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Cinecon 2008 Recap by Allan Ellenberger

Alternative Film Guide  17 hours ago

Author Allan Ellenberger, who’s currently working on a biography of Miriam Hopkins, discusses several of the films screened at Cinecon 2008, the 44th edition of the Labor Day weekend festival of rare (mostly) American films: "Cinecon 44 is now history.

TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE, NO END IN SIGHT: Contemporary Documentaries

Alternative Film Guide  less than a day ago

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences launches its 27th annual "Contemporary Documentaries" series with two widely praised Iraq War films: Alex Gibney’s Academy Award winner Taxi to the Dark Side and Charles Ferguson’s Academy Award-nominated No End in Sight.

Natalie Portman, Claudio Santamaria, Marco Bechis: Venice Film Festival 2008

Alternative Film Guide  less than a day ago

Photos: © Fondazione La Biennale - Foto Asac Click on the images to enlarge them. Natalie Portman, whose short film Eve was screened at the festival, and Marco Bechis, whose BirdWatchers is up for the Golden Lion Ross McElwees (center), whose In Paraguay was screened in the Horizons sidebar Marco Bechis (center), Claudio Santamaria (right) and BirdWatchers cast   Wim [.

Wim Wenders, Valeria Golino, VEGAS: Venice Film Festival 2008

Alternative Film Guide  less than a day ago

Photos: © Fondazione La Biennale - Foto Asac Click on the images to enlarge them. Nancy La Scala one of the leads in Vegas: Based on a True Story Mark Greenfield, Nancy La Scala, Amir Naderi, Zach Thomas, whose Vegas: Based on a True Story is vying for the Golden Lion Golden Lion jury members Valeria Golino, Wim Wenders   VINYAN [.

Venice Film Festival 2008 - Horizons Sidebar

Alternative Film Guide  less than a day ago

2008 Venice Film Festival - Horizons Sidebar Ramin Bahrani Goodbye Solo — USA, 91′ Souleymane Sy Savane, Red West, Diana Franco Galindo Julio Bressane, Rosa Dias A Erva do Rato — Brazil, 80′ Alessandra Negrini, Selton Mello Lav Diaz Melancholia — Philippines, 450′ Roeder Camanag, Angeli Bayani, Perry Dizon Jean-Pierre Duret, Andréa Santana Puisque nous sommes nés - France / Brazil, 90′ (documentary) Philippe [.

THE WAY I SEE THINGS: Q&A with Brian Pera

Alternative Film Guide  3 days ago

A few weeks ago, when I began watching a screener of director-screenwriter-etc-etc. Brian Pera’s The Way I See Things, I had no idea what to expect.

VINYAN Photos

Alternative Film Guide  3 days ago

Fabrice Du Welz’s Vinyan, which was screened out of competition at the 2008 Venice Film Festival, stirred some controversy because the psychological thriller deals with the aftermath of the 2005 tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people.

Venice Film Festival 2008: Out of Competition Line-Up

Alternative Film Guide  3 days ago

2008 Venice Film Festival - Out of Competition Screenings Paolo Benvenuti Puccini e la fanciulla — Italy, 84′ Riccardo Moretti, Tania Squillarlo, Giovanna Daddi, Debora Mattiello, Federica Chezzi Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Burn After Reading — USA, 95′ George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton Claire Denis 35 Rhums — France / Spain, 100′ Alex Descas, Grégoire Colin, [.

Venice Film Festival 2008: Horizons Sidebar

Alternative Film Guide  3 days ago

2008 Venice Film Festival - Horizons Sidebar Paolo Benvenuti Puccini e la fanciulla — Italy, 84′ Riccardo Moretti, Tania Squillarlo, Giovanna Daddi, Debora Mattiello, Federica Chezzi Joel Coen, Ethan Coen Burn After Reading — USA, 95′ George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton Claire Denis 35 Rhums — France / Spain, 100′ Alex Descas, Grégoire Colin, Nicole Dogue, [.

