Next On The Circuit: the Chicago International Film Festival

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 12 October 2009 15:58

Written by Eric Lurio

With the Toronto and New York Film Festivals over, the next major stop on the Festival circuit is The Chicago International Film Festival--now in its 45th annual edition. Most of the films  have be spotlighted at these and other festivals, which is only fair, since the people of the Windy City deserve a chance to see these films as much as the Big Apple and T.O.--right?

That’s what festival founder Michael Kutza felt in 1964, when he and his friends at Cinema/Chicago decided to start the event. First held in 1965, it has been a beloved institution ever since.

Getting off the Red Line, at Grand Street, The Festival is just three shor-tsh blocks east, and one block south, to the AMC River East 21--right next to the Lucky Strike Bowling Alley. There’s nothing particularly special about this particular googolplex aside from it’s location, but it’s that view of some of the most amazing architecture in the American Midwest that makes worth the trip…aside from the movies, of course.

This year,  they’re going to show such favorites as Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist, Oren Moverman’s The Messenger, Lone Scherfig’s An Education, and John Woo’s Red Cliff.

The big premiere at this year’s festival is David Bowers’ Astroboy, a big screen fully-computerized extravaganza retelling the origin of Amine’s version of Mickey Mouse®. This is not to denigrate Katherine Deickmann’s Motherhood, which is opening the festival, it’s just that Astroboy may very well be the real Oscar® contender to come out of here.

This festival is, like most others of its size, is divided into categories: the Main Competition, which is for an award called the Golden Hugo (which is also the name for another, more prestigious award for science fiction); New Directors; the Galas; The Shorter Side of Things, for, naturally, shorts; After Dark, for horror and weirder stuff; then there’s the ethnic sections: Black Perspectives, for African American films; Cinema of the Americas, for Latinos; ReelWomen, for the ladies; OUTrageous, for gay community; Animation Nations, for toons; and Illinois[e]makers, for local productions.

Then there are the parties. Chicago isn’t called the Second City for nothing, and there are going to be movie stars galore. The whole thing lasts about two weeks, from October 8th through the 22nd, 2009.

For more info go to: http://www.chicagofilmfestival.com

The Chicago International Film Festival
October 8th - the 22nd, 2009
AMC River East 21

26th Annual Olympia Film Festival

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 12 October 2009 15:28

Written by Lynne Shannon

The curtains part yet again as the 26th Annual Olympia Film Festival hosts several concert-worthy guests, including Dame Darcy and Death By Doll and a very special visit from Steven Severin of the famed Siouxsie and the Banshees in his only Northwest performance with his original score for the classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. 

Running from November 6th to the 14th, 2009, the fest has been able to increase its capacity with the generous support--in the form of a $5,000 grant--from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, to create stronger relationships between filmmakers and the Olympia community.

Several Northwest premieres are spotlit on the Capitol’s mighty big screen, including the adorable story of Etienne!, as a man takes his terminally ill pet hamster on a bicycle trip up the California coast; the British crime comedy Down Terrace featuring cast members from the UK original The Office; and the ‘lost’ feature Shut Yer Dirty Little Mouth starring Glenn Shadix of Beetlejuice and Heathers.
 
Contemporary documentary cinema shakes the house with Henry Rollins biting hard on American waste-ism in H for Hunger; Jennifer Maas unveiling ‘60s and ‘70s Seattle soul musicians with Wheedle’s Groove, and the colorful creation Sissyboy, based on the legendary Portland performance troupe, who are gearing up for their first-time-ever reunion at the Capitol Theater. Of special note for Olympians is Simone Bitton’s somber documentary, Rachel, an investigative report into the untimely passing of peace activist Rachel Corrie.
 
Cinema classics both lost and revered are here with a 60th Anniversary fully restored presentation of Orson Welles in The Third Man, and the opening night Gala event featuring Saturday Night Live’s Tom Schiller honoring the 25th Anniversary of his film directing debut, the long-lost classic Nothing Lasts Forever starring Bill Murray, Imogene Coca and Eddie Fisher.

