Turner Classic Movies continues its 7th annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood on Friday, April 29 with the special screenings and appearances by Francis Ford Coppola, John Singleton and Angela Lansbury to name a few. Please enjoy highlights of Day #2 at the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival.
(Source: TCM Press Room
Turner Classic Movies kicks off its 7th annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood on Thursday, April 28 with the opening night screening of All The President’s Men at the TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX. Carl Bernstein, investigative journalist and author of the book “All The President’s Men,” joined Spotlight director Tom McCarthy and Spotlight screenwriter Josh Singer for a conversation with TCM host Ben Mankiewicz highlighting journalism in film. Actor Alec Baldwin joined Ben Mankiewicz to open the evening’s events.
(Press release provided by TCM Press Room)
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) today announced that screen icon Faye Dunaway is set to attend the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival, taking place in Hollywood April 28 – May 1, to participate in a sit-down interview about her life and celebrated career in front of a live audience of festival passholders at the The Ricardo Montalbán Theatre. In addition to the interview, Dunaway will be on-hand to introduce a screening of Network (1976), for which she won the Oscar® for Best Actress.
“Faye Dunaway has had an extraordinarily successful career spanning nearly six decades, including winning the Academy Award® for Network and working alongside some of the best in the industry such as Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, and Robert Redford,” said TCM Host Robert Osborne. “She is one of the great beauties and magical leading ladies of film. It’s going to be a great treat for our fans to hear from her first hand about her extraordinary life and career.”
Dunaway joins an already exciting roster at this year’s festival, including previously announced appearances by director John Singleton for the 25th anniversary screening of his coming-of-age classic Boyz N The Hood (1991), Carl Reiner with an extended conversation and screening of Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982) Elliott Gould with screenings of his Golden Globe nominated performance in M*A*S*H (1970), The Long Goodbye (1973) and Eva Marie Saint who will be on hand to introduce a screening of the political comedy The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming (1966). Actor Stacy Keach will be discussing John Huston’s gritty look at the world of small-time boxing in Fat City (1972) and French actress Anna Karina will be introducing Band of Outsiders (1964), Jean-Luc Godard’s riff on gangster films.
About Faye Dunaway
Faye Dunaway began her career onstage before moving to the big screen and starring in the pioneering film Bonnie and Clyde (1967), for which she received an Oscar® nomination. She’s appeared in several iconic films throughout her career, including The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) and Chinatown (1974). She won an Academy Award® in 1976 for her role in Network.
Born in Bascom, Florida in 1941, she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1962 from Boston University. Six days after graduation, Dunaway won the role of Paul Scofield’s daughter in Broadway’s production of A Man for All Seasons. Three years later, she found off-Broadway success with a critically acclaimed role in William Alfred’s Hogan’s Goat and was immediately pursued by producers to do five films in a row.
Dunaway’s third film was Bonnie and Clyde as the iconic Bonnie Parker opposite Warren Beatty, launching her into Hollywood stardom. In her next film, she starred alongside Steve McQueen as a high-fashion “take-no-prisoners” insurance investigator in The Thomas Crown Affair. She continued her career throughout the 1970s, with such films as Little Big Man (1970), The Three Musketeers (1973), The Towering Inferno (1974), Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) and The Champ (1979).
As her career progressed, Dunaway took on more complex roles, including the troubled wife Evelyn Mulwray in Roman Polanski’s 1974 film Chinatown; and a civilian who is abducted by a CIA researcher in Three Days of the Condor, a 1975 film directed by Sydney Pollack. Dunaway won the Academy Award® for Best Actress in 1976 for her groundbreaking role as a pioneering television executive in Network. In 1988, she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her performance in Barfly (1987), alongside Mickey Rourke.
The 1990s saw Dunaway perform in several films, including The Handmaid’s Tale (1991); Arizona Dream (1992); Don Juan DeMarco (1994); The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999); The Yards (2000), a crime-thriller; and The Rules of Attraction (2002), a dark comedy. One of Dunaway’s most acclaimed performances of the decade came in 1993, with her guest role as Laura Staton in the TV series Columbo for which she won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. She also won a Golden Globe for her work in the telefilm Gia (1998).
Additionally, from 1996 to 1997, Dunaway received universal acclaim starring as opera diva Maria Callas in the American tour of Terrence McNally’s Master Class. Since then, she has made several TV appearances, including on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation in 2006, Grey’s Anatomy in 2009 and has a recurring role on the upcoming second season of the Amazon drama series Hand of God.
