ithacafilmfest

Archive for March, 2011

2011-Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) announced today Tribeca (online) Film Festival, an innovative digital, which will allow spectators to watch domestic and short films for a free public and the world to collaborate with Industry experts and filmmakers FFT’s 10th edition will take place simultaneously in lower Manhattan from April 20 to May 1.

The beginning of 2011 Tribeca Film Festival (online) provides avenues national film new movie fans to experience a film festival. Tribeca (online) uses the latest digital video technology and the Web to deliver interactive and immersive experience unlike any other content, re-contextualization and presentation of the Festival.

The multi-dimensional experience features five areas: Festival Streaming Room, Live From…, Tribeca Q&A, Filmmaker Feed, and the Future of Film blog.

The Streaming Room will host six feature films from the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival, including two that are making their world premieres at TFF, and 18 short films, four of which are world premieres, and 9 of which retrospective short films from past Tribeca Film Festivals. Each film will have three to five 24-hour screening windows, during which there will be a select number of “seats” available.

In Live From….online audiences across the globe will have the ability to watch live streams of Festival events, including the opening press conference, red carpet premieres, and the award show. Viewers will also have the opportunity to engage with other audience members and onsite participants.

Tribeca Q&A, which launches today, will offer the online audience the opportunity to engage with the larger online community, one another, and experts by submitting questions to a pool of 20-25 exciting film and new media experts from Tribeca’s Jane Rosenthal, Geoff Gilmore, and Nancy Schafer, to Whoopi Goldberg, and Brian Williams, and filmmakers David Gordon Green, and Zach Braff, plus a host of participating Tribeca (Online) filmmakers, programmers, actors, jurors, film experts, and more. Community members will vote on individual questions, and top-rated queries will be submitted for official response, made available to the public.

The Filmmaker Feed contains aggregated information on all Tribeca (Online) Film Festival filmmakers, each of whom will have a custom page on the feed, with a biography, interviews, favorite links, social media feeds (Twitter/Facebook), blog posts, vide updates, and more.

The Future of Film blog brings together experts from the world of cinema and technology to comment on the changing environment of the messages in the media as well. Participants will be announced in early April.

Canadian movie stars went to Ottawa on Thursday to celebrate the success of Canadian films.

Ironically, although the three main candidates for the stars, all foreigners, did not appear at the Genie Awards Ceremony at the National Arts Centre.

As expected, Paul Giamatti, who has been designated as the main actor for his performance in the title role in Barney’s Version, unable to travel to Ottawa.

Neither did Dustin Hoffman, who was nominated as best supporting actor for his role as Barney’s father. Minnie Driver, who was nominated as best supporting actress in the same film, was also not in Ottawa, although it had been announced that she would appear.

On the red carpet, Barney’s Version producer Robert Lantos, who has been on the road since October to support the film, said it had been well-received at home and abroad.

Asked about Giamatti, who won a Golden Globe for best actor as the roguish Barney, Lantos said the actor was in Detroit.

“Paul is shooting a movie for George Clooney until 3 in the morning, and, short of persuading George to shut down his production, there was no way to do it. Paul could be here, but it wouldn’t be until 5 a.m.,” Lantos said.

Hoffman was also occupied, shooting an HBO film called Luck, Lantos said.

“We tried to get him to come, but HBO didn’t think the Genies are worth shutting down their production.”

In all Barney’s Version was nominated for 11 Genies, including best film, followed by Incendies with 10 nominations. Incendies was also nominated for a best foreign language film at the Academy Awards.

This was the 31st annual Genie Awards. Many in the industry noted that these Genies marked how much the Canadian film industry had grown and thrived.

“It’s a great cultural event. It shows Canada off in all aspects,” said host William Shatner, one of the last celebrities to hit the red carpet before the Genie Awards show began. Shatner later quipped that he liked to stand in front of a refrigerator to prepare for visits to his native land.

Ottawa-born Jay Baruchel, who grew up in Montreal, was nominated for lead actor for his role in The Trotsky, the story of a Montreal teen who claims to be the reincarnation of Leon Trotsky. Baruchel has also appeared in U.S. films, including Knocked Up; she’s out of My League and Million Dollar Baby. He is currently shooting a hockey film called Goon.

