The 3rd GI Joe Stop-Motion Film Festival Tour Ends

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 21 June 2010 20:28

Written by Brad Balfour

The GI Joe Stop-Motion Film Festival is the nation's first festival dedicated to works by stop-motion artists who use GI Joe figures (12", 8" -sigma 6- and 3 ¾ sizes) as main characters or actors.) The Festival is sponsored by The Onion.

Currently the 3rd GI Joe fest has been touring the United States -- Austin, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, New York and now, back home to Denver -- with the winning films from 2009. Subsequently, winning films from 2010's Festival will travel in 2011.

The line-up for this year's fest boasts screenings of such treats as the Taiwanese film, Race of Evil, a Second World War flick with an unexpected twist; Cobra's Prom Night Crush where Cobra Commander falls madly in love; and the naughty British film Rick's Battle Shock, a Vietnam deliverance tale. 

The GI Joe Stop-Motion Film Festival award ceremony will be held October 20th, 2010 at the Alamo Drafthouse (in Austin, Texas) and will combine the excitement of world premiere short films and fan tributes with the allure of Austin's nightlife. The GI Joe Film Festival highlights both up and coming filmmakers as well as masters of the craft, and has attracted award-winning films in past years.

Under the direction of festival president Gio Toninelo, it has became one of the hottest and fastest growing stop-motion festivals in the country. And the 2010 selections haven't disappointed. The closer of this innovative festival of stop-motion shorts featuring America's last action hero will be held in Denver at the Bug Theatre (3654 Navajo Street) on June 24th at 8 pm.

In addition there is a GI Joe Stop-Motion Workshop on Sunday, June 20th, from 10 am to 4 pm at Photospace Denver (209 Kalamath Street). Equipment and class provided by ASIFA Colorado.

The workshop will offer the opportunity to develop both the theoretical knowledge and practical skills needed to create a piece of stop-motion animation. The course aims to stimulate students' abilities to generate an overall perspective of a project, from concept to final product. All films will be screened at the GI Joe Stop-Motion Film Festival. Pack a lunch and willingness to work in a group.

Bring G.I. Joe dolls if you want, otherwise the fest will have some on hand. Space is limited. Tuition is $65.00.

Sign up here: www.asifa-colorado.org/register.gijoeworkshop

The GI Joe Stop-Motion Film Festival
June, 24th, 2010
Bug Theatre Company
3654 Navajo Street
Denver, CO 80211

For a ticket to the Denver closing to go to our box office page or for more information, try: http://www.gijoefilmfestival.com/

To learn about other Fest events, call the Bug Hotline as well at:
303-477-5977 or 303-477-9984

 

Los Angeles Film Festival Turns Sweet 16

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 17 June 2010 19:45

Written by Laura Blum

In a town where seeing movies is a busman's holiday, how does a film festival seduce industry brass? That's one riddle teasing the Los Angeles Film Festival as it heads into its 16th reel in Los Angeles, California, June 17 to 27, 2010.

Another is how to ignite a sense of "must see" for this Academy Award-qualifying forum that comes so early in the awards cycle. (Answer: offer free tickets.) And yet another brain teaser gets at the Festival's very identity and purpose.

Nearly a decade ago, LAFF dropped "independent" from its name with the idea of broadening its appeal. That was shortly after it was taken over by non-profit shingle Film Independent, the IFP/Los Angeles reincarnation that runs the Spirit Awards. So since the early 00s, the Festival has been showcasing American indie and world cinema while also dangling Hollywood fare and some of the tinseled names behind it.

As has become all too familiar to LAFF director Rebecca Yeldlam and now David Ansen – the former Newsweek film critic who marks his first year as artistic director -- this strategy has stirred some questions about the Festival's target audience. Yet providing something for all Angelinos appears precisely the point.

LAFF is expected to draw 80,000 attendees to its new Downtown home. Short of an earthquake pulverizing a major thoroughfare, few other events could occasion the pitter-patter of so many pedestrians in L.A. The pull is more than 100 features, shorts, and music videos from some 40 countries -- plus, the organizers hope, greater artistic cachet than its old Westwood Village holler could offer. The main redoubt for the 2010 Festival is the L.A. Live complex and its Regal Theaters multiplex.

