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Previews
Doha Tribeca Film Festival Turns Two
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Wednesday, 27 October 2010 02:46
- Written by Laura Blum
The history of the Middle East can be traced through its dynamic alliances, and the Doha Tribeca Film Festival (October 26 to 30, 2010) – a partnership between Doha Film Institute and Tribeca Enterprises – updates this tradition in the cultural dominion. Marking its second year under the sun, this “celebration of all things film” in the Emirate of Qatar joins such neighboring fests as Abu Dhabi and Dubai in blazoning cinema’s banner across the Persian Gulf.
This recent caravan of film festivals is propelling a whole new sector of filmed entertainment in the region. As noted by DFI and DTFF executive director Amanda Palmer, these showcases – and such coffers as Doha Film Fund -- are allowing local filmmakers and productions to flourish. Just as consequentially, the parade of international and Arab movies unleashed in the fests is boosting cinema culture in the home community in ways that were all but unimaginable scant years ago.
AFI Fest Treats Revelers to Free Fare
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- Category: Previews
- Published on Tuesday, 26 October 2010 23:23
- Written by Laura Blum
Taking its cue from TV and the web, the AFI Fest will once again offer free entertainment – brought to you by corporate sponsors -- when it opens for “business” November 4 to 11, 2010. The flagship Festival of the American Film Institute partly has Audi to thank for its complimentary screenings and galas (and does so prominently by mentioning the carmaker in its moniker).
Los Angeles’ oldest-running film festival will unfurl in and around a clutch of vintage venues across Hollywood. Festival headquarters are at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, with screenings and special events converging on Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Mann Chinese 6 theatres and the Egyptian Theatre. AFI Fest 2010 will screen 97 films, including 66 features and 31 shorts, chosen from 3,000 submissions across 31 countries. Shorts screened at the Festival are officially eligible for Oscar consideration.
Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival Lenses World Communities
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Monday, 25 October 2010 01:07
- Written by Laura Blum
Anthropologist Margaret Mead is rumored to have said, “Always remember that you are absolutely unique…just like everyone else,” and judging by the distinctive stories on offer at the Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival (November 11 to 14, 2010), the programmers indeed remembered.
Not that you won’t find shared themes amidst all that diversity.
Marking its 34th year, the Mead will once again spotlight global documentaries under the auspices of Manhattan’s American Museum of Natural History. According to Artistic and Festival Director Ariella Ben-Dov, many of this year’s selections show communities coalescing around a critical challenge, even one that threatens their way of life.
The Opening night film is Plug & Pray/Von Computern und anderen Menschen, directed by Judith Malek-Mahdavi and Jens Schanze. The film advances Joseph Weizenbaum, a pioneer of artificial intelligence who questions the scientific assumptions that technology can trump biology.
DOC NYC - Manhattan Gets a True Doc Fest
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- Parent Category: Film Festivals
- Category: Previews
- Published on Tuesday, 19 October 2010 23:12
- Written by Laura Blum
You can find everything in New York City, as the cliché goes, but until now – with the November 3 to 9, 2010 launching of DOC NYC -- it has lacked a major documentary film festival. (The 90s saw DocFest, but it’s been a while.) If Durham, North Carolina can have a Full Frame and if Missoula, Montana can have a Big Sky, surely the greatest city on earth can have a five-day salute to non-fiction cinema.
At least that’s what artistic director Thom Powers and executive director Raphaela Neihausen reasoned when this programming pair decided to expand their weekly IFC Center series, Stranger Than Fiction, into a festival format.
