Buffalo International Film Festival 2009

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Saturday, 26 September 2009 19:52

Written by fftraveler staff

More than 16 films will be screened at The Buffalo International Film Festival 2009 (BIFF) which runs from October 9-27, 2009.  Most of the screenings will be at the at the Market Arcade Film and Arts Center, Market Street. All will be introduced by a guest involved with the film's production.

A special highlight of the Festival is Charlie Chaplin: The Lost Scenes Found, the North American premiere of lost footage from City Lights, screening at Kleinhan's Music Hall, 370 Pennsylvania Street.

Two reels of outtakes from Charlie Chaplin's masterpiece--which accidentally escaped destruction--will screen for the first time in North America on the opening Night of The Buffalo International Film Festival 2009. Dr. Frank Scheide, lecturer on film at University of Alabama and "discoverer" of the outtakes, introduced the screening.

The outtakes, housed at the British Film Institute in London, were shown through the courtesy of the Douris Company. The screening of the prints will be followed by a one-hour, illustrated presentation by Dr. Scheide on Chaplin's history in the UK ,which included location footage of the areas of Lambeth where Chaplin grew up.

Several years ago, Scheide ran across two particular rolls of outtakes from City Lights which survived only by accident when film archivist Raymond Rohauer was required to turn over footage in his collection that was subsequently burned. Thankfully, this footage escaped destruction.

The first reel of the roughly 20 minutes of material never before screened in the United States shows Chaplin working on the "cigar gag" for the night club scene in City Lights where, ultimately, Charlie tosses a lit cigar onto a chair just as an overdressed lady sits down, right on top of the cigar.

A second reel has a nearly complete sequence where Charlie crosses a two lane highway and, trapped in the middle, lights up a cigar. When a street sweeper played by Albert Austin parks a manure-filled bucket just behind Charlie, the tramp thinks there is something seriously wrong with his cigar! 

Other classic screenings in the Festival include the 239-minute version of Erich von Stroheim's masterpiece Greed with restorer Rick Schmidlin, Lon Chaney in London After Midnight, and the Director’s Cut of Orson Welles’ Touch of Evil. 

Also presented is a recreation of a classic Saturday Matinee featuring It Came From Outer Space, in anaglyph 3D, introduced by an exclusive video interview with Ray Bradbury.  With accompanying shorts, the screening will be at the North Park Theater on Hertel Avenue.

Other screenings include: 

Proud, a film about the only African-American crew to take a Navy warship into combat in World War II. It stars Ossie Davis and Stephen Rea and was directed by Mary Pat Kelly, who will introduce the film. Also present will be Lorenzo Defau (who was played by Davis), the last crew member of the USS Mason.

Will Eisner: Portrait of a Sequential Artist, a documentary about the creator of The Spirit, by director Andrew Cooke, who will present the film.

The North American premiere of A Pearl in the Forest, a feature film from Mongolia introduced by the filmmakers and performers in the film.

In addition, director-producer Charles Band will present Doctor Mordrid, a 35mm studio archive print of the rarely seen 1992 horrer-fantasy gem he directed with his father, Albert Band, starring Jeffrey Combs.

The Festival will wrap with a press conference on the 3rd Annual World Day for Audiovisual Heritage, at the Historic Market Arcade Office Building. The day was founded by UNESCO in 2007 out of concern that much of the world's 20th century audiovisual heritage is now lost, and much more is slipping beyond recovery because of neglect, natural decay and technological obsolescence. October 27 was designated the annual commemoration date to call attention to the fragile state of old movies, recordings, photographs and other arts.

Through their film festival, Buffalo, New York became the the first city in the world to declare this important international cultural event. Each year BIFF issues a special poster which is distributed all over the world.

The Buffalo International Film Festival highlights the past and present work of individuals who are/were born, raised, educated, or in the Western New York Region and who have contributed in one or another way to world motion picture history.

The festival is particularly interested in highlighting the work of lesser known individuals or diverse cultural, ethnic, and educational origins and their impact upon the international community.

For further Info contact 212-214-0513 or www.BuffaloFilmFestival.com

The Buffalo International Film Festival 2009 (BIFF)
October 9-27, 200
Various location

Austin's Fantastic Fest 2009

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 24 September 2009 21:13

Written by FFTraveler Staff

Running from Sept. 24 to Oct. 1, 2009, Fantastic Fest is the largest genre film festival in the U.S., specializing in horror, fantasy, sci-fi, action and just plain fantastic movies from all around the world. Held each year, primarily at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on South Lamar in Austin, Texas, this eight-day festival features the best new Sci-fi, Horror, Fantasy and genre films, as well as choice classic and obscure cult titles from all over the world. 



Fantastic Fest was created to offer exposure to genre films which are often overlooked by the traditional festival circuit. The organizers also strive to offer acquisition, media and exhibition opportunities for undistributed films as well as to spotlight upcoming genre theatrical releases and give audiences a chance to see 35mm prints of repertory genre classics.

