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Entering its 19th year, the New York African Film Festival (NYAFF) returns to Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater (165 W. 65th St.) from April 11th - 17th, 2012.
Heralding the theme, The 21st Century: The Homecoming, the fest is not simply a celebration of filmmakers, it also examines and celebrates African culture, history and politics as it marks the 100th anniversary of the African National Congress and the 50th anniversary of independence for Algeria, Burundi, Jamaica, Rwanda, and Uganda.
Film festival at a ski resort? You bet!
Opening March 29 - April 1 2012, at the ski resort of Vail, Colorado, the annual Vail Film Festival makes it to its ninth edition.
The Vail FF promotes independent filmmaking, with a special focus on new and innovative filmmakers. Besides screening some of the year's top films from around the globe, the festival also features workshops, seminars, industry panel discussions and special events with award-winning actors, writers and directors.
With Cadillac as a returning sponsor, this four-day event includes a special awards ceremony, ski and snowboarding, VIP parties and live music as well as a rich film program.
Produced by the Colorado Film Institute, this non-profit arts organization is dedicated to fostering independent cinema and creative filmmaking.
There will be numerous events this year which celebrate films and filmmakers from all over the world.
Screenings place in various venues:
Alongside the film festival, the annual screenplay competition will be running in unison. Attendees will experience a weekend filled with film screenings, parties, live music, ice skating, and a hospitality lounge with complimentary Stella Artois, leading to the closing night of the ceremony.
New Directors/New Films has showcased the work of emerging artists for over 40 years, and continues to celebrate the most innovative voices in filmmaking. Presented by Lincoln Center's Film Society and MoMA.
As New Director/New Films opens March 21, 2012, at MoMA, here are some recommendations from noted film writer/reviewer David D'arcy with more to come. --ed
The Ambassador
directed by Mads Brugger
(Denmark)
Anything but diplomatic, this documentary/mockumentary by Mads Brugger, the Colbert of Denmark, made its debut at IDFA in Amsterdam late last year. Its political incorrectness will offend some tender souls, as it did at Sundance. Brugger, posing as a businessman, buys an Liberian ambassadorship to the Central African Republic, and then opens a factory in which pygmies, roaring drunk when we meet them, will make matches one day.
Activist film making has existed in one form or another for decades, but it was not until the 2006 film, An Inconvenient Truth, that
the world of environmentalist filmmaking was pushed to the forefront. There has always been a stalwart figure in the world of environmental cinema that continues to support enviromental activist cinema: The Environmental Film
Festival in the nation's capital.
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, The Environmental Film Festival (March 13-25, 2012), will exhibit 180 documentary, narrative, animated, archival, experimental and children’s films from 42 countries.
Films are screened at over 60 venues throughout the Washington metropolitan area, including museums, embassies, libraries, universities and local theaters. Most screenings are free.