Tribeca Awards 2012 and Wrap

The 11th annual Tribeca Film Festival has wrapped in NYC. The the Peoples Choice Heineken Audience Awards for Best Documentary and Best Narrative motion pictures went to Burn and Any Day Now, respectively. Burn is a documentary about a group of hardworking Detroit firefighters.

BURN

 ANY DAY NOW

Any Day Now is a narrative movie telling the story of two men in the 70s who against all odds create a loving family. The director(s) of each winning motion picture received $25,000 from Heineken, one of the main sponsors of the festival. American Express is a founding sponsor of the festival along with the creators Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff.

The jurors for the 2012 World Narrative Competition were Patricia Clarkson, Dakota Fanning, Mike Newell, Lisa Schwarzbaum, Jim Sheridan, and Irwin Winkler.

WAR WITCH

The top awards went to War Witch, The World Before Her, Una Noche, and Wavumba. From among these The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature went to War Witch, directed by Kim Nguyen (Canada). The winner received $25,000 sponsored by AKA.

For more about the Tribeca Film Festival see the post of April 5th below. According to the Festival, the video archive of the Awards Show will be ready at the Tribeca Online Film Festival soon.

Festival Site    View Festival Movies Online

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2012

Sorry, but Google has done something to the program, and I am unable to satisfactorily edit this post. Follow on Twitter: @MimiattheMovies

The Tribeca Film Festival will run for 12 days, opening Wednesday, April 18, and ending Sunday, April 29. However, I must confess that Tribeca does not have a track record when it comes to picking Academy Award winners. Why? Perhaps, because Tribeca's main concern is helping aspiring filmmakers, and showing outstanding, but not necessarily award-winning, motion pictures.

Emily Blunt and Jason Segal in The Five Year Engagement

Opening night will feature the world premiere of The Five Year Engagement, the latest film by the creative team of Jason Segal, Nicholas Stoller and Judd Apatow. VIP pass holders will enjoy exclusive access and reserved seating to Festival premieres, galas, parties and more. American Express is a founding partner. Holders of the Amerian Express Credit Card were able to order their VIP passes before they were offered to the general public.

On behalf of the founders of the festival Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, I hope you will support the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI). TFI is a nonprofit arts organization that supports emerging filmmakers with funds and mentorships and provides students with arts education and filmmaking tools. Six TFI-supported films will screen at this year’s Festival, and TFI will bring hundreds of students to the Festival to take part in screenings, industry meetings and more.

 

TRIBECA ON DEMAND (VOD)

Four new films are now available On Demand via Tribeca Film:  Black Butterflies, Conception, Detachment, and Neon Flesh.

CLICK

Some ticket packages and individual tickets may still be available, but they will not last long. Ticket Sales.

Click title of this post for the Tribeca Website to download the full program and schedule.

Catch notifications, and more, by following this Blog on Twitter @MimiattheMovies. Or,Facebook

If your schedule, or location, prevents you from attending the Festival, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to TFI. Please e-maildonor@tribecafilminstitute.org with any questions.

Tribeca Heineken Audience Award

SERIES: Major Film Festivals
 RUSH  Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart 

Just announced. The documentary RUSH: BEYOND THE LIGHTED STAGE, directed by Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn is the Heineken Audience Award winner at the NYC Tribeca Film Festival. Rush is a Canadian rock band based in Toronto. They formed in 1968. They are still recording and performing. They will receive a $25,000 prize from Heineken. The award is chosen by attendees at the festival, either in person or those who purchased a Tribeca Film Virtual pass to view films online.

Second Place went to family favorite SNOWMEN, and in Third Place is the New York doc ARIAS with a TWIST: THE DOCUFANTASY. Together, these three films make for a diverse trio. All three will screen tomorrow (Sunday), plus other award winning films. Click title of this post for more on the films.

April Film Festival Awards and Wraps

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

As April comes to a close, only two major film festivals that opened in April are still in progress: (1) Tribeca (TFF), which opened the 21st and will close May 2nd, and (2) San Francisco (SFIFF), which opened April 22nd and will close May 6th.Tribeca announced its film awards last night at W Union Square in New York City.

In the 2010 World Narrative Feature Competition, the Founders Award for Best Film went to WHEN WE LEAVE (Die Fremde, Germany), directed and written by Feo Aladag. Actress Sibel Kekilli won Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film for he role as Umay in the movie. Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film went to Eric Elmosnino as Serge Gainsbourg in GAINSBOURG, I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ME (Je t’Aime… Moi Non Plus, France), directed and written by Joann Sfar.

LOOSE CANNONS (Mine Vaganti, Italy) received a Special Jury Mention. It was directed by Ferzan Ozpetek. It was written by Ozpetek and Ivan Cotroneo. Kim Chapiron of France was named Best New Narrative Filmmaker for DOG POUND. Chapiron wrote the screenplay with Jeremie Delon.

