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The Major Events - 2001
Cannes did the Can-Can This Year
• May 9 - 20 (France)
This Riviera Fest is without a doubt the festival the most
ladden with prestige, budgets, premieres, tuxedo entrances,
hot parties, cell phones and schmoozing, and films...that
will turn up on the festival circuit all the rest of the year
or in theatres if they were lucky enough to have gotten snapped
up. The Moulin
Rouge by Baz Lurhmann was Opening Film - and in competition
for a change, further rendered spectacular by the studio set
brought in by Fox from Hollywood as a party setting. Liv Ullmann
replaced Jodie Foster (who declined in order to shoot a film)
as Jury President, and then Jodie showed up for the Closing
Ceremony as a presenter. A first this year was the outdoor
screening, which revealed to the public the new directors'
cut version of Apocalypse
Now by Francis Ford Coppola, the festival's special
guest. The festival ended on an upbeat note for Italian cinema:
The
Son's Room by Nanni Moretti won the Palme d'Or.
Academy Awards - Oscars
• March 25 (Los Angeles)
Perhaps the true test of one's star power is not winning
an Oscar, but rather being invited to present the trophy.
The list of celebrities that handed over the Oscars at the
73rd Annual Academy Awards read like the current roster of
A-List Talent, while the show was hosted by Steve Martin.
Longtime favorites such as Anthony Hopkins (7th time) and
Nicolas Cage (6th time) returned to the Shrine Auditorium,
joining the year's hottest new stars like Kate Hudson and
Julia Stiles making their first appearances behind the teleprompter.
Interesting to note that a record 46 countries submitted films
for the Foreign Language category (picked up by Crouching
Tiger) and director Steven Soderbergh was only the
second director (Francis Coppola was the first) to have two
films nominated for Best Picture simultaneously. The Academy
went with the traditional choice and picked Gladiator
for Best Picture.
Berlinale 2001 Got Intimate
• February 9 - 18 (Germany)
On the festival circuit since 1951, Berlin is known for bucking
the trends and setting its own. Unlike most European festivals,
which bemoan le Blockbuster (Cannes comes to mind), Berlin
embraces Hollywood but maintains an international esprit.
Its top honor, the Golden Bear, went to Intimacy
by Patrice Chereau, while the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize
went to Beijing
Bicycle by Wang Xiaoshuai and the Jury Prize to Italian
for Beginners by Lone Scherfig . During the two weeks
of the festival, Potsdamer Platz transforms itself into a
hotbed of cinema activity. The festival features a competition
section and several sidebars, including The Forum, The Panorama,
Retrospectives, Kinderfilmfest (a children's film festival),
and a New German Films section.
Rotterdam Bestows VPRO Tiger Awards
• Jan 24 - Feb 4 (Netherlands)
While Hollywood heads to Sundance, many indie film lovers
and professionals head to the Netherlands -- more specifically,
Rotterdam -- for the international film festival, considered
one of the best launching pads for undiscovered talent. Over
300,000 visitors make their way to 18 venues presenting a
programme consisting of over 300 feature films, shorts, videos,
CD ROM's, expositions, theatre and other performances and
festive dance parties. The winning films of the 30th International
Film Festival were announced February 4. The VPRO Tiger Award
Competition for first or second features went to Bad
Company by Furumaya Tomoyuki of Japan (also won the
FIPRESCI prize),
In Den Tag Hinein (The Days Between) by
Maria Speth of Germany, and 25
Watts by Juan Pablo Rebella & Pablo Stoll of Uruguay.
Hedwig and The Believer lead Sundance Awards
• January 18 - 28 (Park City)
Sundance may lack the sunshine and glitter of its European
counterparts like Cannes and Venice, but it compensates with
innovation and energy. What other festival could convince
film buffs and Hollywood executives to bundle in the snow
awaiting the screening of an indie film by an unknown director?
Or claim to have launched the phenomena known as Blair Witch?
Founded by Robert Redford and begun as a celebration of indie
filmmaking, the festival is now a must-stop-trek on the American
festival circuit and considered the most prestigious competition
in North America. Henry Bean's The
Believer, the dramatic tale of a religious boy-turned-Nazi
skinhead won the Grand Jury Prize, while Zhang Yimou's festival
hit The
Road Home won the World Cinema audience award, and
Hedwig
and the Angry Inch won the Audience Award.
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