Posts Tagged ‘film festival’

  • 28 Sep

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    TADFF ’11: Full Line Up

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    Without Toronto After Dark it is unlikely that there would be a RowThree.com for y’all to hang out, talk about a wide breadth of cinema goings on and enjoy a plethora of podcasting profundity. Row Three was formed when Andrew, Kurt and John hung out in the third row (literally) of The Bloor Cinema and took in films like Funky Forest, Aachi & Ssipak, Mulberry Street and Behind The Mask. In between screenings and over copious amounts of micro-brew, we talked about starting a website that favoured user discussion and community and a general vibe of ‘shooting-the-bull’ over the typical film-nerd comic book movie casting items and/or regurgitated pop-culture focused press releases. So it is always with interest and fondness that we hold this particular genre festival which is now going strong in its sixth year of operation. Incidentally, John, who, these days mainly operates behind the scenes on the site, because he started up a similar festival in Sasktown, Dark Bridges – which sees its sophomore year festival starting tomorrow!

    Narcissistic nostalgia notwithstanding, Toronto After Dark has announced its full line-up today! The second round additions are pretty darn good, thus assuring that the temporary change of venue to Toronto Underground Cinema should see a showering abundance of genre trick ‘r treating this October. Locals will get a chance to see Ti West’s follow-up to House of the Devil: The Innkeepers on the big screen, as well as Lucky McKee’s controversial Jack Ketchum adaptation, The Woman. Also, weird comic book mayhem with VS (described to me by programmer Peter Kuplowski as the marvel-superhero deconstruction equivalent to the DC-universe breakdown, Watchmen.) Also, I’ve seen the little indie vampire tale Midnight Son, and it is a work of maturity and quality in a genre that sorely needs it. Further quality titles include slick mountain chase film, A Lonely Place to Die (Kurt’s Review) and indie Science fiction epic, Love (Kurt’s Review).

    For the Full Line-Up, it’s all tucked under the seat.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 06 Mar

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    Sunday Bookmarks (Double Digest: Feb. 21-Mar. 6)

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    • The Sitges Festival And Director Angel Sala Charged with EXHIBITION OF CHILD PORNOGRAPHY for Screening A SERBIAN FILM
      “A Serbian Film is shocking and extreme cinema and designed to be so. But child porn? That is absolutely ridiculous – the scene that tends to get people worked up occurring entirely offscreen with the violence implied and not actually depicted – and I can only hope that the courts recognize it as such and throw the case out.”

    • Process of Blockbuster Sale objected to by Disney, Universal, landlords, U.S. trustee and others
      Other studios that have said in court documents they are owed millions of dollars for products shipped since September include Universal, 20th Century Fox and Summit Entertainment. Several of the objecting parties, including the U.S. trustee, argued in court papers that instead of seeking a buyer, Blockbuster should be forced into Chapter 7, a liquidation of all its assets. That would mark a dramatic end to a company that less than a decade ago dominated the U.S. DVD and VHS rental market.

    • 52 Most Iconic Use of Pop Songs in Movies
      Who hasn’t heard a familiar pop song on the radio only to be transported back to the film that featured it? You probably never even paid a second thought, let alone liked that particular song before it became associated with that cinematic sequence. Yet, it was such a perfect complement to that one moment in the movie that you now know the lyrics by heart. In honor to that fleeting but powerful connection between music and film, we count down 52 of the most iconic pop songs in movies.

    • If There Were an Oscar for Film Titles
      Saul Bass on Film Titles: “My initial thoughts about what a title can do was to set mood and the prime underlying core of the film’s story, to express the story in some metaphorical way. I saw the title as a way of conditioning the audience, so that when the film actually began, viewers would have an emotional resonance with it.”

    • A History of Choose Your Own Adventure
      From the start, the books were full of innovative page hacks. Readers would be trapped in the occasional time loop, forced to flip back and forth between two pages. Most memorable was Inside UFO 54-40, a book in which the most desired outcome, discovering the Planet Ultima, could only be achieved by readers who cheated and flipped through the book until they reached the page on their own. At that point, the book congratulated the reader for breaking the rules.