In the Documentary World Competition, MONICA & DAVID, directed by Alexandra Codina, USA, was named Best Documentary Feature, and BUDRUS (USA, Palestine, Israel), directed by Julia Bacha, received a Special Jury Mention. Click the title of this post for all the awards, including New York and Short Film competitions, the monetary prizes, pictures and more. Also, see previous post for more about the Tribeca IFF.

On the West Coast, the San Francisco International Film Festival is also handing out awards. Tonight, Roger Ebert will receive the San Francisco International Film Festival's annual Mel Novikoff Award, and he'll be in attendance for "An Evening with Roger Ebert and Friends." His friends for the celebration include filmmakers Philip Kaufman, Errol Morris, Jason Reitman and Terry Zwigoff. A screening of Ebert's chosen film, Erick Zonca's uncompromising 2008 genre-buster JULIA, starring Festival favorite Tilda Swinton will follow.

The Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting will go to James Schamus, who will be on hand today for a retrospective clip reel and onstage interview with critic and cultural theorist B. Ruby Rich. Schamus' RIDE WITH THE DEVIL (director's cut), directed by his frequent collaborator, Ang Lee, will follow. SFIFF Official Site. Also see previous post for more about the SFIFF.

The regional festivals, covered in the previous post have now wrapped. The Florida Film Festival (FFF) in Orlando reports a successful and fun festival. I am pleased to report that WINTER'S BONE, the first motion picture I picked to do well this year based on the response it received at Sundance, won the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature. There is more about this movie, directed by Debra Granik, in the previous post. It is definitely one to follow this year.

Other narrative feature winners were:

Special Jury Award for Narrative Filmmaking, HOMEWRECKER, directed by Brad and Todd Barnes; Nestle® Cranberry Raisinets® Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, DON’T LET ME DROWN, directed by Cruz Angeles; and Nestle® Cranberry Raisinets ® Audience Award for Best International Feature, THE TOPP TWINS: UNTOUCHABLE GIRLS, directed by Leanne Pooley. To see all the award winners, including documentary and short films, go here.

RiverRun in Winston-Salem, NC (RRFF), had a very good film schedule, but gave no awards, and the same for Ebertfest, Champaign, IL. On Location: Memphis, TN (MIFMF), gave awards but, frankly, I never heard of any of the films. Will report later if I lean the festival's picks scored at any other festival. Here is the Memphis list. For more about any of these regional festivals, see the previous post.

Some breaking news from Montreal. Above is the official poster of the 2010 Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF), 26 August - 6 September, unveiled yesterday. The poster was selected by public votes from among three finalists, all students in graphic arts at UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal). Their professor, Philippe Béha, who designed the official MWFF poster in 1986, assigned his students the task of designing a poster for the 2010 Festival. The winner is Hubert Samson. Official Site.

COMING IN MAY: Cannes International Film Festival (CIFF), 12 - 23 May 2010; Mountain Film in Telluride, 28 - 31 May 2010.

Major Film Festivals in April 2010

SERIES: Major Film Festivals

9th Tribeca International Film Festival 21 April - 2 May 2010, New York City. (TIFF)

The Festival, sponsored again by its founding partner American Express, is more highly interactive this year. Their slogan is, "Here comes the neighborhood." Also, the Festival Web site is nominated for a Webby Award (The "Oscar®" of Web Awards).

Since there is so much happening at the Festival this year, here are only some of the highlights - -

Big green news! The premiere of DreamWorks Animation's SHREK FOREVER AFTER is opening night of the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by American Express—the first 3D movie for both Shrek and TIFF!

Among those serving on one of the six juries are: Jessica Alba, Justin Bartha, Selma Blair, Marshall Curry, Hope Davis, Aaron Eckhart, Aidan Quinn, America Ferrera, Whoopi Goldberg and Brooke Shield.

Tribeca Film Festival Virtual will kick off its opening night on April 23 with NICE GUY JOHNNY, the latest NY story from Edward Burns. How can YOU see it, even if you are not in NYC?

With a TIFF Virtual Premium Pass, some of the movies screened at the Festival will be available online. This brand new pass, available for $45.00 to a limited number of U.S. residents, 18 years or older, will allow fans to participate fully in Tribeca Film Festival Virtual. Want it? Better get it now

The closing night gala will be the documentary FREAKONOMICS, based on the book by journalist Stephen Dubner and economist Steven Levitt. The doc, directed by Alex Gibney with a host of other doc-making luminaries, is less about economics than about the strange connections between seemingly disparate topics—for instance, how drug dealing is like working at McDonald’s or why good parenting methods don’t really matter in the long run. It has been acquired by Magnolia Pictures.

Gibney, who received an Oscar for Best Documentary Film with his TAXIE TO THE DARK SIDE is also bringing his latest, MY TRIP TO AL-QAEDA, which HBO has bought, as well as a work-in-progress, ELIOT SPITZER.

