Olga Dykhovichnaya (Marina) Sergei Borisov (Andrei)TWILIGHT PORTRAIT (2011) held its world premier at 68th La Biennale in Venice, North American premier at TIFF in Toronto, Nordic premier in Reykjavik at RIFF and now travels next to BFI London. This was indeed the welcome surprise of the Reykjavik International Film Festival (RIFF) this year. Newcomer Director/Writer/Producer Angelina Nikonova and Writer/Producer/Actress Olga Dykhovichnaya (Marina) graced the festival with their presence in it...

                photo from Venice poster at La Biennale, 68.This past week I attended the 8th annual Reykjavik Film Festival (RIFF) after going nonstop from Venice La Biennale, then to TIFF and then to RIFF. I was tired of course but so anxious to catch up on the films that I had missed at the former festivals that appeared also in Iceland. One of these films was one that had received a great buzz in Venice, a lyrica...

                                photo from Venice poster at La Biennale, 68. This past week I attended the 8th annual Reykjavik Film Festival (RIFF) after going nonstop from Venice La Biennale, then to TIFF and then to RIFF. I was tired of course but so anxious to catch up on the films that I had missed at the former festiv...

Olga Dykhovichnaya (Marina)  Sergei Borisov (Andrei)This was indeed the welcome surprise of the Reykjavik International Film Festival (RIFF) this year. Newcomer Director/Writer/Producer Angelina Nikonova and Writer/Producer/Actress Olga Dykhovichnaya (Marina) graced the festival with their presence in its final days to attend the Q and A screening of their film TWILIGHT PORTRAIT (‘Portret V Sumerkakh’, 2011) and the award ceremony at the end. Little did these ionate Russian Indie filmm...

  The 49th edition of the New York Film Festival, a sure sign of the Fall season, is underway, and in its substantially expanded format, there is literally something for everyone at this year’s event. The Festival, which has prided itself on being a boutique as opposed to the bazaar offered at such events in Toronto, Cannes and Berlin (and at New York’s own Tribeca Film Festival) still offers the cream of the crop from those other festival celebrations, with a sprinkling of highbrow c...

At the 68th Venice Film Festival, Belgian director Nicolas Provost held his world premier for his first feature film THE INVADER (2011). He immediately after traveled to Toronto for TIFF 2011 where he held his North American premier and where we held our interview. THE INVADER is an intense and arresting arthouse dramatic thriller about an African immigrant, AMADOU (played hauntingly by actor Isaka Sawadogo) who travels to Belgium for a new and hopefully better life. While finding himself at lon...

 At the 68th Venice Film Festival, Belgian director Nicolas Provost held his world premier for his first feature film THE INVADER (2011). He immediately after traveled to Toronto for TIFF 2011 where he held his North American premier and where we held our interview.THE INVADER is an intense and arresting arthouse dramatic thriller about an African immigrant, AMADOU (played hauntingly by actor Isaka Sawadogo) who travels to Belgium for a new and hopefully better life. While finding himself ...

film still of 'Faust' (2011) Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov's FAUST (2011) held its world premier in Venice at the 68th Venice Film Festival this year taking the coveted Golden Lion prize for best picture. It then went on to screen its North American premier at TIFF in Toronto and has now continued its round to Iceland at the Reykjavik International Film Festival (RIFF). Based on the German myth of the same name, this unusual masterpiece film proves that it is not star power ...

The Zurich Film Festival tonight revealed that the surprise film of the Festival is the World Premiere of the documentary "Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir." It was announced by Festival Directors Karl Spoerri and Nadia Schildknecht. “Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir” is the extraordinary story of both the man and the filmmaker. In an unprecedented encounter, Polanski talks to his friend, producer Andrew Braunsberg, about his childhood, his career in both Europe and America, the tragedy of Sharon ...

film still of 'Faust' (2011)Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov's FAUST (2011) held its world premier in Venice at the 68th Venice Film Festival this year taking the coveted Golden Lion prize for best picture. It then went on to screen its North American premier at TIFF in Toronto and has now continued its round to Iceland at the Reykjavik International Film Festival (RIFF). Based on the German myth of the same name, this unusual masterpiece film proves that it is not star power names of actors...

film still of 'Faust' (2011)Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov's FAUST (2011) held its world premier in Venice at the 68th Venice Film Festival this year taking the coveted Golden Lion prize for best picture. It then went on to screen its North American premier at TIFF in Toronto and has now continued its round to Iceland at the Reykjavik International Film Festival (RIFF). Based on the German myth of the same name, this unusual masterpiece film proves that it is not star power names of actors...

 film still of 'Faust' (2011)Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov's FAUST (2011) held its world premier in Venice at the 68th Venice Film Festival this year taking the coveted Golden Lion prize for best picture. It then went on to screen its North American premier at TIFF in Toronto and has now continued its round to Iceland at the Reykjavik International Film Festival (RIFF).  Based on the German myth of the same name, this unusual masterpiece film proves that it is not star power names of act...

With this year's final nomination having just been announced at the International Short Film Festival in Drama (Greece), the list of the nominated short films is now complete. The short film initiative is organised by the European Film Academy in co-operation with a series of film festivals throughout Europe. At each of these festivals, an independent jury presents one of the European short films in competition with a nomination in the short film category of the European Film Award...

French art-house cinema star, Isabelle Huppert will be in Ghent on October 18th to present her latest film at the Ghent Film Festival. Huppert stars in Mon Pire Cauchemar alongside Belgian national treasure, Benoît Poelvoorde (C’est Arrivé Près de chez Vous, Rien à Déclarer). The director is Anne Fontaine, who previously wrote and directeCoco Avant Chanel as well as writing the script for Atom Egoyan’s thriller, Chloe. Huppert has played in over ninety films since the start of her...

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, a film by the Swedish director Tomas Alfredson, based on John le Carré’s bestseller of the same name, will open the 38th Ghent Film Festival on Tuesday 11 October. The spy film got an extremely enthusiastic reception at the recent Venice Film Festival. In the leading roles stars like Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, John Hurt, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds and Toby Jones shine. British author John le Carré, born David John Moore Cornwell in 1931, is the gra...

Roman Polanski is returning to Zurich (you the arrest fiasco at ZFF 2 years ago that made international headlines). He is claiming his award and unveiling a BRAND NEW SURPRISE FILM!  Director Roman Polanski will attend the 7th Zurich Film Festival to accept the lifetime achievement award that was intended for him two years ago, to honor his outstanding career achievements as a filmmaker. The announcement was made today by Zurich Film Festival Directors Karl Spoerr...