    • Playing With the Truth: Film in 2010
      AIf I were to ask you to imagine the sinking of the Titanic, what images come to your mind? What about Roman gladiator fighting in the Colosseum? What do you picture when you think of John Smith and Pocahontas, or the Zodiac killer who terrorized San Francisco, or the fate of United Flight 93, or the storming of Omaha Beach on D-Day? You see where I’m going with this: for many people, films based on true events serve as the primary influence on the subconscious in remembering or imagining those events.

    • The Best Picture Nominees And Their Video Games Counterparts
      Welcome to our very own version of the Academy Awards, where we’ve paired a recent game with the same dramatic aspirations, themes, or capital D drama as each of the ten best picture nominees. We’ve also picked an Oscar-worthy scene from each, proving once and for all that games belong on the red carpet as much as the next sighing starlet.

     
     

    You can now take a look at RowThree’s bookmarks at any time of your choosing simply by clicking the “delicious” button in the upper right of the page. It looks remarkably similar to this:

     

  • 20 Feb

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    Sunday Bookmarks (Feb. 14-20)

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    • True Grit Cinematographer Roger Deakins Talks About His “Shot of the Year”
      Deakins is a cinematographer’s cinematographer—the type who writes detailed responses on super fans’ discussion boards, sharing technical specs (“a 1K pup [without a lens] and two Tweenies coming through the window”), giving credit when it’s due (“Nancy Haig and I tested a number of blind samples”), and dishing personal advice (“Nothing ventured, nothing gained!”). He isn’t driven by praise—just the desire to tell a great story. “When I read a script, I think about the development of the characters—I don’t really think about the visuals. Generally, when you read a script that Joel and Ethan have written, it seems very obvious what it should look like,” says Deakins, which may make him the only person in Hollywood who finds the notoriously uncommunicative Coen brothers completely transparent.

    • The Art of the False Comparison; or, Why Freddy Got Fingered is Better Than Touch of Evil
      We all know how false comparisons work. Everybody has a number of movies they like that (most, or many) other people don’t. And everybody also has a number of movies they don’t like that (most, or many) other people do. So you just compare films from the first category to films from the second category (even if they have absolutely nothing to do with one another) and watch the outrage pour forth. You can maximize the outrage if you also make sure that the films from the second category are widely-acknowledged classics. (I realize that Armond White kind of does this with his annual “Better Than” list, though he confines it to new movies.)

    • Video Game Trailers are playing hardball
      In a bid to give movie trailers a run for their money, Techland, the creators of Zombie video-game Dead Island assemble something mighty impressive. Not quite the 28 Weeks Later Opening, but it certainly worth a look to see why all the game-geek and web buzz was so ubitquitous last week.

    • Editing out The Bible for a Wider Audience
      When you aim to please everyone, you probably will please no one. Producers, director and the studio trying to capture both the Blind Side / Passion of the Christ audience as well as secular families with Soul Surfing.

    • A Festival You DON’T want your film at
      This is the type of Film Festival logic and logistics that you never want to see as a filmmaker!

      See also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf6f6cIKvCQ&hd=1

      The link goes to 14 minute VIDEO of the 2010 ‘mix-up’ by the Swansea Film Festival which outlines just how frustrating festivals can be to the filmmakers whose films are there to be celebrated; in fact this video could be an outtake or extra scene from the documentary on lower-tier film festival circuit, Official Rejection.

    • The real director of the Room? Not Tommy Wiseau
      Although Tommy Wiseau’s name is synonymous with The Room, having written, directed, produced, and starred in his cult tragicomedy like a latter-day Orson Welles with an ass fetish, filmmaker Sandy Schklair has now come forward demanding that he be the one recognized as directing one of the worst movies of all time. In an upcoming interview with Entertainment Weekly, Schklair reportedly says that he was initially hired as a script supervisor, but his responsibilities quickly expanded as it became clear that Wiseau was too busy acting and, presumably, lighting candles to answer questions regarding his dialogue or directions, so it fell to Schklair to step in and call the shots.