Go to the Official Web site for much more by clicking the title of this blog post, and don't forget to vote for the Webby Award.

19th Annual Florida Film Festival, 9 - 18 April 2010, Enzian Theater, Orlando, Florida. (FFF)

Watch video about Florida FF on YouTube (too wide to embed in this blog).

The Florida Film Festival is currently underway in Orlando screening 162 films from 25 countries. In competition, there are 20 feature films, 10 narrative and 10 documentary. Among them, three East Coast premieres were selected, with 11 filmmakers making their feature directorial debuts, including eight female directors.

One feature film among them is the female director Debra Granik’s WINTER'S BONE, co-written with Anne Rosellini, and based on the novel by Missouri-based author Daniel Woodrell. In this movie, "An unflinching Ozark Mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact." It will have its U.S. East Coast premiere in Orlando.

BONE made it first festival appearance, and had its U.S. West Coast Premiere, at the Sundance IFF this January where it won the two top awards, Grand Jury Prize and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. The next month in Berlin it won the prestigious C.I.C.A.E. (Confédération Internationnale des Cinémas d'Art et d'Essai), and the Festival's Der Tagesspiegel Award (The Daily Mirror), sponsored by the Berlin-based newspaper of the same name.

Michael Paul Stephenson’s documentary BEST WORST MOVIE won a Crystal Bear at Berlin this year and has won a number of awards at various other film festivals. It will screen along with Marshall Curry’s RACING DREAMS, which won Best Documentary at the 2009 Tribecca Film Festival.

All 20 films will be eligible for various awards such as the Grand Jury award for best film, a Special Jury award, given at the jury’s discretion for exceptional achievements, and an audience choice award.

In addition there is a fabulous retro section. The opening party theme, "No Grits, No Glory."

Another film festival currently underway is the 12th annual RiverRun International Film Festival (RRIF) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 15 - 25 April 2010.

RiverRun is one of the outstanding film festivals in the Southeastern U.S. North Carolina ranks third in movie and television production in U.S., only behind Los Angeles and New York City, respectively. The festival gets its name from the French Broad River near Brevard, NC, where the festival was originally held. In 2003, Dale Pollock, a former film producer and then-Dean of the School of Filmmaking at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, moved RiverRun to Winston-Salem, where it resides today as an independent arts organization dedicated to showcasing the best new films from independent, international and student filmmakers.

This festival screens only independent films. RiverRun is an eco-friendly festival, and has an Environmental Sidebar. Read about it. The opening night film is THE EXTRA MAN, directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini.

The Festival also has a side-bar showing films from a foreign country, mostly films that have critical credibility. This year, the side-bar is Mexico and they made excellent choices with Louis Buñuel's classic LOS OLVIDADOS (The Forgotten Ones), Alfonso Curaon's Y Tu Mama Tambien (And Your Mother Too), Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Amores Perros (Amorous Dogs), and Alfonso Alrau's LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE, plus two others.

Filmmaker David Gordon Green will attend the screenings of two of his films, GEORGE WASHINGTON and PINAPPLE EXPRESS, and - - gasp - - Peter Bogdanovich will be there for PAPER MOON. Bogdonovich will receive the Festival's Master of Cinema award, a real crystal ball. For children under 12 there is a Saturday morning cartoon show.

In keeping with the Festival's Environmental Film Focus and Eco-Initiative, their partner, Whole Foods Market, for a party on the eve (21st) of Earth Day Thursday, 22nd. party on Thursday, 22nd. This party will feature all-natural beverages and hors d’oeuvres provided by Whole Foods Market Winston-Salem, while the music and visuals will be created by students from UNCSA. The festivities will begin immediately following the screening of Disney's documentary OCEANS. There will also be a cash bar for beer and wine.

As the Festival winds down, they are spicing things up with a Mad Hot Mambo party at the Millennium Center, featuring live Salsa music by the renowned band, West End Mambo. The festivities will begin immediately following the Saturday Night screening of Werner Herzog's MY SON, MY SON WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? at the Steven’s Center. There are two other parties. After all, it isn't a true film festival without the parties.

12th Roger Ebert's Film Festival, 21 - 25 April 2010, Virginia Theater, Champaign, Illinois. (Ebertfest, REFF)

All films are selected from those Mr. Ebert sees during his normal viewing and reviewing. The festival stressed, "Do not send films."

The Illinois Champaign County Anti-Stigma Alliance, is pleased to announce that they will have a special showing of THE SOLOIST immediately following the close of Ebertfest (April 25). The Alliance was formed to challenge disability discrimination and promote education and awareness. This screening will be at the Virginia Theatre at 4:30 pm, and it will free to the public. The screening will be followed by a panel of guest speakers.

Contact: Mary Susan Britt , 217-244-0552.