The majority of screenings at the Fest are held on multiple screens of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. The Alamo Drafthouse was named the best cinema in America by Entertainment Weekly in 2005 and features food and drink which is served without any disruption of the movie experience.

 Additional screenings are held at other venues in Austin including the historic Paramount Theater and the Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz. 

Founded by the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema's Tim League and Harry Knowles from Ain't It Cool News, the other co-founders are Paul Alvarado-Dykstra and Tim McCanlies. League serves as the Festival Director and the programming team includes Twitchfilm.com founder Todd Brown, Cinema is Dope's Blake Ethridge, Twitchfilm.com's Rodney Perkins, and the Alamo Drafthouse's Lars Nilsen, Henri Mazza and Zack Carlson. Matt Kiernan is the Fantastic Fest Sponsor Coordinator.

In past years, world premieres of There Will Be Blood, Apocaltypto, City of Ember and Eagle Eye were presented. The guest roster has included such talent as Mel Gibson, Bill Murray, Paul Rudd, Bill Pullman, Paul Thomas Anderson, Kevin Smith, Jon Favreau, George Romero, Darren Aronofsky and Mike Judge. It features world, national and regional premieres of new and up-and-coming genre films.

During his Keynote Address at the International film Festival Summit in Las Vegas, Variety president and publisher Charlie Koones listed Fantastic Fest in a list of "10 Film Festivals we Love," a list which included industry heavy-hitters such as Cannes, Toronto and Telluride. 

Though you'll be gorging on movies at night, you won't have much time for the famous Austin nightlife but you have a chance to get a taste of Austin during the day. There is a list of some of the favorite Austin-area attractions and Austin restaurant recommendations on the website.

For recommendations of anything else to do in Austin, Tim League is available during the fest and he can steer you in the right direction.

Dates vary year to year, but the 2009 Fantastic Fest runs from September 24-October 1.

Go to Facebook or follow on Twitter for updates and special screenings throughout the year.

the Fantastic Fest
September 24 - October 1, 2009

LA Irish Film Festival Premieres Five Titles in US

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Monday, 21 September 2009 11:15

Written by fftraveler staff

The second Los Angeles Irish Film Festival (LAIFF) opens on Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009, with the Gala screening of Conor McPherson’s The Eclipse, which will be screened at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood.

Running from the 23rd to Sunday the 27th, this non-competitive film festival focuses on celebrating the Irish love for story-telling and the deep-rooted Irish love for the tellers of tales. Coupled with the screenings that exhibit Ireland's movie making past, LAIFF presents modern cinematic works with the goal to create a cinematic barometer of the current cultural climate in Ireland.

Irish films receiving their US premieres at the festival include Lisa Barros D’Sa’s Cherrybomb, Macdara Vallely’s Peacefire and Pat Collins' Gabriel Byrne:Stories from Home; Tom Collins' The Boys of St Columbs, and the recently rediscovered 1988 Guests of Another Nation.

Other films being showcased include Vittoria Colonna di Stigliano’s ‘Identities’ and Tomm Moore’s ‘The Secret of Kells’. IFTA winner Lance Daly’s ‘Kisses ’ and Joel Conroy’s ‘Waveriders’ which won the George Morrison Feature Documentary IFTA earlier in 2009 will also be shown at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica’s American Cinematheque.

The LAIFF Festival Director, Lisa McLaughlin, remarked “We are proud of the exceptional programme for the second edition of The Los Angeles Irish Film Festival and are excited to be screening five US premieres".

There will also be a showing of several short films including the US premiere of Norman Whitten’s short silent film ‘In the Days of St Patrick’ made in 1920, Nicky Phelan’s animated Short ‘O'Grimm Sleeping Beauty’, Louis McCullagh’s ‘Call Me Son’, ‘Countdown’ by David Tynan, ‘Atlantic’ by Writer/Director Conor Ferguson, and Michael lavelle’s ‘Out of the Blue’.

The festival closes on Sunday 27th with a tribute to Hugh Leonard with a screening of DA, the feature film based on Leonard's award winning play of the same name and a discussion with Martin Sheen on his performance in the film.

Co-presenter of the festival is ELMA, a private foundation that partners with organizations seeking to make European films more widely-available to American audiences and looks to promote a greater understanding and appreciation between cultures. Executive director of ELMA, Pascal Ladreyt, yesterday told IFTN that he took on the role of executive director of ELMA having recognised a lack of Irish cinema presence in L.A.

Ladreyt is no stranger to Ireland having lived for six years in Cork and was delighted to be involved in promoting Irish cinema through the LAIFF in conjunction with Lisa McLaughlin and her team. He also shared his thoughts on this year’s upcoming event, commenting, “We are delighted to be co-presenters for the second year in a row of the Irish Film Festival LA and help celebrate Irish culture and bring the best of Irish cinema to Los Angeles.”

The festival's Industry Partner is the Irish Film Board, and is supported by Culture Ireland, IFI, Reel Ireland and IFTA.

The L.A. Irish Film Festival will run from the 23rd to the 27th September. For more information visit www.lairishfilm.com