     
     

    You can now take a look at RowThree’s bookmarks at any time of your choosing simply by clicking the “delicious” button in the upper right of the page. It looks remarkably similar to this:

     

  • 30 Aug

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    Dark Bridges Film Festival Lineup

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    I am pretty sure that I won’t have anyone involved with the Dark Bridges Film Festival complaining about my direct copying of their festival lineup announcement seeing as I was the one who wrote it. I’m really proud of the lineup and schedule we have been able to set up for our first festival and while there were a few movies that I wanted that we were unable to get I am really happy with the ones that took their place. We ended up with a terrific mix of comedy, horror, action and cult films that I feel rivals the bigger festivals, just on a smaller scale. I should note that I also feel that I believe the short film lineup is as strong if not stronger than the full feature film lineup.

    If you are looking for something to do this Sept. 24-26 definitely check out the Dark Bridges Film Festival.

    So without further ado here is the post from the official site website for the Dark Bridges.

    We are thrilled to be announcing our full festival schedule. The first annual Dark Bridges Film Festival is bringing you a collection of horror, action, western, sci-fi, comedy and cult feature and short films from around the world. The 12 feature films and over 20 short films will entertain film fanatics this September 24th to 26th at the Roxy Theatre in Saskatoon, SK. Each of the feature films will screen with one to two short films. If you haven’t already purchased your festival pass you really need to do so now. They are currently $60.00 and will go up to $70.00 for the month of September. Individual tickets for each movie are $8.00 at the door.

    Opening Gala Presentation

    We open the festival with the newest historical brutal action film CENTURION (Fri, Sept. 24, 7pm) from British director Neil Marshal (DOG SOLDIERS, THE DESCENT, DOOMSDAY). After the 9th Roman Legion is decimated by an attack from the Picts the few survivors have to band together as they are hunted down.

    Cannibals, Zombies and Werewolves welcome

    No genre festival would be complete without its share of creature features. This year we have have a wide selection of creatures to meet your tastes. WEREWOLF FEVER (Sat, Sept. 25, 1pm) opens up our creature day with a blast of comedy and gore as a werewolf attacks a local burger joint. Our second creature feature is the disturbing mockumentary about cannibalism LONG PIGS (Sat, Sept. 25, 3:30pm). Saturday night brings us to Zombie time with a double feature of the Spanish horror films [REC] (Sat, Sept. 25, 7pm) and [REC] 2 (Sat, Sept. 25, 9:30pm). Both of these first person shot zombie flicks will have you jumping out of your skin. Our final creature feature is the midnight madness screening of DEATH OF THE DEAD (Sat, Sept. 25, 12 midnight). All I need to say about this hilarious comedy horror is Zombie Ninjas!

    Midnight Madness

    In addition to our Saturday Midnight screening of DEATH OF THE DEAD we will also be screening EL MONSTRO DEL MAR! (Fri, Sept. 24, midnight) This Austrailian mash up of FASTER PUSSY CAT KILL KILL with a tentacle sea monster will definitely get a rise out of you.

    Terror in the Woods

    Not every horror movie that takes place in the woods involves teens being hunted down by an indestructible killer. In DAWNING (Fri, Sept. 24, 9:30pm) terror is delivered upon a family as an intruder breaks into their cabin claiming an unknown monster has killed his girlfriend. This dark scary horror will chill you to the bones.

    Canadian Historical Drama as part of Canada Culture Days

    We are extremely proud to be presenting the Manitoba created BLACK FIELD (Sun, Sept. 26, 1pm) Danishka Esterhazy has created a beautiful dark historical drama about two young sisters living alone on an isolated farm who become involved with a stranger who is interested in more than just spending a night in their barn while his horse rests. Admission for BLACK FIELD will be by donation for those who do not have a festival pass.