(Source: TCM Press room)
Film submissions for the Competition section of the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) is now ready on the festival website! (Submission period: April 15-July 8, 2016)
As one of the largest film festivals in Asia – TIFF Competition has been showing many outstanding films created by up-and-coming directors as well as premieres of works by prestigious filmmakers of the world.
Last year, we were honored to receive 1,409 films from 86 countries and regions. 16 excellent films were screened after the pre-selection and Nise – The Heart of Madness (Brazil) directed by Roberto Berliner won the Tokyo Grand Prix for the last year’s TIFF.
28th TIFF Award Winners ©2015 TIFF
A summary of the Regulations for the Competition 2016 is attached. TIFF looks forward to even a larger number of submissions from around the world.
The 29th TIFF will take place October 25-November 3, 2016 for 10 days in Tokyo, JAPAN.
For detailed information about film submission, please visit the TIFF official website: www.tiff-jp.net . (Source: Press release courtesy of TIFF Public Relations Group)
The 22nd edition of the LA Film Festival will take place June 1 – June 9, 2016 at ArcLight Cinemas. The LA Film Festival’s mission is to showcase diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision in independent American and international cinema.
“We are thrilled to open with Lowriders, a culturally vibrant film that explores familial relationships within a second-generation Mexican family in East LA. Made by filmmakers of color, Lowriders embodies our mission of shining the light on unique voices,” said Festival Director Stephanie Allain. “Spirit Award winner Ryan Coogler honors us as Guest Director – we had Fruitvale Station at the Festival in 2013 and are so happy to have him back this year as our Guest Director.”
“We can’t imagine a more fitting recipient of the Spirit of Independence Award than Ava DuVernay and her distribution company Array Releasing,” said Film Independent President Josh Welsh. “In addition to being a brilliant filmmaker, Ava is a passionate, forward-thinking distributor, helping unique and diverse voices find their audiences. Array bought Takeshi Fukunaga’s Out of My Hand at last year’s Festival, a film that we celebrated at this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards.”
Lowriders (Photo credit: Justin Lubin)
Set against the vibrant backdrop of East LA’s near-spiritual car culture, Lowriders follows the story of Danny, a talented young street artist caught between the lowrider world inhabited by his old-school father and ex-con brother, and the adrenaline-fueled outlet that defines his self-expression.
“It is such an honor that the LA Film Festival has chosen Lowriders to open this year’s Festival,” said producer Brian Grazer. “From their humble beginnings to their modern-day status as works of extraordinary art, these aren’t simply cars…they hold the imagination of the people and culture that create them. Danny’s coming-of-age story is one of a son, a brother and a visionary, and we cannot wait to share Ricardo’s film with the world.”
“We are always looking to partner with filmmakers who are incredibly passionate about their projects,” said producer Jason Blum. “When Brian brought the idea for Lowriders to Blumhouse, we got excited by the opportunity to work with Imagine and Ricardo on this powerful story, which is a unique look at two generations at a crossroads. The LA Film Festival is a wonderful event, and we look forward to being a part of this year’s unique lineup.”
Pictured left to right: Ava DuVernay (Photo courtesy of GlamourUK); Ryan Coogler (Photo courtesy of LA Film Festival)
Guest Director Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station, Creed) will attend the 15th annual Filmmaker Retreat. A signature program of the Festival, the Filmmaker Retreat brings together all the feature directors in this year’s Festival along with seasoned filmmakers and Film Independent Board Members who attend as honored artists. The Filmmaker Retreat is an opportunity to build community among the Festival’s filmmakers before the Festival kicks off on June 1. Past Guest Directors of the Festival include Rodrigo García, Lisa Cholodenko, David O. Russell, Mira Nair, Kathryn Bigelow, George Lucas, William Friedkin, Sydney Pollack, Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón.
Writer/director/producer/distributor Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere, Selma) and her colleagues at Array Releasing will be awarded the Spirit of Independence Award. The Spirit of Independence Award is given to individuals who advance the cause of independent film, champion creative freedom or make a significant contribution to the preservation and proliferation of independent voices. Array Releasing is an LA-based film collective dedicated to the amplification of images by people of color and women. The collective’s film releases to date include: 2015 LA Film Festival winners Out of my Hand and Ayanda, Ashes and Embers, Mississippi Damned, Middle of Nowhere, Kinyarwanda, Restless City, Vanishing Pearls, Big Words, Better Mus’ Come and I Will Follow.
“In 2013 we launched a series of LA Film Festival posters designed to celebrate LA artists. Native Angelena Carolyn Castaño joins the ranks of acclaimed artists Ed Ruscha and the late Noah Davis as the 2016 poster artist,” said Mary Sweeney, Film Independent Board Chair. “Castaño’s work reflects and celebrates her deep roots and experiences in the powerful Latina culture of Los Angeles. Film Independent and the LA Film Festival support and celebrate the diversity of unique artistic voices.”