11th On Location: Memphis International Film and Music Festival, 22 - 25 April 2010, Malco's Ridgeway Four, Memphis, Tennessee. (MIFMF)

Formerly known as the Memphis Film Festival the festival has now added music to the program to increase its influence in the region, but its emphasis is still on film, especially that of regional filmmakers. It has morphed into a full-grown film organization that is active year-round.

The Festival is also now more "family friendly." Last year, they added a Kids First Film Festival, and it will take place Saturday, April 24th from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 pm, featuring a compilation of short films to entertain and educate. It's free. Here's the information and films that will be shown.

The festivities begin at 1:00 pm on Thursday, 22nd, and will run until late Saturday night. The opening film is HOMETOWN GLORY, written, directed and produced by Hollywood entertainment manager/publicist Ray Costa. As a teenager, Costa was among the ranks of Germantown, TN, teenage volunteers who risked their lives to protect their town fighting fires in the 1970's.

The screening is the official premiere of HOMETOWN GLORY, 7:30 pm, at the Malco Ridgeway Four. Attending the event will be Ray Costa, composer George S. Clinton and the firefighters chronicled in the film. Tickets are $10 and will go on sale April 18. The Festival After Party will follow at the Blues City Café Bandbox.

The closing party follows at Ernestine and Hazel's.

There are two documentaries screening on Saturday afternoon that should not be missed. The first at 1:30 pm is THE COVE. It is about the dolphin slaughter in Japan and what drives it, and it won the Academy Award® this year for Best Documentary Film of 2009. The other one is TIBET IN SONG, which follows THE COVE at 4:00 pm.

This Festival still has a public relations handicap due to its amateurish Web site and always being late getting out the publicity.

53rd San Francisco International Film Festival, 22 April - 6 May 2010, Castro Theatre and other venues, San Francisco, California. (SFIFF)

Opening Night is Thursday, 22 April, and the opening film is MICMACS (Micmacs à tire-larigot), by French director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amélie), which screens at the Castro Theatre, 7:00 pm, followed by a party at The Regency Center, 9:30 pm.

Saturday, May 1, the Centerpiece Film will screen at he Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, 6:30 pm. HAPPYTHANKYOUMOREPLEASE is the debut film for Ohio native Josh Radnor, who also wrote the screenplay. This being San Francisco, it will be followed by a party at Manor West.

The gala awards night is Thursday, 29 April in the Westin St. Francis Hotel, Grand Ballroom, beginning with a VIP cocktail reception with celebrity guests. This star-studded occasion honors this year’s directing, acting and screenwriting award recipients with a glamorous black-tie evening featuring onstage celebrity appearances and gourmet dining.

Here are only two of a number of special awards to be given to celebrity guests at the festival this year, and each guest will have a special day which includes a screening of an associated film:

Robert Duvall will be the recipient of the Peter J. Owens Award to be presented at the 53rd San Francisco International Film Festival. The onstage tribute to Duvall at the Castro Theatre will feature a clip reel of career highlights, an onstage interview and a screening of his most recent film GET LOW.

This year's Novikoff Award for an individual or institution whose work has enhanced the filmgoing public’s knowledge and appreciation of world cinema goes to film critic Roger Ebert. A screening will follow of Erick Zonca's JULIA.

Closing Night is Thursday, 6 May and the film is JOAN RIVERS -- A PIECE OF WORK, screen at the Castro Theatre, 7:00 pm. The party follows at Folsom.

COMING IN MAY: Cannes International Film Festival, 12 - 23 May 2010; Mountain Film in Telluride, 28 - 31 May 2010.

Tribeca Film Festival Winners

The eighth annual Tribeca Film Festival, co-founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, and presented by founding sponsor American Express, announced the winners of its competition categories in NYC last night, 30 April 2009. This year’s Festival included 85 features and 47 short films from 36 countries. The world competition winners were chosen from 12 narrative and 12 documentary features from 17 countries. All films at Festival.

Two awards were given to honor New York films, which were chosen from eight narrative and seven documentary features. Awards were also given for the best narrative, best documentary and student visionary films in the Shorts competition. The winner of The Heineken Audience Award, determined by audience ballot votes throughout the Festival, will be announced tomorrow 2 May, at the Festival Wrap party. This is a capsule of the 2009 winners in the World Narrative Feature and Documentary Feature Competitions.


2009 World Narrative Feature Film Competition (Jurors Bradley Cooper, Richard Fischoff, Todd Haynes, Meg Ryan and Uma Thurman):

The Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature – ABOUT ELLY (Darbareye Elly), written and directed by Asghar Farhadi (Iran, Persian with English subtitles). Deceit and tragedy abound when friends take a Caspian Sea seaside mini-break in this mysterious and lush who-done-it. Farhadi received the Golden Bear in Berlin this year as best director of a feature film.

