The 61st Venice International Film Festival has long been an “A” festival of world renown. This year an anti-globalization manifestation on the first day raised the question of how Venice may more and more be bowing to Hollywood glamour and celebrities by staging world premieres to market films outside the US. Many of these films do better in the global box office as proof. The manifestation was designed to blow the horn about the presence of Hollywood movie headliners with top stars as majo...

EDELWEISS PIRATES in competition at MontrealA total of 21 German films and two German-international co-productions can be seen at the 28th World Film Festival Montreal (26.08.- 06.09.2004).Niko von Glasow has been invited to the festival's official competition with EDELWEISS PIRATES (EDELWEISSPIRATEN). Loosely based on actual events, the films tells the story of a group of youths in Cologne-Ehrenfeld led by 17-year-old Karl Ripke towards the end of the war. „Edelweiss pirates“ was the name t...

The Oulu Music Video Festival & Air Guitar World Championships inFinland will take place for the 11th time between 25th and 29th August.Music on the screens and at the clubs, with and without guitars.OMVF PROUDLY PRESENTS: FILM & VIDEO PROGRAMMEThe film and video programme sniffs out the trends and shakes themusic-filled memory slots of mankind. The Music Video Festival hascompiled not only Finnish videos and films but also internationalproductions into special screenings. Metal lovers are treat...

SUNDANCE INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES SIX PARTICIPANTS FOR 2004 COMPOSERS LABSundance Institute announced the six participants selected for the 7th Annual Sundance Institute Composers Lab, which begins July 20 and runs until August 4 in Sundance, Utah. This year, Composers Lab Fellows are Peter Fitzpatrick, Aiko Fukushima, Joseph Julian Gonzalez, Gary Louris, Raz Mesinai, and Michael Torke. During the two-week lab, Fellows participate in workshops and creative exercises under the guidance of leading fi...

VIDEO FIREWORKS & ROCK DOCS, RISING STARS & MONSTER METALOulu Music Video Festival in Finland introduces the new screening and band programme11th edition of Oulu Music Video Festival is organized August 25-29: a five day celebration of music and moving pictures as well as hardcore rocking out.The Finnish Music Video Contest, the cornerstone of the festival, presents the best Finnish music videos, which are selected by an international and independent jury. The contest reaches its climax at the g...

47th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 15-29) April 15th is tax day. But all the stress of income tax preparations and payments evaporated when the rousing theme song from San Francisco, the 1936 movie starring Jeannette MacDonald and Clark Gable, blasted from the pipes of the Castro Theatre’s Mighty Wurlitzer organ. Everyone in the 1400-seat movie palace clapped along. As Wu-Tang Clan producer and Kill Bill composer RZA proclaimed about the 1922 historic landmark: �...

April 15th is tax day. But all the stress of income tax preparations and payments evaporated when the rousing theme song from San Francisco, the 1936 movie starring Jeannette MacDonald and Clark Gable, blasted from the pipes of the Castro Theatre’s Mighty Wurlitzer organ. Everyone in the 1400-seat movie palace clapped along. As Wu-Tang Clan producer and Kill Bill composer RZA proclaimed about the 1922 historic landmark: “This theatre here is crazy--off the hook.” ...

MARK MOTHERSBAUGH TO RECEIVE BMI’S CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD AT FILM & TV AWARDS MAY 12Composer and artist Mark Mothersbaugh will receive the 2004 Richard Kirk Award for Outstanding Career Achievement at the BMI Film & TV Awards held May 12 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. The event is a black-tie affair and will be hosted by BMI’s President & CEO s W. Preston. Composers of the top-grossing films of the past twelve months as well as the top-rated prime-time network...

Montreal native, Peter Putka received an Emmy award for a public service announcement for Imagine New York, a project of the Municipal Art Society of New York.The New York Emmy’s are local television’s most highly respected peer recognition award. The winning entries were announced at the 2004 New York Emmy Gala on March 28th at the Waldorf Astoria hotel.Featuring New York celebrities of the Creative Coalition - Kevin Bacon, Richard Belzer, Peter Boyle, Harvey Keitel, Bebe Neuwirth as well ...

LAIFAFEST 2004 CLOSING NIGHT FILM PRESENTATIONWINDY CITY HEAT: THE MOST ELABORATE PRANK EVER ATTEMPTED IN WORLD HISTORYSATURDAY, APRIL 24, 20048:30 PMARCLIGHT CINEMAS HOLLYWOOD6360 SUNSET BOULEVARD - HOLLYWOOD"This is unbelievable what those guys did. You have to see this thing.There isn't a part that isn't funny . It is the funniest thing I've ever seen. It should have been a theatrical release, this movie. It is the best thing I ever saw in my life." HOWARD STERN"I've watched it over and over ...