    Come out for some laughs

    The Irish black comedy A FILM WITH ME IN IT (Sun, Sept. 26, 3:30pm) is best seen without knowing anything about it. Trust us when we say it will have you laughing throughout as things go from bad to worse for all the characters. If you are thinking that things will be wrapping up early Sunday you are totally wrong. We have a terrific double bill to wrap up the festival. At 7pm you get the chance to see Adrien Brody as the drug dealing Psycho Ed in HIGH SCHOOL (Sun, Sept. 26, 7pm). This stoner comedy had everyone rolling on the floor at the Toronto After Dark and this is your one and chance to catch it in theatre.  This leads us to our closing night Gala…

    Closing Gala Presentation

    How do you describe a film like THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE WEIRD (Sun, Sept. 26, 9:30pm) in just a couple of sentences? This Korean Kimchi Western takes everything that you enjoy about blockbuster films and adds a terrific sense of humour, practical special effects and chase scene that rivals any of Hollywood’s best blockbuster films.

    Our complete festival schedule is available at http://www.darkbridges.com/festival-schedule/.

    You can also find more information about purchasing festival passes at several locations in Saskatoon through paypal at http://www.darkbridges.com/festival-passes-are-now-on-sale/

  • 28 Aug

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    Mamo #175: Previewing TIFF 2010

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    The Toronto International Film Festival 2010 is just around the corner! Join Matt Brown and Matt Price, hosts of Mamo!, as we take a tour through Toronto’s date with the movies. What’s good? What’s bad? What’s up with the Lightbox? We’ll be your guides to TIFF 2010…

    Standard Podcast [ 35:20 | 20.25 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup

    To download the podcast, use the following URL: http://rowthree.com/audio/mamo/mamo175.mp3

  • 15 Jul

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    Cinecast Episode 174 – Spinning the Wheel(s)

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    In a marathon shoot-the-bull show, it may only be Kurt and Andrew, but they nearly bust the 4 hour podcast barrier. The Lost Chronicles wraps up with *SPOILER* talk on the final season and the overall effect of the show that compares watching it over a 6 year period (Andrew) or a 4 week period (Kurt). Andrew has things to say about a pair of new releases: The second film in the Swedish Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Played With Fire as well as Michael Winterbottom’s controversial The Killer Inside Me. Talk goes further astray with some pontificating on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs before comparing and contrasting Herzog’s Rescue Dawn with McTiernan’s Predator. A smidgen of Polanski, a dash of Clooney, and sprinkling of Big Trouble in Little China add some extra seasoning to the conversation. Then it is the annual Fantasia round-up of what Kurt caught in Montreal – an effervescent blast of interesting genre films including Serbian madness, homosexual Korean riffs on Shakespeare, Chilean James Bond, Hong Kong slapstick, French meditations of cinema by way of a psychokinetic sentient Rubber Tire, a Danish re-envisioning of Romancing The Stone, rape as multiplex entertainment in the I Spit on Your Grave remake, and offbeat British Gangsters and their familial anxieties and loquacious monologue-ing.

    Prepare to strap yourself in because it is going to be a chatty sewing circle of filmishness!

    As always, please join the conversation by leaving your own thoughts in the comment section below and again, thanks for listening!

    Cinecast Episode 174 [ 3:54:29 | 134.18 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup
    To download the show directly, paste the following URL into your favorite downloader:
    http://rowthree.com/audio/cinecast_10/episode_174.mp3

    ALTERNATIVE (no music track):
    http://rowthree.com/audio/cinecast_10/episode_174-alt.mp3

     
     
     
    Full show notes are under the seats…
    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 30 Jun

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    Cinecast Episode 173 – Killing Squirrels for Entertainment

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    From La-La-Land and subbing in for Gamble this week, is RowThree contributor and all around special lady Jandy Stone. Kurt & Jandy immediately get down to business talking Christians and heavenly bodies in Spanish toga epic, Agora (note *SPOILERS*). They move into the Ozarks for another (spoiler-free) look at Debra Granik’s Sundance winner, Winter’s Bone. Jandy then highlights some of her favourite indies and foreign fare taken in at last weeks Los Angeles Film Festival. The LOST Chronicles continue with Kurt eating crow, swallowing most of his past-gripes and actually enjoying Season 4 (“The Freighter“) and particularly enjoy the hell out of Season 5 (“Back to the Future“) of the show. Note: Minutiae (and *SPOILERS*) ensue. DVD Picks and more round out a darn near 3 hour gangly-sized episode.