“This is where it’s happening,” he said of Canada as he arrived at the NAC wearing high-top sneakers.

“I’m just having all of this Canadian pride,” said British Columbia-born Amanda Crew, who was starred in a number of successful U.S. films, including She’s the Man and Sex Drive.

Incendies director Denis Villeneuve said he was thrilled and excited to be at the Genies. Asked about the preponderance of nominated films shot or produced in Quebec -four of the five best-film nominees were produced or shot there -he said that, because of language and cultural differences, the province was “not a U.S. territory like the rest of Canada.

“The French Canadian media are behind their artists all the time, which is not the case in English Canada. If I got to a film festival, I made headlines all over Quebec.”

Belgian actress Lubna Azabal arrived in a beaded black Dior gown, looking much more glamorous than her difficult role in Incendies. Many of the actresses wore short dresses, perhaps because it was rainy winter day. Actress Rachelle Lefebvre (Barney’s Version) arrived in a teal gown topped by a parka.

Azabal, nominated for a best actress Genie, admitted she didn’t know much about the Canadian film industry, just a few directors.

“If I fall in love with a project, I’ll do it,” she said. “If it’s in India, I’ll go to India. That’s why I love cinema. There are no borders.”

Emily VanCamp, who grew up in Port Perry, Ont., and starred in the miniseries Ben Hur and Brothers and Sisters, now lives in Los Angeles.

“The industry is just over there,” he said. “There’s a certain point where you have to move, but the movies are amazing facts here.”

The American Media Asia Center presents the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF) every March. The SFIAAFF is the most prestigious showcase for new Asian American and Asian films in North America annually present approximately 120 works in San Francisco, Berkeley and San Jose.

SFIAAFF also equipped with the best of Asian American music and digital media and interactive. Since 1982, SFIAAFF has been an important launching pad for independent filmmakers Asian Americans and an important source for new Asian cinema.

“It’s [SFIAAFF] great. I’m really proud to be part of it because it’s a community. It really is a community. And it’s great to see the variety of films this year. We’ve gone beyond talking and complaining about Asian American issues and being a minority to just telling great stories. That’s exciting to me.”

-Daniel Wu, Actor
“What began as a way for Asian Americans to counteract negativity and neglect in American mainstream media has blossomed into an acclaimed draw for actors, producers, musicians and artists of all kinds.”

- Kevin Lee, AsianWeek
“The pressures to make a living and to fit in, without denying one’s parents or losing sight of one’s origins, are the stuff of cliché, or fiction. To the contrary, the S.F. International Asian American Film Festival reminds us, in a variety of ways from a dozen directions, that’s reality. Up to the minute and at the same time the latest chapter in an unfolding history. Our collective history, I might add.”

- Michael Fox, KQED Arts and Culture
“This is one of the finest, most respected Asian American film festivals in the country, and they always put together a really fun, amazing program. I’ve had a close relationship and affinity for the good people who put this festival on for years. SFIAAFF rules.”

- Angry Asian Man
“… SFIAAFF event has grown from a niche to a major competitor in the international festival circuit with more than enough votes and Crossing heavy justify his nickname.”

Docs one of the problems is that people should see that the majority (ie people, especially the events of the film) would not normally see at all. Case in point: how many Republican senators think you’ve seen Michael Moore’s “Sicko”?

Louie Psihoyos best film director last year’s Oscar-winning documentary “Cave”, the idea of a way to solve the problem: he sent copies of the Oscar-winning documentary film, dubbed in Japanese, every family in the village of Taiji in Japan. The village was in the film, which presented a horrific slaughter of dolphins off the coast of Taiji.

“The people in Taiji deserve to know what millions of others around the world have learned about their town,” said Psihoyos. Most of the Japanese people featured in the film were unaware of the hunt or the sale of dolphin meat.

A local group called People Concerned for the Ocean helped to distribute copies of the movie by mail to each household in the village. As of now, Taiji City Hall has confirmed that at least two copies of the DVD have been received and that neither had been watched yet.

It is one of them being monitored? I hope at least some of the residents of Taiji will appear on the DVD and have a look. After all, only a few people to spread the word. The best way to get the hunting of dolphins in Taiji to stop the slaughter of thousands of dolphins is to get the town of Taiji in the arms of this.