Best New Narrative Filmmaker – Rune Denstad Langlofor NORTH (Nord) (Norway, Norwegian with English subtitles). A former ski champion recovering from a mental breakdown learns he has a five-year-old son. He hops on his snowmobile with a batch of moonshine, and heads for his ex-girlfriend's home in Norway's Far North. His oddball encounters along the way make this fresh and original debut comedy both tender and amusing.

Best Actor in a Narrative Feature Film – Ciarán Hinds in THE ECLIPSE, written and directed by Conor McPherson (Ireland).

Best Actress in a Narrative Feature Film – Zoe Kazan in THE EXPLODING GIRL, written and directed by Bradley Rust Gray (USA).


2009 World Documentary Feature Film Competition (Jurors Liz Garbus, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Whoopi Goldberg, Morgan Spurlock and Brian Williams):

Best Documentary Feature – RACING DREAMS, directed by Marshall Curry (USA). Three adolescent go-kart racers (to auto racing as little league is to baseball) vie for the national go-kart championship. They, and their parents, will soon find out if they have the talent, dedication, and sponsorship dollars to one day become NASCAR superstars.

Best New Documentary Filmmaker – Ian Olds for FIXER: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi (USA). In 2007, the Taliban kidnapped 24-year-old Naqshbandi, an Italian journalist, one of Afghanistan's best "fixers"—someone hired by foreign journalists to facilitate, translate, and gain access for their stories.

Special Jury Mention: DEFAMATION (Hashmatsa), directed by Yoav Shamir (Denmark, Austria, USA, Israel).

HBO acquired FIXER at the Festival, First Fun the anti-Semitic documentary DEFAMATION, and ESPN the baseball documentary THE LOST SON OF HAVANA. Slim sales for Tribeca at this post, but there may be subsequent acquisitions as a result of the Festival.

For all winners and more information about the films such as juror comments, cash awards, etc., click title of this post.

Tribeca Film Festival Opens Wednesday

The Tribeca Film Festival in New York City opens this Wednesday (22 April). All available individual tickets are now on sale. See the previous post for more info.


You can access the Festival's Web site by clicking the graphic above or title of this post. Also, Tribeca is on Facebook this year. Visit either site and enter the sweepstakes to win a Transatlantic trip to England on the Cunard Queen Mary2, but hurry as sweepstakes close 31 May.

NYC Tribeca Film Festival Opens 22 April

Geoffrey "Geoff" Gilmore, formerly with Sundance, is the new Chief Creative Officer of Tribeca Enterprises. He will have been onboard less than two months when the 8th edition of the Tribeca Film Festival (TFFNYC) opens next week, 22 April. Of course, he has had a total of about 20 years of experience helming or assisting with film festivals, so he is probably fully acclimated to his new digs by now.

The Festival's opening film will be the world premiere of Woody Allen's WHATEVER WORKS, a Sony Pictures Classics release. The comedy, written and directed by Allen was filmed in NYC, and stars in alphabetical order: Ed Begley Jr. (PINEAPPLE EXPRESS), Patricia Clarkson (VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA), Larry David (“Curb Your Enthusiasm”), Evan Rachel Wood (THE WRESTLER), etc. The limited release date is 19 June. Next up for Allen? London.

MY LIFE IN RUINS (USA/Spain), starring Nia Vardalos of MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING (2002) fame, will close the festival 3 May. The director is Donald Petrie (HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS). The "ruins" in the title is a double entendre. You'll get it when you read the synopsis. The release date is 9 June.

You can access the Festival's Web site by clicking the title of this post. Also, Tribeca is on Facebook this year. Visit either site and enter the sweepstakes to win a Transatlantic trip to England on the Cunard Queen Mary2, but hurry as sweepstakes close 31 May.

People Already Queuing for Madonna Tickets at TCFF

[See previous post for more detail about this event.]

Tickets for Madonna's visit to the Traverse City (Michigan) Film Festival August 2nd will go on sale tomorrow morning (Saturday, June 7th) at 11 a.m. at the downtown State Theatre. However, Deb Lake, Executive Director of the Festival reported at 8:00 p.m. tonight that a line for tickets began forming at the State Theatre sometime in the wee hours Wednesday night. By last night, three tents had been erected on the sidewalk.

She characterized the crowd as resembling an unofficial Friday Night Live with "vogue-ing" on Front Street. She also admonishes not to fear, because arrangements have been made to accommodate the demand for TC's Madonna Night.

Madonna has agreed to a simultaneous showing of her movie in another venue, and her remarks at the State will be beamed "live" to this other yet-to-be-named location as well. Tickets to this "overflow theater" will be $15, and again, all the proceeds will go to the Raising Malawi Foundation. This way, hundreds more people will have a chance to participate in "Madonna in TC."

Tickets for the alternate event will be split 50-50 between the public and Friends of the TC Festival, as originally announced. So, if you are a Friend and have already sent your Post Card, you are in the lottery pool for both.

She thanks everyone for their overwhelming support and wishes each, "Good luck!" tomorrow.