This year the Festival will mount the world premieres of two big, shiny titles, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (invitation only) and the animated work, Despicable Me. And Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, Ben Affleck and Josh Brolin are among the celebrities lending their spark to the 10-day event. To be sure, sharing air space with movie makers and talent has its perks.

The Opening Night film is Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right, starring Annette Bening and Julianne Moore. The creator of High Art and Laurel Canyon marries melodrama with comic relief in this Focus Features production about two siblings (Josh Hutcherson and Mia Wasikowska) who seek out their lesbian parents' sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo) and unleash family chaos. As Moore's character notes, a grounding in Russian novels would help in assimilating the story's satisfyingly layered dynamics, and that about sums up why some festival-goers will adore it, and others may run for the Hollywood Hills.

Other brightly anticipated titles are The Tillman Story, Amir Bar-Lev's documentary about former NFL star Pat Tillman, who died during military service in Afghanistan, and the gala screening of Revolución, a collaboration by Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Rodrigo García and seven other Mexican filmmakers marking the centennial of the Mexican Revolution.

Harder core cinephiles will relish the four-title retrospective of Argentine director, producer and screenwriter Leopoldo Torre Nilsson, including his 1959 gothic tale of sexual awakening, The Fall/La caída). And digging further back in the foreign film archives, they'll find Carl Froelich's rarely shown 1913 film, The Life of Richard Wagner. This silent relic from the dawn of film biography charts the composer's coming of age and artistic apotheosis as the creator of Parsifal and The Ring.

For a current take on a dead, white, German-speaking composer, there's the gala world premiere of Mahler on the Couch/Mahler auf der Couch. Directed by Percy Adlon, it noses into Gustav Mahler's nosing into his young wife's adulterous affair, and what Sigmund Freud had to say about it.

Alongside the program of screenings, some of which will take place under the stars at the Ford Amphitheater, LAFF will present panels, professional seminars and Family Day. Its hallmark event is the two-day pre-Festival filmmakers retreat, hosted by this year's guest director Kathryn Bigelow at Skywalker Ranch in Northern California.

Nearly as buzzed about is the Spirit of Independence Award ceremony and gala. But this being L.A., steep competition comes from the Festival's Poolside Chats.

For comprehensive details, consult www.lafilmfest.com.

Los Angeles Film Festival
June 17 to 27, 2010
866-345-6337

Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE Stadium 14
1000 West Olympic Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90015

GRAMMY Museum
800 West Olympic Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90015

Downtown Independent Theatre
251 South Main Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012

REDCAT
Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theatre
631 West 2nd Street
(@ Disney Concert Hall)
Los Angeles, CA 90012

John Anson Ford Amphitheater
2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East
Hollywood, CA 90068

Grand Performances @ California Plaza
350 S Grand Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90071

57th Annual Sydney Film Festival “Unleashes 2010”

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Tuesday, 15 June 2010 08:37

Written by Carmella McDonald

The 57th annual edition of the Sydney Film Festival, subtitled, Unleashes 2010, is running from June 2 to 14, 2010, in Sydney, Australia. This year’s program includes 157 films from 47 countries --  all winning films from International film festivals. There are 92 Australian premieres, eight new Australian feature films, seven World premieres, two international premiers, nine documentaries and 12 shorts. The festival ends on the long weekend for The Queens Birthday, June 14th, 2010, a public holiday. The venues include: The State Theatre, the Sydney Opera House, Dendy Opera Quays Cinema at Sydney Cove, and the NSW Art Gallery.

Enchanting audiences since 1929, The State Theatre -- “The Palace of Dreams” -- seats 2000 and is in a truly magnificent and heritage listed building with eclectic elements of Gothic, Italian and Art deco design.

The Dress Circle Gallery houses artworks by Australian artists including William Dobell and Charles Wheeler and while located in an auditorium, the Koh-I-Nor cut crystal chandelier is the second largest on earth; on the stage, the 21 piped Wurlitzer organ -- which is used for the “Silent Screen Retrospectives” during the Film Festival -- makes for a unique venue to visit even when it's not showing such compelling fare.

Australian actors and filmmakers feature prominently in this year's Film Festival, while movies directed by women open and close the event.  
Australia's father-daughter acting duo Barry and Miranda Otto will headline the festival's opening night on June 2, with the world premiere of Shirley Barrett's South Solitary. Barrett’s distinctive filmmaking is underpinned by elegant storytelling and an intoxicating, playful tone.


