four of the five features from Hong
Kong director Johnnie Toe are among the selections,
including Running Out of Time. According to Toe, "Hong
Kong film can not be satisfied by the local market only but must
expand into other territories."
Largest
Film Event Sponsored by the European Union
November 9 - 14 (France)
The Strasbourg European Film Forum is the largest film event sponsored
by the European Union. It is so large, in fact, that it is divided
into two major sections: the Cinema and Audiovisual Workshop Section
and the film festival. The workshops will explore the future of
European cinema in an Internet age with the goal of devising strategy
for the European Union's film industry. In the festival section,
one film from each of the 15 European Union countries will compete
for a prize of guaranteed theatrical distribution across Europe.
The festival will open with La Langue des Papillons from Spanish
director Jose Luis Cuerda and close with Le Roi Danse from Gerard
Corbiau. Between these screenings, scheduled events include a homage
to German filmmaker Werner Herzog and a night of short films.
4th Annual Los Angeles Sephardic Film Festival
November 9 - 12
Sponsored by the Sephardic Educational Center, the festival will
open at the Directors Guild of America with a Gala Premiere and
dinner and kick off a week of screenings, reflecting the Jewish
culture of the Mediterranean, Middle East, North Africa and Spain.
Another highlight on the program will be the premiere of the French
film K by Alexandre Arcady, who will be present to answer
questions at the Directors Guild of America on November 9, 2000
at 7:30 p.m. The festival continues on Sunday, November 12 at the
Laemmle's Music Hall in Beverly Hills with films of Sephardic communities
from around the world.
St. Louis International Film Festival
November 10 - 12
Five films and directors compete for the Emerging Filmmaker Prize
of $2500, to be decided by a jury of film pros from across the United
States, with Rama Dunayevich, director of Acquisitions for Palm
Pictures in San Francisco serving as President. The five debut films
selected for the New Filmmakers Forum 2000 are: Dead Dogs
by Clay Eide, The Divine Ryans by Stephen Reynolds, Housebound
by Mari Kornhauser, Maryam by Ramin Serry, and Rollercoaster
by Scott Smith. Four panels are scheduled during the festival; one
will debate the perpetual entertainment question: "To Be or
Not To Be in L.A." Screenwriters Brian Hohlfeld of St. Louis
(He Said, She Said with Kevin Bacon), Mari Kornhauser of
New Orleans (Zandalee with Nicolas Cage) and Todd Robinson
of Los Angeles (White Squall with Jeff Bridges) will debate
the ongoing question. Other panel discussions include: "The
Ins (and Outs) of Internet Creative Rights" and a panel of
guest documentary filmmakers will discuss how documentary films
get to theatrical screens.
Cinema
Under Stalin 1924-1953
Valence, November 10 - 12 (France)
In 1922, Lenin proclaimed that "of all the arts, cinema is
the most important for us." Just two years later, Stalin declared
that cinema is "the most efficient tool to stir the masses.
The only problem is to figure out how to use this tool." Thus
the French festival will explore how this tool was used during the
Stalin regime, focusing on the period from 1924 (the death of Lenin)
to 1953 (the death of Stalin), one of the most complex and tormented
eras in film history. Films from Sergueï Mikhaïlovitch Eisenstein
(La Greve, Ivan the Terrible) are programmed, along with
works from Poudovkine and others.
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Wrap-up/Awards
Rio
de Janeiro
October 5 - 18, 2000
Ken Loach's Bread
and Roses was a big winner at this year's Rio fest, winning
the prize of euro 13,000 for Best European Picture. The top prize
of 200,000 reias ($108,000) for Best Brazilian feature went to Tania
Lamarca's feature Tainah, about an eight-year old girl trying
to save the rainforests from smugglers.
BIFA/British
Independent Film Awards
October 25
In just three short years, the British Independnet Film Awards (BIFA)
has become one of the local film industry's must-attend events.
The brainchild of Elliot Grove, the Canadian-turned-Londoner who
also helms the annual Raindance Film Festival here, the Awards now
have received the official sanction of the industry elite as a valuable
showcase for the best in UK talent. And true to its independent
origins, it is a far hipper and cooler alternative to the stuffy
BAFTA Awards. The popular winner of the Best Film Award, sponsored
by internet service Coppernob, was Billy
Elliot, theatrical director Stephen Daldry's film directorial
debut, a crowd pleaser about a miner's son who finds creative expression
and an escape from his working class background through his love
of ballet.
Tokyo
International Film Festival
Oct 27 - Nov 7
The
Tokyo International Film Festival concluded on November 5 by awarding
one of the hottest festival entries this year: Amores
Perros by blissful newcomer (and former radio deejay) Alejandro
Gonzalez Inarritu.Prior to the closing ceremony, the Asian Film
Award went to Three Brothers by Serik Aprymov, a fledgling
Kazakh director who had against all odds garnered the 1999 Audience
Prize of Nantes for the solemn Aksuat.
Cottbus
Festival of Young East European Cinema
November 1 - 5
The Tenth jubilee edition of the only festival devoted to new East
European cinema in the East German 'Sorbish' city of Cottbus got
off to a fiery start on 1st November with lively folk musicians
and a couple of fire-eaters adding a characteristically quirky note
to the opening event. Honorary president Istvan Szabo had to send
eloquent video-taped greetings for the lengthy awards ceremony as
shooting on Taking Sides in nearby Studio Babelsberg prevented
him from attending. Eight juries gave out awards totalling 45,000
DMs with the main prize-worth 20,000DMs going to an outrageously
black comedy Lost Killers by Georgian director Dito Tsintsadze,
about chaotic Croatian hit-men in Mannheim.
 European
Film Academy Awards
Paris, December 2
The European Film Academy (EFA) has announced the nominations for
the European Short Film Award 2000 - Prix UIP, sponsored by United
International Pictures. The Prix UIP, which also includes a cash
prize of €10,000, will be presented to the winning director at the
Awards ceremony on 2nd December in Paris. This category reflects
the importance of quality short films in European cinema, both as
a training ground for new film makers and as an opportunity for
established directors to explore more unusual cinematic subjects
and techniques.
Australian
Film Awards 2000
November 18
The finalists have been announced for the 2000 Australian Film Institute
(AFI) Awards. Officially known as the Emirates Air AFI Awards; and
unofficially as the Lovelys, the awards recognise the best in Australian
film craft and creativity. For the past few months, members of the
Australian Film Institute have viewed and voted on a record field
of 25 feature films; whittling it down to just four. Those vying
for the prestigious Best Film award are (in alphabetical order)
Better than Sex, Bootmen, Chopper
and Looking for Alibrandi. At this stage, the buzz is fairly
evenly split between Chopper and Looking for Alibrandi.
Both films have been critical and box office successes in Australia
and are powered by strong central performances. Chopper has
the added advantages of being controversial (and thus more likely
to attract voters' attention) and of performing well at local and
international film festivals.
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