More unreleased-on-DVD gems include the daring Barry Gifford novel and screenplay, Perdita Durango, directed by Alex de la Iglesia, featuring James Gandolfini, Rosie Perez and Academy Award–winner Javier Bardem; Charles Laughton and Bela Lugosi starring in the 1932 classic Island of Lost Souls; two celebrations of Lewis Carroll, with Czech filmmaker Jan Svankmajer’s Alice, and the 1933 Paramount production of Alice in Wonderland featuring Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, and W.C. Fields; and Paul Newman’s bold translation of Ken Kesey’s tale of Oregon loggers in Sometimes a Great Notion. And of course, there’s All Freakin’ Night 2009!
 
Fans of challenging cinema will enjoy the special 3-D presentation of Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein in 3-D presented by star Udo Kier, nor our ultrarare screening of Ken Russell’s confrontational classic, The Devils, the longest-known print in the world.

www.olympiafilmfestival.org
26th Annual Olympia Film Festival
the Capitol Theater
Olympia, Washington
November 6th to 14th, 2009

The Film Festival on Contemporary Art--Artecinema

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Saturday, 10 October 2009 14:59

Written by fftraveler staff

The 14th Artecinema, an international festival of films on contemporary art, takes place in Naples, Italy, 15-18 October, 2009 at the 1400-seat Augusteo Theatre in the very center of the city.

Curated by Laura Trisorio, Artecinema has been held annually since 1996. The festival is well known on the international level for its high cultural and educational values. It is realised in collaboration with various public institutions as well as private sponsors.

The festival is divided into three sections – Art and Around it, Architecture and Photography - and presents documentary films on the most interesting artists, architects and photographers on the contemporary art scene. Twenty-two selected films will be shown and a series of meetings and discussions with film directors, artists and producers will be held during the intervals.   

To be held with the aim of approaching the principles of the Forum of Cultures 2013, this year's event will host several films which specifically deal with the Forum's theme of sustainable development. The issues of cultural identity, nomadism, emigration and contamination – as envisaged by artists such as Cindy Sherman, Kimsooja, Doris Salcedo, William Kentridge and Alfredo Jaar - are crucial for the future in terms of "sustainable" cultural growth as are of fundamental importance the questions of the environment and eco-compatible architecture – so ably presented by Nader Khalili in Designing with Nature

Scheduled for this year's edition are documentary films on the artists: Jőrg Immendorff, Anish Kapoor, Cindy Sherman, Sam Francis, Tony Cragg, Alexander Calder, Richard Serra, Kimsooja, Kiki Smith, Marina Abramovic, Nancy Spero, Ghada Amer, Swoon, Spencer Tunick, Felice Varini, Jenny Holzer, Alfredo Jaar, Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, and on the architects: Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid and Steven Holl.  Additionally, in keeping with the Forum of the Cultures 2009 theme of "Sustainable Development", films regarding the most interesting recent bio-architectural works have been scheduled.  

In the Photography Section, the movie Visual Acoustic: The Modernism of Julius Shulman, will be presented in tribute to the one of the most important architectural photographers as well as a documentary on Neapolitan photographer Mimmo Jodice.

Furthermore, in European pre-view will be presented Compassion: William Kentridge, Carrie Mae Weems, Doris Salcedo from Art: 21 series of television station PBS.

There is great anticipation for the film Chew the Fat directed by Rirkrit Tiravanija - a conversation between the artists: Andrea Zittel, Angela Bulloch, Carsten Hoeller, Douglas Gordon, Elizabeth Peyton, Jorge Pardo, Liam Gillick, Dominique Gonzalez Foerster, Philippe Parreno, Pierre Huyghe and Tobias Rehberger.

A full-length version of Chew the Fat will be shown in theatre foyer in an installation created by Rirkrit Tiravanija which was previously presented at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Simultaneous interpretation into Italian will be provided films presented in the original language.

A definitive programme is available at www.artecinema.com.

Artecinema
Studio Trisorio

Piazzetta Augusteo,
Naples, Italy
Phone: +39 081 414306
Fax:  +39 081 414306
Contact: Laura Trisorio
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www.artecinema.com

October 15-16-17-18, 2009
from 500 pm till 1200 pm