Madonna in Traverse City, MI, 2 August - get tickets now!

Yes, that's correct. Singer / Actress / Writer / Producer Madonna will appear in person at the Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF), 2 August, for a screening of her documentary, I AM BECAUSE WE ARE. The feature documentary, directed by Nathan Rissman, had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in April.

The tickets will be available to the general public, ONLY at the historic State Theatre box office in downtown Traverse City, Michigan, and will go on sale this Saturday, 7 June. NO tickets will be sold online or by phone. Tickets are $25. To see Madonna in person? Wow!

The screening is part of the program for the Traverse City Film Festival, which will run from 29 July - 3 August at the downtown State Theatre. It was co-founded by filmmaker Michael Moore and others. He, like Madonna, is a native of Michigan, and the festival is often referred to as Michael Moore's Film Festival.

Michael Moore in SICKO
I AM BECAUSE WE ARE is Madonna's personal journey and meditation about the African country of Malawi, a nation devastated by poverty and disease but filled with a desire to overcome all that it faces. The documentary has been described as "searing," "thoughtful," and "powerful."

The film features Bishop Desmund Tutu, President Bill Clinton, and author/activist Jeffrey Sachs. All proceeds from the event will go to the Raising Malawi Foundation, a project of Madonna's that helps orphans in one of the world's poorest countries.

For more about the festival, and relevant links, click title of this post, or HERE. Also, you might like to read Madonna's remarks at the screening of the documentary in Cannes last month.

Tribeca Festival Wraps with Cadillac Audience Award

The Cadillac Award: The Audience Choice for Best Feature Film at the Tribeca Film Festival (23 April - 4 May), New York City, was announced 4 May, and the winner is the documentary feature, WAR CHILD. It won over nine others, including PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL, which won the juried award for the best documentary feature.

First-time director C. Karim Chrobog received a cash prize of $25,000, the art award "Peripheral Drift Illusion" by Ryan McGinness, and a one-of-a-kind trophy to commemorate his achievement for WAR CHILD.

The true story in the doc: Emmanuel Jal raps his "Warchild," and tells his story of being conscripted as a soldier into the Sudanese People's Liberation Army when he was only eight years old. Now, as a veteran of a 20-year civil war between the Muslim North and Christian South, he has become, at 28, a rising hip-hop star.

Jal had declined other offers to film his story, but Chrobog offered him something else, "We want to use the story so you can give back and build a school." Last fall, Jal and Chrobog launched a foundation, Gua Africa, which is raising money to build two schools, one in southern Sudan and another outside of Nairobi, Kenya.

The top ten in the running for the award were:

1. Pray the Devil Back to Hell - won Best Documentary Feature.
2. War Child
3. Gotta Dance
4. Playing For Change: Peace Through Music
5. Man on Wire
6. Run For Your Life
7. Under Our Skin
8. Kicking It
9. The Wackness
10. Fighter

To view a still from WAR CHILD, read about other awards at Tribeca and other festivals, plus links, click the link for My Film Festivals Page on the right sidebar.

LINKS RELEVANT: Jal's MySpace / Read more about the film

Coming: Three Film Festivals of Note

Three well-known U.S. regional international film festivals are opening this month. They open the 23rd or 24th. These festivals are unique because each is offering the screening of a classic highly-honored silent movie with live accompaniment.

One accompaniment group is The Alloy Orchestra, a three-man musical ensemble, writing and performing live accompaniment to classic silent films. Working with an outrageous assemblage of peculiar objects, they thrash and grind soulful music from unlikely sources.

The other accompaniment will be provided by Black Francis, a.k.a., Frank Black, who was born Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV in Boston. He has composed scores for other German silent classics. He also performs and tours with his Pixies.

Ebertfest (Urbana-Champaign, IL)
25th - The Alloy Orchestra will accompany the silent movie UNDERWORLD (USA), Austrian Josef von Sternberg's 1927 silent classic that won an Oscar for writer Ben Hecht (story). Then Sunday, they play for the silent classic PHANTOM OF THE OPERA at RiverRun's closing in North Carolina.

Roger Ebert said of this group, "They are the best in the world in accompanying silent films."

RiverRun (Winston-Salem, NC)
27th - Festival Closing Night: The Silent Movie Classic PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with The Alloy Orchestra, Sunday, 9:00 p.m. EDT. This 1925 movie directed by Rupert Julian, stars Lon Chaney. If they have the original print or an excellent copy thereof, it will contain the first two-color scene in a motion picture, that of the Masque Ball.

San Francisco (San Francisco, CA)
25th - Special events include a special screening of the silent German Expressionist classic, THE GOLEM (Der Golem: wie er in die Welt kam, (Germany 1930, 82 min), Pauls Wegener, Carl Boese. Live musical accompaniment by Black Francis.