    As always, please join the conversation by leaving your own thoughts in the comment section below and again, thanks for listening!

    Cinecast Episode 173 [ 2:50:36 | 97.62 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup



    To download the show directly, paste the following URL into your favorite downloader:
    http://rowthree.com/audio/cinecast_10/episode_173.mp3

    ALTERNATIVE (no music track):
    http://rowthree.com/audio/cinecast_10/episode_173-alt.mp3

     
     
     
    Full show notes are under the seats…
    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 24 Jun

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    3rd Annual Brazilian Film Festival [Vancouver]

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    3rd Brazilian Film Festival of Vancouver Banner

    Amidst the excitement of World Cup and the advancement of Brazil (like there was any doubt that would happen), we have something else related to Brazil to celebrate in Vancouver. The Brazilian Film Festival of Vancouver is returning for its third year and it looks like the little show that could is starting to gain some steam, topping last year’s festival.

    The festival is setting up shop at the Vancity Theatre from July 15 to 18 and this year’s selection of films features everything from music documentaries to hard hitting drama. Titles include Elvis & Madona, a romantic comedy about love between a a young lesbian named Elvis and a transvestite called Madona, Tamboro, a documentary about deforestation in the Amazon, and Beyond Ipanema – Brazilian Waves In Global Music which features interviews with a wide range of dynamic performers speaking on the influence of Brazilian music.

    More information on the festival, including a full line up, can be found on the official website. Tickets are available through the Vancity Theatre website.

  • 15 Jun

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    Festival Season!

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    My favourite time of year is once again upon us; festival season is starting. Sure there are film festivals all throughout the year but like most people I can’t make it too all or even many of them. This year I am eyeballing three festivals as ones that I am going to attend. Fantasia is my first stop, Toronto After Dark is my second festival and my own Dark Bridges Film Festival is my third festival.

    Fantasia

    I have never been to Fantasia before and while I would love to stick around for the entire 20 days of movie goodness it is just not possible for me this year. The festival runs from July 8th through to the 28th in Montreal and based off of previous years it will screen a terrific collection of eclectic genre films from around the world. As far as I know only three movies have been announced so far and they are A Serbian Film, The Life and Death of a Porno Gang and Tears for Sale. Even if they have a screening of A Serbian Film while I’m there I haven’t decided if I’m going to catch it. I don’t really know much about The Life and Death of a Porno Gang other than it also pushes buttons and I do plan on seeing Tears for Sale which I mistakenly left off my TIFF 2008 Festival and which Kurt has had nothing but good things to say about it. I’ll be posting more information about the festival as it gets closer, until then I suggest checking out the Fantasia site.

    Toronto After Dark

    I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Toronto After Dark. TADFF was the first festival that I ever attended and it was a blast. I wasn’t able to attend the past two year but I am planning on attending this year as long as my holidays work out. TADFF made the move from October to August this year and will be running from the 13th through to the 20th. Seventeen screenings will be held along with two parties. The fun I had at TADFF is the reason why I am running a smaller similar festival in Saskatoon. The festival passes for the festival just went on sale. The first hundred people pay only $119 CDN for the screenings. The remainder of the two hundred passes are $139 CDN. If you were to buy all tickets for all the movies separately it would cost you $225 so I suggest heading over the website and purchasing your pass soon.