Carolyn Castaño’s work in painting, drawing, video and mixed-media installations has been exhibited both nationally and internationally, most recently at the 56th International La Bienniale di Venezia, LACMA’s Fútbol: The Beautiful Game, the Pasadena Museum of California Art and at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City. Her site-specific installation at the Los Angeles International Airport will be unveiled in June 2016. Castano earned a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and her MFA from UCLA.
Festival passes are on sale to Film Independent Members starting today, April 5. Passes go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, April 12. The full line-up will be announced on Tuesday, April 26. Individual tickets go on sale to Members on Tuesday, May 5 and to the general public on Tuesday, May 10. Please visit lafilmfestival.com for more information.
(Source: Press release courtesy of LA Film Festival)
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will honor acclaimed filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola during a handprint-footprint ceremony at the world-famous TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX® on Friday, April 29, 2016 as part of the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival. Coppola has been a Hollywood icon for more than 50 years having directed such classics as The Godfather trilogy, Apocalypse Now (1979), The Conversation (1974) among countless other classics and is an Oscar®, Golden Globe® and BAFTA® award winner. Renowned for his generosity with other filmmakers, Coppola has served as a fierce promoter and mentor to others, championing the work of directors George Lucas, John Milius and Sofia Coppola and actors Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Harrison Ford, James Caan and Diane Lane.
“Without a doubt, Francis Ford Coppola is one of the most influential filmmakers of his generation,” said TCM host Robert Osborne. “His Academy Award®-winning directing, producing and writing contributions have given audiences some of the most memorable films of the last half-century, and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate his distinguished career, and our appreciation of what he’s added to our lives, than with this honor.”
This marks the sixth consecutive year TCM has featured a hand and footprint ceremony at the legendary TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX®. In 2011, Peter O’Toole was the honoree, followed by Kim Novak in 2012, Jane Fonda in 2013, Jerry Lewis in 2014 and Christopher Plummer in 2015.
Francis Ford Coppola is best known as the five-time Academy Award-winning director of such epic films as the Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now (1979). Born in Detroit in 1939, Coppola grew up in Queens, New York. Bedridden with polio as a child, he developed an interest in film after being given a toy movie projector. A prolific theater and film student at Hofstra College and UCLA, he first made his mark as the Oscar-winning screenwriter behind Patton (1970), and followed it up with the Godfather films, Apocalypse Now and The Conversation (1974). These films have consistently been listed among the greatest films ever made.
As the maverick founder of his company, American Zoetrope, he personally nourished the careers of talents such as George Lucas, Carroll Ballard, John Milius, his daughter, Sofia Coppola, and actors including Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, James Caan, Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, Laurence Fishburne, Matt Dillon and Diane Lane. Zoetrope-produced films have received sixteen Academy Awards and seventy nominations.
As a writer, director, producer and technological pioneer, Coppola has created a body of work that has helped to shape contemporary American cinema. Francis Coppola created and presides over an international business empire that includes wine, resorts, and publications, as well as film.
Passes for the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival are on sale now. Fans are able to purchase them through the TCM Classic Film Festival website. As the number of passes available is limited, fans are encouraged to purchase their passes as soon as possible.
The “Spotlight” Festival Pass: $1,649 – Includes all privileges available to “Classic” and “Essential” passholders, priority entry to all screening events; plus entry to the exclusive opening-night party following the red-carpet gala screening at TCL Chinese Theatre; meet-and-greet events with TCM friends, including Robert Osborne and Ben Mankiewicz; and a limited edition TCM Classic Film Festival poster.
The “Essential” Festival Pass: $749 – Includes all privileges available to “Classic” passholders, plus entry to the opening-night red-carpet gala screening at TCL Chinese Theatre and official TCM Classic Film Festival collectibles.
The “Classic” Festival Pass: $599 – Includes access to all film programs at festival venues Thursday, April 28 – Sunday, May 1 (does not include admittance to the opening-night red-carpet gala screening at TCL Chinese Theatre or the opening-night party); access to all Club TCM events, panels and poolside screenings at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel; an opening-night welcome reception at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel; and the closing-night event.