Other notable festivals opening this month: Hot Docs (Toronto), and Tribeca (NYC). For extensive information about these five festivals click the link on the sidebar of this blog for my Film Festivals Page, or the title of this blog post. Also there, you will find direct links to the official Web sites, the musical groups mentioned here, plus miscellaneous info links. I also include little tidbits about musical and film history, now and then.

Next up in May - Cannes (14-25 May). They are just now getting it together. Some hints: Sean Penn, Indiana Jones, Cate Blanchett and MY BLUEBERRY NIGHTS. Follow it on my Festivals Page.

Film Festival Page Updated

My new updates include the about-to-wrap San Diego Latino and the just-wrapped South by Southwest (SXSW) Festivals. There is new information on the upcoming Memphis (TN), River Run (NC), Canadian Hot Docs Documentary (Toronto), Ebertfest (IL), Tribeca (NYC), San Francisco (CA), and the festival most festival-watchers consider the world's most prestigious film festival, Cannes (France).

You can read about those already completed this year, which included Berlin (Germany), Santa Barbara and Palm Springs (CA), Sundance (UT), Miami (FL), and the Mexican sister-festivals, Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta (MX). That's just Part I of Mimi Film Festivals 2008.

Part II, which will include festivals from June through September 2008, will go online sometime in April. The festivals highlighted will begin with Jackson Hole (WY) and probably conclude with San Sebastián (Spain) or San Diego (CA), but new ones are always cropping up, so there are no guarantees at this point.

In between, there will be the world's oldest festival, Venice (Italy), and the world's bravest, Sarajevo (Bosnia). Major festivals in the USA include Los Angeles (CA) and Telluride (CO). Foreign ones, other than San Sebastián, include Montreal and Toronto (Canada), Deauville (France), and Edinburgh (UK), plus any new ones that may spring up during this time frame.

Film Festival Page Updated

Anjelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at the Santa Barbara Festival earlier this year.
There is new information on my Mimi's Film Festivals Page about the film festivals now playing: Miami International, San Diego Latino, Austin's South by Southwest, and the sister festivals in Mexico: Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta in conjunction with the University of Guadalajara.

Check the happenings at these festivals, and start preparing for the other upcoming international festivals: Memphis, River Run, Canadian Hot-Docs, San Francisco, and the biggest of the internationals - - the 61st in Cannes, France.

Oh, I haven't forgotten NYC's Tribeca, or the Ebertfest, as in Roger Ebert. This will be the 10th in Champaign, IL. As always, there are links to the festival's official Web sites.

All the above, and it is only Part I this year of my Mimi's Film Festivals Page 2008! This year's previous festivals are included, and I update the page about every week, but don't always post an update notice here, so visit often. There is a permanent link on the right sidebar of this blog.

Awards Heat Up and New Festival Season Opens

The 2007 - 2008 movie awards season is now officially in high gear. It will culminate with the Academy Awards® in February. The 2008 film festival season opens tomorrow.

Nominations for movie and television awards have been stepping on each other's toes since November as they compete for media attention. In the meantime, the film festival season has been moving to earlier dates each year like the political nominations. The 2007 festival season closed in December. In California, the Palm Springs International Film Festival kicks off the 2008 season tomorrow, 3 January 2008, followed by the Santa Barbara festival on 24 January.

In between Palm Springs and Cannes in May, there are major festivals, including Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca, and San Francisco. Also, some specialty festivals such as Miami, Hot Docs, South by Southwest (SXSW) and the San Diego Latino festival. I cover them all, and others, on my Film Festivals Page.

The awards galas begin in earnest this month. The oldest active film critics association (begun in 1936), the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) Awards will be presented at the Gala 6 January, in New York City, followed the next day by the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) - (Critics Choice Awards) at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA (Broadcast live on VH1).

The awards are galloping toward their first international gala, the Golden Globes® scheduled for Sunday, 13 January, Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, broadcast live on NBC, 8:00 p.m., EST. Globes are sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA). Some say the Globes predict the Oscars®. Not so. They hint. The HFPA members tend to vote for the Hollywood star that is "hot" in looks and / or the gossip columns. The term used by some critics for the HFPA is "star wh _ _ _ s".

Notice that I wrote the Globes, "are scheduled". If you haven't heard, there's a big writer's strike hanging over the awards season this year, but the Oscar® nominations will be announced Tuesday, 22 January, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy of Motion Picture of Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater. It remains to be seen if the AMPAS® presentation gala goes forth as planned on Sunday, 24 February. The latest word is that it will go, even if the show is missing some of the frills of recent years. That could be a good thing.

I'm doing my best to follow all this on my Awards Page 2008 and my Film Festivals Page 2008 (links on the right sidebar as well). You will find links for the 2007 pages on my 2008 pages in case you wish to refer back.