Australian actress Mia Wasikowska, who starred in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, will appear with Annette Bening and Julianne Moore in the closing night film The Kids Are All Right directed by Lisa Cholodenko, on June 14.

Director Julie Bertucelli’s (Since Otar Left) lucid, deeply poetic Australian/French co-production The Tree, translates a bold concept into a thoroughly believable realm. After the sudden death of her father, 8-year-old Simone shares a secret with her mother Dawn (the luminous Charlotte Gainsbourg). She’s convinced her father whispers to her through the leaves of her favorite tree and he’s come back to protect them.

The festival, bracketed by films directed by women, is also enhanced by the high caliber offering of Australian films. There are screenings of three exceptionally inventive films including Patrick Hughes' western-police thriller Red Hill which stars Aussie actor Ryan Kwanten, who has found international fame with the HBO vampire series True Blood.

 The festival will also offer the Australian premieres of Roman Polanski's The Ghost Writer featuring actor Ewan McGregor, The Runaways starring Kristen Stewart and Mammuth with Gerard Depardieu.


Featured in this year’s Official Competition line-up include:

• Three films from 2010 Cannes Film Festival – including Cannes Closing Night film Julie Bertucelli’s Australian/French o-production, The Tree, along with Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (screening in Cannes Official Competition) and Canadian Xavier Dolan’s Heartbeats (screening in Un Certain Regard)

• The World Premiere of Ben C Lucas’ explosive debut feature Wasted on the Young.

• Australian Premieres of films by renowned directors – including Michael Winterbottom’s The Killer Inside Me, Todd Solondz’s Life During Wartime, Brillante Mendoza’s Lola and celebrated Iranian artist Shirin Neshat’s Women Without Men

• Chris Morris’ outrageous comedy Four Lions and Raoul Peck’s searing Haitian satire Moloch Tropical

• Berlin Film Festival winners from Russia, How I Ended this Summer and Romania, If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle

Other program elements include:

SFF Sydney Opera House – “Sounds on Screen”
The Playhouse at Sydney Opera House, will be home to Sounds on Screen, a celebration of the special relationship between film and music,  screenings of Rocksteady: the Roots of Reggae followed by live performance by King Tide.  

Vivid LIVE will be in the concert hall performing live is Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed and the Blind Boys of Alabama. Reed’s short film, Day for Night, will be in the Movie Marathon, eight epic hours of film, live music and spoken word renowned filmmaker and artist Bill Morrison. Anderson will be illuminating the sails of the Opera House and introducing her Music for Dogs for “SFF Unleashes 2010”.

A special Vampire Retrospective
A selection of films from SFF’s special vampire retrospective will also screen at Sydney Opera House including:

• The return of Nosferatu with live accompaniment by Darth Vegas and live sound effects by Miss Death
• Australia’s only postmodern vampire movie, Thirst
• Guy Maddin’s vampire ballet, Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary
• Immortal Seduction
• Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark
• Roman Polanski’s Dance of the Vampires, his preferred UK version of the film that was released elsewhere as The Fearless Vampire Killers, Or Pardon Me But Your Teeth Are in My Neck

Kids Flicks
The fest presents a selection of fun and fabulous films for the family:

• See galactic escapades in Welcome to the Space Show
• journey into a magical world of goblins and fallen angels in Yona Yona Penguin
• discover amazing true-life adventure in Turtle: The Incredible Journey

The United States Studies Centre has partnered with the SFF  to support Judith Erhlich and Rick Goldsmith's The Most Dangerous Man In America.

Set in a majestic city with venues at the Sydney Opera House, this festival is an absolute feast of film and festivities. 

Tickets can be purchased for single screenings or through flexipass. 

For more information and other award winners visit www.sff.org.au   

The 57th Annual Sydney Film Festival
June 2 – 14, 2010

State Theatre
49 Market Street
Sydney New South Wales 2000, Australia
(02) 9373 6655
www.statetheatre.com.au

Sydney Opera House
Macquarie St.
Sydney New South Wales 2000, Australia
02-9250 7111
www.sydneyoperahouse.com

Dendy Opera Quays Cinema
2 East Circular Quay
Sydney New South Wales 2000
61 2 9247 3800

NSW Art Gallery
Art Gallery Road
The Domain
Sydney New South Wales 2000 Australia
Australia-wide toll-free number: 1-800-NSW-ART (1-800-679-278)
61 2 9225 1744
www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au