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Arriving two weeks before Mexico’s Day of the Dead, the Morelia International Film Festival (October 16 to 24, 2010) is well positioned to take the pulse of the Mexican film industry. Perhaps more than any time in its eight-year history, FICM 2010 offers proof that the domestic cinema is alive and well, even resurrecting its Golden Age of Cinema. This year the country produced 80 films.
Celebrating 20 years, Oslo’s Films from the South Festival is Northern Europe’s leading festival dedicated exclusively to film from Asia, Africa and Latin America. The Festival runs from October 7 - 17, 2010, in the Norwegian capital.
Films from the South was born at the University of Oslo in 1991 by idealistic film enthusiasts. The dream was to show that one billion people in Asia, Africa and Latin America could not be wrong. In spite of the large and vital film production on these continents almost none of the production reached Norwegian cinemas.
The funhouse mirror that is Royal Flush Magazine once again celebrates its warped take on pop culture, video games, indie movies and underground music and art at its annual immersion, Royal Flush Festival, October 11 to 18, 2010. Think Mad Magazine and Harvard Lampoon for merrily stunted adults as the pages of this nationally-circulated rag jolt to life through screenings and performances at the Knitting Factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and other New York venues.
Festival curtains will rise on its film segment with Shan Nicholson’s documentary Downtown Calling, in which Blondie’s Deborah Harry narrates the saga of New York’s downtown music and art scene in the 1970s and 1980s. For Festival clinchers, film programmer & co-director Jim Muscarella has slotted El Monstro Del Mar!, Stuart Simpson’s B-movie slasher by way of Australia.
The Hamptons International Film Festival dips into its 18th year October 7 to 11, 2010 in East Hampton, New York, with additional beachheads in Southampton, Sag Harbor and Montauk.
Reaching the Long Island shore will be films from Chad, the Czech Republic, Columbia and Denmark, among other countries, buoying the Festival’s “mission to bring a wide range of viewpoints from around the world,” as per Executive Director Karen Arikian.
Two films will open this year’s Festival. First to take its bows will be the U.S. premiere of Barney’s Version, in East Hampton on October 7. Richard J. Lewis’ adaptation of Mordechai Richler’s last novel was warmly received in Toronto, as was The King’s Speech – so much so, in fact, that it took top prize – and it’s set to show off Tom Hooper’s directorial chops on the following night, in East Hampton.
Festival curtains will close with Black Swan. Darren Aronofksy's ballet thriller has garnered festival applause for Natalie Portman's star turn as a rivalrous ballerina.