GOODBYE SOLO, 35 SHOTS OF RUM, Virna Lisi: Venice Film Festival 2008

Alternative Film Guide  3 days ago

Wendy Ide reviews Claire Denis‘ 35 Shots of Rum in The [London] Times: "Four days into the Venice Film Festival, and the programme feels as though it has been temporarily hijacked by hubris and bombast.

EMBODIMENT OF EVIL Photos

Alternative Film Guide  3 days ago

Veteran "trash" filmmaker-actor José Mojica Marins‘ Encarnação do Demônio / Embodiment of Evil (literally, "The Devil’s Incarnation"), one of the out-of-competition screenings at the 2008 Venice Film Festival, features the latest cinematic incarnation (bad pun intended) of Zé do Caixão ("Coffin Joe"), a demonic character that starred in a handful of Brazilian movies of [.

TROPIC THUNDER Beats BABYLON A.D. at the Box Office

Alternative Film Guide  4 days ago

Tropic Thunder ruled the North American box office for the third consecutive weekend with US$11.5 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

THE BURNING PLAIN, INJU, PONYO ON THE CLIFF BY THE SEA: Venice Film Festival 2008

Alternative Film Guide  5 days ago

Via Agence France-Presse: "The 65th Venice film festival has produced no standouts since it opened on Wednesday, with reactions to the first crop among the 21 movies vying for the Golden Lion ranging from lukewarm to hostile.

Hayao Miyazaki, Ferzan Oztepek, Stefania Sandrelli at the 2008 Venice Film Festival

Alternative Film Guide  5 days ago

Photos: © Fondazione La Biennale - Foto Asac Click on the images to enlarge them. Hayao Miyazaki, whose Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is up for a Golden Lion Actor Valerio Mastandrea, director Ferzan Ozpetek, of A Perfect Day, which is up for a Golden Lion Isabella Ferrari, star of Ferzan Ozpetek’s A Perfect Day Director Ramin [.

Emmanuelle Béart, Claire Denis, Mario Monicelli at the 2008 Venice Film Festival

Alternative Film Guide  5 days ago

Photos: © Fondazione La Biennale - Foto Asac Click on the images to enlarge them. Director Fabrice Du Welz, actress Emmanuelle Béart of Vinyan, which was screened out of competition Tariq Tapa (right), director of Zero Bridge, screened in the Horizons sidebar Serena Grandi, Pupi Avati, Francesca Neri, Alba Rohrwacher, whose Il Papa di Giovanna is up [.

Dirk Bogarde’s Letters Revisited

Alternative Film Guide  6 days ago

In The Guardian, Simon Callow reviews Ever Dirk: The Bogarde Letters, a collection of letters written by Dirk Bogarde and edited by John Coldstream, former books editor at the Daily Telegraph: "The collection of letters (a mere eighth of his surviving epistolary output, and who knows how much was lost and destroyed?) reproduces all these [.

PA-RA-DA Clip

Alternative Film Guide  6 days ago

  Marco Pontecorvo’s Pa-ra-da, the story of a street clown who taught acrobatic skills to street children in 1990s Romania, was screened at the 2008 Venice Film Festival’s Horizons sidebar.

GIOVANNA’S FATHER Clip

Alternative Film Guide  6 days ago

  Pupi Avati’s Il Papà di Giovanna / Giovanna’s Father, which is up for a Golden Lion at the 2008 Venice Film Festival, revolves around the relationship between a doting father and his insecure, mentally unstable daughter.

Manoel de Oliveira, Benoît Magimel at the 2008 Venice Film Festival

Alternative Film Guide  6 days ago

Photos: © Fondazione La Biennale — Foto Asac Click on the images to enlarge them. J. D.

Ermanno Olmi, Charlize Theron at the 2008 Venice Film Festival

Alternative Film Guide  6 days ago

Photos: © Fondazione La Biennale — Foto Asac Click on the images to enlarge them. Alice Braga Brad Pitt, whose Burn After Reading opened the 2008 Venice Film Festival Venice Biennale President Paolo Baratta, veteran director and Venice 2008’s Lifetime Achievement recipient Ermanno Olmi Charlize Theron, one of the stars of Guillermo Arriaga’s The Burning Plain, which is up for [.

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