The “Palace” Festival Pass: $299 – Includes access to all screenings and events at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre (excluding the opening-night red-carpet gala) and the Egyptian Theatre Friday, April 29 – Sunday, May 1, as well as poolside screenings at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
(Source: TCM Pressroom)
Join us on Saturday, March 19 at the Fremont Theatre to pay tribute to one of Hollywood’s most talented and beautiful “triple threats” – Ann-Margret! 2010 King Vidor Award recipient Alan Arkin will be back to present the award to her before the George Sidney Independent Film Awards and TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz will sit down with her for a conversation too! Get tickets here: http://slofilmfest.org/tickets-passes/
(Featured Photo Credit: DeepestDream.com)
Markus Horn, A German pianist/composer, mesmerized the audience on a baby grand piano with an original musical score accompaniment to the classic German Expressionist silent film masterpiece, Nosferatu (link to my full review) at the Spanos Theatre on the Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo campus, Tuesday, March 15, 2016. Nosferatu was presented by SLO Film Fest sponsors BHE Renewables, Union Bank and KZOZ. Film goers arrived early to witness this exciting and noteworthy event and to cast ballots for original art works in competition for for Official SLO Film Fest Poster status.
(Photo Credit: Kevin J. O’Connor/HollywoodGlee)
Throughout the evening’s film Horn brilliantly matched the photographic score in creating a dream like atmosphere for the minimalized intertitled narrative. Horn’s intense symbiosis of film and music culminated in a rousing, standing ovation by an enraptured audience at the film’s end.
(Photos courtesy of San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce)
(Featured photo provided courtesy of San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce)
SLO Film Fest kicked off with an Opening Night Party in the new Hollywood &Vines Festival Tent, located directly behind the historic Fremont Theatre in the heart of downtown San Luis Obispo. The Black Market Trio provided live jazz music.
An added feature this year to the festival’s venue, the Hollywood & Vines Tent will serve as hospitality headquarters and a meeting place for filmmakers, media and passholders. In addition, the tent will host several parties including Surf Nite Meet-and-Greet, Surf Night After-Party, a Saturday Happy Hour and Sunday’s Closing Night Party. The tent is being generously sponsored by dozens of local Central Coast restaurants, wineries, breweries and more. For more details on daily/nightly access click here: http://slofilmfest.org/
(Photo Credit: Kevin J. O’Connor/HollywoodGlee)
The complete 2006 digitally restored version of Nosferatu the surreal German Expressionist classic silent film by renowned director, F.W. Murnau, served as the Opening Night film for the 22nd SLO Film Fest with a new piano soundtrack performed live by German composer and pianist, Markus Horn. Most recently, Horn has performed his musical talents to another silent German film, Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang. Interestingly, Horn created this composition in the Spanos Theater specifically for Nosferatu . Nosferatu, is similar in a stylistic vein to the classic example of German Expressionism, the 1922 silent film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, with its use of unusual, odd-looking characters, geometric mise-en-scen and its abundant use of light and shadows in its storytelling. A storied production, Nosferatu, an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” was shot in 1921 and released the following year in 1922. It is very similar to “Dracula,” retaining its core characters of Jonathan and Nina Harker and the Count while omitting some of the secondary characters. A court ruling ordered all copies of the film destroyed after Prana Film, a short-lived, silent-era German film studio was unable to get the rights to the novel, was sued Bram Stoker’s widow and eventually declared bankrupted in defending itself from copyright infringement. A few copies of the film survived as the studio undauntedly had gone forward with the production changing names and details from the original novel. For example, Count Dracula became Count Orlok, played brilliantly by Max Schreck (Schreck in German translates to terror, fitting for the roles Max Schreck undertook throughout his acting career) and the term vampire became nosferatu. In addition, Count Orlok doesn’t create new vampires. Instead he killed his victims with the town folk blaming the deaths on a black plague. And, while Count Dracula was weakened by sunlight, Orlock sleeps by day as any exposure to sunlight would cause his death. In the end, Count Orlok meets his demise in drinking the blood of a young maiden, Mina, who sacrifices herself by allowing Orlok’s copulation while enticing him to do so into the day’s sunrise culminating in Orlok’s death.
Murnau prided himself on utilizing various angles in his productions and Nosferatu’s cinematographer, Fritz Arno Wagner, delivers. Several shots capture the eye including a film ending low angle shot of a castle in ruin representing the demise of Count Orlok. In addition, several shots on board the ship of stacked wooden coffins and the frenzied scrambling of ship rats as a coffin is opened and its contents spilled become etched in memory. All this withstanding, the evening belonged to Markus Horn, as he mesmerized the audience with a soundtrack that brilliantly matched the photographic score in creating a dream like atmosphere for the minimalized intertitled narrative. Horn’s intense symbiosis of film and music culminated in a rousing, standing ovation by an enraptured audience at the film’s end.
This version of Nosferatu with the Markus Horn accompaniment and a run-time of 94 minutes left the audience wanting more. Much more. An exceptional opening film. Highly, highly recommended.
