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Thursday, August 18, 2005
Fest a Go Go: San Fran, Dallas, NY, Toronto, San Diego
Festivals are breaking out all over the place. The venerable yet sadly endangered San Francisco Asian concludes another marvelous festival this weekend. Screenings Friday (8/19) include ONE NIGHT IN MONGKOK and ARAHAN; Sunday features RICE RHAPSODY, THE BIG SWINDLE, and...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 10:19 PM
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Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Los Angeles: Festival City
The Los Angeles Film Festival announced its full line-up, including 12 films of interest to followers of Asian cinema (2046, 36 CHAMBERS OF SHAOLIN, R-POINT, etc.) plus NIGHT WATCH at the outdoor Ford Ampitheater, plus The RZA playing DJ to...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 11:31 PM
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Saturday, May 21, 2005
Cannes: Awards
The 58th Edition of the Cannes Film Festival drew to a close with the presentation of their awards Saturday night. The show was broadcast live in the US on the Independent Film Channel, hosted by film critic Roger Ebert and...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 10:42 AM
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Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Cannes: Getting to the Source
Have you heard? There's this little film festival in a French resort town... So much news is issuing forth from Cannes that it's been difficult, though fun, to try and keep up. As the festival heads toward its award bash...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 11:34 AM
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Seattle: Take a Deep Breath
Seattle kicks off its mammoth endurance race/cinema splurge-a-thon (AKA, one of the longest and biggest film festivals in the world) tomorrow. Complete details are available on the festival website. Two years ago I had the pleasure of attending the first...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 12:13 AM
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Sunday, May 15, 2005
Cannes: More 'Election'
(UPDATED with link to Variety's positive review below). More reviews of ELECTION are starting to pop up online. Reporting for Film Threat, Jeremy Matthews comments: "From Hong Kong, Johnny To’s ELECTION was also a worthwhile entry in the competition....While it...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 06:28 PM
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Cannes: Weinsteins Wade Back In
You just knew it couldn't last. While details on their departure from Disney and Miramax were being hammered out, we heard little on the Asian acquisition front from Bob and Harvey Weinstein. No more. In news that is sure to...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 06:02 PM
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Saturday, May 14, 2005
'Election' - "Rather Good"
The two chief critics for the New York Times, A. O. Scott and Manohla Dargis, are writing a journal of their experiences in Cannes this year. (Free registration required to access the article at the NY Times site.) In...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 11:18 AM
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Wednesday, May 04, 2005
Quiet Before the Storm
The festival front is rather calm before the storm of Cannes. Los Angeles: VC FilmFest finishes with screenings of Sylvia Chang's 20:30:40 at the Aratani and two programs at the Disney/Cal Arts Theatre tonight before the closing night presentation of...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 09:21 AM
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Wednesday, April 27, 2005
VC FilmFest: Ready to Ignite
Los Angeles readers: I hope you have cleared your schedules. All others: read on to see what's new and fabulous. VC FilmFest 2005 fires up its engines tomorrow night with the Opening Night Celebration of Alice Wu's SAVING FACE. A...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 10:21 AM
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Monday, April 25, 2005
LA Indian Fest Concludes With HARI OM
Illness overtook me this past Thursday, causing a temporary interruption in site updates and movie watching. Most distressing was missing out on the Indian Film Festival, which closed last night with a gala presentation of HARI OM, complete with musical...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 11:16 AM
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Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Beyond Bollywood: LA Indian Fest
More than 30 features, documentaries, and shorts will screen during the 3rd edition of the fledgling Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. The program promises to provide ample demonstration that there is life beyond the elaborate Bollywood productions that dominate...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 09:12 AM
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San Francisco Goodness
The 48th edition of the venerable San Francisco International Film Festival gets underway tomorrow night, Thursday, April 21. More than 100 films will screen. Asian highlights include: World Premiere Woo Ming Jin's MONDAY MORNING GLORY (Malaysia) North American Premiere Edmond...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 08:42 AM
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Dreaming of an Asian Italy
Of all the film festivals I'd like to attend, the Far East Film Festival tops my list. Held in Udine, Italy, beginning on Friday, April 22, Asian films screen from 9:30 in the morning until well past midnight for seven...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 07:57 AM
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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Two LA Fests Get Ready
Beyond the IFP/Los Angeles Film Festival in June and AFI FEST (American Film Institute's Los Angeles International Film Festival) in November, the local calendar is crowded with smaller festivals, but two deserve special note this month. Kicking off next Wednesday,...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 12:56 PM
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Tribeca: A Whiff of Asia
Even as the happily demented Philadelphia International Film Festival continues, up the coast the upscale downtown Tribeca Film Festival tries to steal its East Coast thunder. Tribeca has not emphasized Asian films in its past programs. (New Yorkers instead look...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 12:33 PM
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Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Philly Launches
It's total Asian insanity at the Philadelphia International Film Festival, beginning tomorrow. I've only seen two (highlighted in bold print and illustrated with pictures). Films listed by festival sections. Quotations from the excellent program notes by "Danger After Dark" programmer...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 12:07 AM
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Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Debut Features Bookend VC FilmFest
The opening and closing night films have been announced for VC FilmFest 2005, the annual spring showcase for Asian films in Los Angeles. The festival pays special attention to Asian-American filmmakers, and this year is no exception. SAVING FACE kicks...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 12:38 AM
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Springtime in a Midwestern City
The 23rd edition of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival describes itself as "the largest film festival in the upper Midwest," presenting more than 150 films from more than 50 countries during its run from April 1-16. Despite that region's...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 12:18 AM
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'Banished' to Calabasas
Of all places, Calabasas, California is the setting for Method Fest, "a festival of discovery celebrating breakout acting in independent film." The location away from the heart of Hollywood (just past the western edge of the San Fernando Valley north...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 12:01 AM
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Wednesday, January 05, 2005
Blossoms in the Desert
"From the desert to the sea to all of Southern California, good evening."--Jerry Dunphy, broadcaster Film Festival News: The new year begins tomorrow with the attractively-programmed Palm Springs Film Festival. Palm Springs is a desert resort community about two hours...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 01:19 PM
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Thursday, January 22, 2004
Rotterdam 04 Rocks
The 33rd International Film Festival of Rotterdam begins tonight and runs through February 1. It's not quite the European equivalent of Sundance. For one thing, of course, it's been around longer than Sundance. For another, there's less of a focus...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 04:47 PM
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Thursday, January 15, 2004
Sundance 04 - Snow Burn
Getting underway tonight, the Sundance Film Festival is now known primarily as a place for new independent American films to be discovered. In recent times, festival programmers have placed more emphasis on world cinema. While a few non-American films may...
Posted by Peter A. Martin at 05:01 PM
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