    Dark Bridges

    Dark Bridges is a brand new genre (horror, sci-fi, fantasy, cult, independant and anything else not main stream) film festival that is set to run in Saskatoon, SK on September 24th through 26th. We are currently planning on showing between 8 to 10 movies and between 10 and 20 short films over the three day period. The DBFF will be very similar to TADFF (with different movies most likely). This is our first year running and I can’t wait bring the film festival experience to Saskatoon. We are currently seeking sponsors and advertisers plus we are also accepting film submissions. So if you know anyone who would like to submit their film or if you would like to help make the Dark Bridges Film Festival a success by donating to the cause the please head over to our website.

    Shinsedai Festival

    I want to also mention one festival that I wish I was attending that is coming up soon in Toronto. Shinsedai Cinema Festival celebrates Japanese film and will be running from July 22nd through to the 25th. This year’s festival line up is going to be announced in the next couple of days. If there was any way that I could have arranged my stay in Toronto to include the festival I would have. Unfortunately, I have to pay the bills so I’ll just have to sit back and hear about the fun that is had by the attendees.

  • 27 May

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    French Film Festival [Vancouver]

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    Vancouver French Film Festival 2010The Vancouver French Film Festival is getting ready to kick off it’s fourth year and though the film selection is small (four films spread over as many weeks), I’m thrilled to report that all four titles are outstanding.

    The festival runs June 11th to August 5th at The Ridge Theatre, kicking off on June 11th with a one week run of Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Micmacs (review). That’s sure to make many a local fan happy as the film hasn’t played Vancouver yet. If that’s not enough, also on the docket is Jan Kounen’s Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky which starts on June 25th, Alain Resnais’ Wild Grass on July 9th (perhaps the film I’m most excited to see) and finishing up with Christian Carion’s Farewell on July 23rd.

    For loads of details on the event, including to ticket purchase, check out the French Film Festival website.

    Trailers for all of the films tucked under the seats!

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 19 May

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    Romanian Wave continues with Cristi Puiu’s “Aurora”

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    Aurora Movie StillThe Romanian New Wave may have picked up steam with Cristian Mungiu’s 4 months 3 weeks and 2 days but it wasn’t the first film to come out of Romania to great acclaim. It had predecessors and one of those was Cristi Puiu’s The Death of Mister Lazarescu.

    Now five years later, with the wave riding high, Puiu returns to the festival circuit with a new offering. I wish I could relay what Aurora is about but the Cannes description provides only snippets and the trailer which has found its way online doesn’t provide much more than a series of disconnected images and bits of story. Sure, I could look around for reviews but I’d rather hold back for the day, likely later this year, when I have a chance to take in the three hour story Puiu has set out to tell. And it must be quite the story as Puiu has taken on the reigns completely not only writing and directing but also taking the lead role of Viorel.

    What I can tell is that this film shares many of the markers of its predecessors: bleak, dark, a little miserable and the trailer suggests that it also includes moments of joy.

    Trailer tucked under the seat.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 19 May

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    Cannes Trailer for Mathieu Amalric’s comedy “Tournée”

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    Tournee Movie StillBy now, everyone’s familiar with Mathieu Amalric. From fearless Elle editor Jean-Do to Bond bad guy, he’s a face that once may have receded into the background but now, one can’t help but notice him on screen. But aside from prolific actor, there’s another side to Amalric: director.

    Amalric already has a number of projects under his belt, both shorts and full lengths and hi newest, a comedy titled Tournée (On Tour) recently played Cannes. It’s the story of a Parisian television producer (played by Amalric) who escapes to the US ruined but unwilling to leave France completely behind. He meets and convinces a Burlesque troupe that Paris, and all of France, would love them but the tour doesn’t go as well as planned, these things never do.

    The film appears to have more than a handful of laughs and a bit of drama to keep things interesting and if this trailer is any indication, a fabulous look. There’s something surreal playing at the corners of the images almost like a dream. I was sold on the stills alone but thankfully, it looks like the film itself may be a great deal of fun.

    Trailer tucked under the seats!

    » Read the rest of the entry..

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