The Backseat Film Festival’s 5th installment of our monthly screening series is on Wednesday, March 31st 2004 at the Two Boots Pioneer Theatre (155 East 3rd street at Ave A) in New York City. NYC PREMIERE OF Hip Hop Immortals: We Got Your Kids www.wegotyourkids.com Hip hop Immortals: We Got Your Kids answers the call of hip hop lifers everywhere by capturing a unique and honest portrayal of hip hop not as a target market, but as a heartbeat. Recognizing that the energy goes beyond music, beyo...

AFM ANNOUNCES INITIAL PLANS FOR NEW STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP WITH AFI FESTAFM today revealed initial plans for the new relationship between the American Film Market (AFM) and the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival (AFI FEST). The announcement was made tly by Michael Ryan, Chairman, AFMA, Jean Prewitt, AFMA President and CEO, and Jonathan Wolf, AFMA Executive Vice President and Managing Director of AFM.The current AFM concludes on Wednesday and has set a new record with the highest num...

AFM ANNOUNCES INITIAL PLANS FOR NEW STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP WITH AFI FESTAFM today revealed initial plans for the new relationship between the American Film Market (AFM) and the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival (AFI FEST). The announcement was made tly by Michael Ryan, Chairman, AFMA, Jean Prewitt, AFMA President and CEO, and Jonathan Wolf, AFMA Executive Vice President and Managing Director of AFM.The current AFM concludes on Wednesday and has set a new record with the highest num...

DiG! A musician checks out a song on the radio and says the one word that adequately shows appreciation - “DIG!” It’s the expression we hear at the beginning of this engaging and insightful documentary that won the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. DiG! follows two bands, The Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, over a period of 7 years. Director Ondi Timoner whittled down 1,500 hours of footage into a 2-hour collection of concerts, road trips...

FRANK BLACK TO KEYNOTE 2004 DIY CONVENTIONThe fourth annual DIY Convention: Do It Yourself in Film, Music & Books has announced that its Feb. 5-7 event will be keynoted by alternative music pioneer Frank Black.The three-day gathering will be held in Hollywood at the Barnsdall Art Park and the Derby nightclub, offering s, workshops and showcases focused on independent musicians, authors, filmmakers and entrepreneurs. From the beginning of his career as a founding member of the seminal Boston...

"5 Sides of a Coin" Q & A by Michelle Paster with Paul Kell. Canadian filmmaker Paul Kell’s feature documentary, 5 Sides of a Coin, premiered at this year’s 2003 AFI International Film Festival. It showcases interviews and footage from some of the world’s top hip-hop artists, including Grandmaster Flash, Phase Too, Run DMC, Afrika Bambaataa, Jurassic 5, Prince Paul, The Beatnuts, Del Tha Funky Homosapien, Mix Master Mike, Rahzel, Spearhead, and DJ Krush, among others. Michelle Paster heav...

The Swedish Film Institute has received financial from the Swedish Parliament since 1996 for the restoration of color film. One of the strongest advocates for this has been Ingmar Bergman. Fifteen to twenty films have thereby been restored and the latest will make ABBA fans very happy! ABBA - The Movie by Lasse Hallström on the ABBA Australian tour of 1977 has been restored to the grand state last observed at its premiere. The film opens in Stockholm December 7 at the Cinemateket...

AFI FEST's Day Five began with a bang, or should we say a beat, as an animated audience arrived early to soak up Paul Kell's FIVE SIDES OF A COIN. A vivid journey through the world of hip-hop, the documentary features interviews and performances from modern-day legends Grandmaster Flash and Run DMC, as well as legends-of-the-future like Del Tha Funky Homosapien and Kool Keith. "Was anyone on Earth left out?" asked an awed film-goer during the Q&A. "Only KRS-1," answered Kell. "Apparently, his wi...

Expanded stories in Moving Pictures Nov 11 issue- Mifed Conference (Nov 10) on next fall Markets conflict situation.Conference was packed with media and attended by MIFED execs and Minister Urbani asking for a cease fire with “other” Market.Too bad conference was not held in English.- The Scheherazade conflictThe Michael Apted film Scheherazade is at the center of a bizarre conflict between Recorded Picture company and Franchise Pictures- 11 deals closed at MIFED by Tuchin EntertainmentFilm...