Please note that the Awards are listed in the alphabetical order of the organizations giving the awards. Film Festivals are listed in chronological order by date held. Again, I suggest you use your Browser's "Edit" button, scroll down to "Find in this document," click and type a key word such as GOYA or GLOBES, for awards; SUNDANCE or PALM SPRINGS for festivals, etc.

There are new posts as the momentum builds, so I suggest you visit often. You do want to be ready for that Globe and / or Oscar® contest, or your office pools don't you? Good luck!

Since you read this far, here's the skinny on the most-likely best motion picture of the year, which leads where various award nominations and winners have been announced so far: NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.

Oscar nominations are 22 January. If NO COUNTRY is not on the Academy Awards best picture nominations list, I'll eat this blog.

My Film Festival Page News

Counted today and found there is information and links for 34 film festivals so far this year on my Film Festival Page, including some that are difficult to find information about such as the Festival of New Latin American Cinema held each December in Havana, Cuba. Ten are upcoming, or going on now, with the rest already completed this year. Altogether, there's a wealth of info. Here is the list of the 34:

AFIFEST, Berlin, Boston, Times BFI London, Canadian Hot Docs, Cannes, Deauville, Edinburgh, Guadalajara, Huelva, Havana, Jackson Hole, Los Angeles Independents, Memphis, Miami, Montreal, New York, Palm Sprngs, Puerto Valarta, River Run, Rome, San Diego, San Sebatian, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Sarajevo, Sitges, Sundance, SXSW, Telluride, Toronto, Tribeca, Vancouver, and Venice.

This weekend, I installed quick links to help you find the festivals in which you are interested. Just find the name of the festival you want, click, and you are there. Click the title of this post, which will take you to my Film Festival Page, and near the top you will find the links for the festivals going on now, or upcoming through December, including the one in Havana. There is a separate set of links for those already completed. Remember, there is always a link to my Film Festival Page on the right sidebar of this blog as well.

George Clooney and Jerry Weintraub at a recent Boston Film Festival gala.

Tribeca Film Festival Opens Tonight

6TH TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
25 April - 6 May 2007, New York City

Many New Yorkers probably agree that the Tribeca Film Festival, opening tonight, has done wonders for Lower Manhattan, devastated by the attacks on the World Trade Center 9/11/2001, but the Festival has never shown a profit in it's five years. Founded in 2002 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and her husband Craig Hatkoff as a response to the attacks on the World Trade Center, it was conceived to help foster the economic and cultural revitalization of Lower Manhattan through an annual celebration of film, music, and culture with the spirit of independent film as it driving force.

Since the inaugural festival, Lower Manhattan, once covered in rubble and shrouded in loss, has become a thriving cultural and economic center as Tribeca has become one of the largest and, certainly, respected film festivals in the U.S. Unfortunately, the Festival has run about a million-dollar deficit each year since it's opening and, according to Rosenthal, the same is projected for this year. That comes out of the pockets of De Niro, Rosenthal and Hatkoff.

No official figures are available on how much the festival costs, earns or loses because, since its second year, Tribeca has operated under the umbrella of the private, for-profit Tribeca Enterprises (De Niro, Rosenthal and Hatkoff). Some estimate the annual cost is probably about $13 million.

Unlike festivals such as Toronto and Cannes in Canada and France, and Sundance in the U.S., Tribeca gets no city or state funding, not even for free events. This year, ticket prices have jumped 50% to $18.00 each. The Festival probably would receive funds if it became non-profit but, then, the founding trio would lose most, if not all, of the control they now have. How long they can tolerate the loss remains to be seen.

If there are ever any Tribeca Film Festival profits, they will benefit the Tribeca Film Institute, which coordinates programs throughout the year. Currently, the institute runs the Tribeca All Access program, which assists minority filmmakers, and the Tribeca Film Fellows program, for aspiring teen directors.

Former Vice President Al Gore is the opening act at the 6th Tribeca Film Festival tonight, hosting the global warming-themed SOS Short Films Program. The SOS program will features seven shorts. Also featured at the opening, music performances by acts set to appear at the July 7th Live Earth, a worldwide 24-hour concert benefiting Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection.

Tribeca curtain will close May 6 with Antonio Ferrera and Albert Maysles' documentary about the art project that covered Central Park in orange drapes, THE GATES.

Between the opening and the closing, the slate boasts 157 films (down from 174 last year), with 73 world premieres and 28 North American premieres, including Curtis Hanson's romantic drama LUCKY YOU. The movie stars Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana, who are expected to attend. There is the popular Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival, and this year's Ambassador is Billie Jean King.

SPIDER-MAN 3, directed by Sam Raimi, will have its U.S. Premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by American Express. Opening worldwide 4 May, "SPIDY" 3 (Columbia Pictures) will celebrate the first-ever star-studded gala premiere in Queens, Peter Parker’s hometown. Stars of the film, including Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, will join a crowd of 3,000 people at the UA Kaufman Astoria 14 in downtown Astoria on Monday, 30 April.