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The advance word on the Festival de Cannes in 2012 was the fact that not one woman director had a film in the competition. Things have improved in 2013 – there is one film made by a woman in the festival’s competition section – and she’s the sister-in-law of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. (The film is A Castle in Italy by Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) Female filmmakers fare better in the section known as Un Certain Regard, where luminaries such as Claire Denis, Sofia Coppola, Lucia Puenzo, Rebecca Zlotowski and others make appearances with new films.
The old dark house is a motif prevalent throughout the horror genre. An unfamiliar locale, simultaneously ornate and pristine, whether Dracula’s castle, or the Overlook Hotel, these fictitious abodes are both alluring and terrifying. So it only makes sense that a horror film festival would be organized in such a place.
Today, the Seattle International Film Festival has unveiled it's full line up for this year's festival. As this will be my first year covering it (and my first time covering any festival of this pedigree), I anxiously anticipated what this year's festival would hold and the answers are pretty exciting. Running from May 16-June 9, SIFF has more to offer than ever before.
SIFF officially launches with Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing at its Opening Night Gala. Famously filmed in a mere 12 days, this modernized Shakespeare adaptation tells the tale of love unacquainted and unrequited. Whedon is expected to attend alongside stars Alexis Denisof, Amy Acker, Nathan Fillion, and Clark Gregg.
This year’s inaugural Louisiana International Film Festival (LIFF) has a triple-pronged set of conditions for the films which will play during the four day festival, running April 18-21: Francophilia, environmentalism and music. However eclectic these prerequisites may be, they cut to the heart of the swamp lands of Louisiana.