Hollywood
LA Film Fest announced
16/05/12 13:41
Today the Los Angeles Film Festival, in conjunction with
Presenting Media Sponsor the Los Angeles Times and Host Partner L.A. LIVE, announced
Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin as Guest Director for the 2012 Festival.
Legendary musician and composer Danny Elfman, award-winning Los Angeles chef Michael
Voltaggio and Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer Raphael Saadiq will
be the Artists in Residence. Intimate conversations will be held with filmmakers and talent from
AMC!s acclaimed Breaking Bad, HBO!s long anticipated series The Newsroom, which includes a
screening of the premiere episode, and a series of panels on Women of Wonder – A Celebration of
Women in Animation. Additional films screening at the Festival include a Film Independent
members-only screening of The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, the North American Premiere of The King of
Pigs in the Beyond section, Easy Money in the International Showcase section and Question
Bridge: Black Males in the Free Community Screenings section. There will also be an Exclusive
Sneak Preview held on June 17, so follow us @LAFilmFest on Twitter for clues and additional
details. The LA Film Festival Keynote Speaker, Coffee Talks, Poolside Rant and additional panels
will be announced later this month.
FOR TICKETS AND INFO: http://www.lafilmfest.com/
Presenting Media Sponsor the Los Angeles Times and Host Partner L.A. LIVE, announced
Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin as Guest Director for the 2012 Festival.
Legendary musician and composer Danny Elfman, award-winning Los Angeles chef Michael
Voltaggio and Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer Raphael Saadiq will
be the Artists in Residence. Intimate conversations will be held with filmmakers and talent from
AMC!s acclaimed Breaking Bad, HBO!s long anticipated series The Newsroom, which includes a
screening of the premiere episode, and a series of panels on Women of Wonder – A Celebration of
Women in Animation. Additional films screening at the Festival include a Film Independent
members-only screening of The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, the North American Premiere of The King of
Pigs in the Beyond section, Easy Money in the International Showcase section and Question
Bridge: Black Males in the Free Community Screenings section. There will also be an Exclusive
Sneak Preview held on June 17, so follow us @LAFilmFest on Twitter for clues and additional
details. The LA Film Festival Keynote Speaker, Coffee Talks, Poolside Rant and additional panels
will be announced later this month.
FOR TICKETS AND INFO: http://www.lafilmfest.com/
Oscar picks
27/01/12 16:48
Flattery will get you everywhere in Hollywood. So it is that the films leadingt he nominations haul for this year’s Osars – to be presented on Sunday 26 February – are both love letters to movie making. But what about stand out, edgy films like DRIVE, SHAME, DEVIL’S DOUBLE, etc. Are the old fogies at the Oscars--drag out Billy Crystal again? I mean, really! Hugo is, essentially, about the need to preserve film history, couched in a kid friendly paen to George Méliès, the early effects pioneer. Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist is a Frenchie’s lust for old Hollywood itself. Academy voters in their retirement homes must be lapping it up – art telling old artists their art was important, and still is.
In a digital era of 3D, Sony 4K, Imax, iPads and streaming video, not evenAndy Serkis’ motion-capture performances in The Adventures of Tintin or Rise of the Planet of the Apes have made it, either as feats of modern acting or as game-changing special effects. Instead, we get old hat vets like Scorsese, Spielberg, Woody Allen and Terrence Malick are back on top. Hell, even old “school negro” maids--“Gone Wit the Wind” anyone?-- are providing the entertainment – Help! There's not an iota of the experimental about the Oscars this year, nothing daring, nothing new, except a counting system that leaves us with nine nominations for best picture, a move that ends up looking like someone's made a clerical mistake.
In a digital era of 3D, Sony 4K, Imax, iPads and streaming video, not evenAndy Serkis’ motion-capture performances in The Adventures of Tintin or Rise of the Planet of the Apes have made it, either as feats of modern acting or as game-changing special effects. Instead, we get old hat vets like Scorsese, Spielberg, Woody Allen and Terrence Malick are back on top. Hell, even old “school negro” maids--“Gone Wit the Wind” anyone?-- are providing the entertainment – Help! There's not an iota of the experimental about the Oscars this year, nothing daring, nothing new, except a counting system that leaves us with nine nominations for best picture, a move that ends up looking like someone's made a clerical mistake.