B-side Entertainment, the Austin-based tech and distribution company that provides website services to film festivals, is closing. The company, which launched a New York-based distribution arm just 13 months ago, lost its funding from venture capital fund Valhalla Partners in late 2009. “We have spent the last four or five months looking for a [financing] alternative,” B-Side CEO and founder Chris Hyams told Filmmaker. “But we reached the end of our cash before we could secure new investment. We had to shut the company down.” B-Side laid off the majority of its staff last week and throughout the weekend notified …

I saw Russian director Alexei Popogrebsky’s How I Ended This Summer only near the tail end of the festival, at a screening an expensive cab ride away from the usual venues and with German subtitles. Thankfully, I studied just enough German in school to follow it, but it was a strain. The projection was late at night as well, and I was exhausted. But I smelled an excellent work, in part from a critics’ grid at the back of the daily issue of Screen (where I review) that gave it multiple stars, and in part from the intuition of a …

It’s more than a little odd that The Ghost Writer, Roman Polanski’s best film in 30 years, is in the official Berlin competition. Yes, the 76-year-old veteran is up against a few other prolific filmmakers such as Zhang Yimou and Michael Winterbottom, but many of the others have only one or two features under their belts. And, at the end of the day, as beautifully executed as The Ghost Writer is by Polanski and his cinematographer, fellow Polish native Pawel Edelman, it is a conventional genre film—a fusion of classical Hitchcock and the Bourne series–about a Tony Blairish British former …

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about Matt Porterfield’s Kickstarter campaign for his film Putty Hill. He needed to raise $10,000, and with 30 hours left to go, he is still collecting funds over and above his goal; he’s currently at $18,926. Undoubtedly, the film’s high-profile premiere — in the Berlin Film Festival’s Forum section — helped. You can follow his adventure there over at the IFP blog, where Porterfield has been blogging. Here’s an excerpt where he talks about some of the people he has been meeting: I saw Claire Denis (pictured) speak to the Talent Campus today …

UPDATE 2/16: Screen reports that the remake rumors are just that. The biggest news so far to come out of the Berlin Film Festival is on a film that was made 36 years ago. Spreading all over the blogs, Lars von Trier and Martin Scorsese are supposedly mulling over the idea of remaking Taxi Driver with Robert De Niro to reprise the role of Travis Bickle. In Variety, Gunnar Rehlin reports: The idea behind the project is similar to the film The Five Obstructions that von Trier and Danish helmer Jorgen Leth made in 2003. In that film, von Trier …

So far at this still very young Sundance 2010 the mood is jovial and yet reserved. I wasn’t here last year, at the peak (we hope) of the economic downturn, for what many observers saw as a throwback to the days when Sundance was still just an intimate industry event and not the media feeding frenzy it became during the last boom cycle for speciality film. However, it’s clear that there is less corporate sponsored, swag powered prostitution happening on Main Street. The GenArt party last night was still full of people who weren’t sure if they were here for …

Now in its 21st year, the Palm Springs International Film Festival Festival (Jan. 5-18) continues to be the place to be seen for foreign film Oscar contenders, 41 of which screened in this year’s Festival. U.S. films, for the most part, take a distant back seat, since most serious American filmmakers don’t want to risk of alienating the Sundance Film Festival, which comes on the heels of Palm Springs and insists on its films being U.S. premieres. While there were a smattering of U.S. indies, the majority would never be confused with Sundance entrees, except for the very fine The …

The Bahamas International Film Festival wrapped in Nassau Thursday night with the closing night film, Precious, which brought out the island out to watch the film and then partake in a Q&A with screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher and Lenny Kravitz, who stars in the film. The seven day fest also included a career tribute to Johnny Depp earlier in the week, another tribute to Bahamanian underwater cinematographer Gavin McKinney and a Rising Star honor to actress Sophie Okonado. I attended the fest, where I moderated the closing night Q&A, and here’s some shots from the fest. Children of God (Opening Night …

The 29th edition of the Hawaii International Film Festival (Oct. 15-25) kicked off with its usual blend of sun-kissed island charm and formal glamour; a sunset opening party at the historic Royal Hawaiian Hotel, steps from the beaches of Waikiki, seemed like some stage-managed idea of what “the good life” should be, with tiki lights flickering in the warm breezes, views of a sun setting along the beach, the tinkling of wine glasses, great food, jovial filmmakers, various Lost cast members mingling with Hawaiian artists, mainland stars, Korean producers, Japanese directors, and more. “Only in a place like Hawaii could …

The Bahamas International Film Festival announced today that Johnny Depp will be receiving the fest’s career achievement award this year. Check back to Festival Ambassador for reports from BIFF when the fest takes place in Nassau Dec. 10-17. More NewsChildren of God/Precious Bookend Fest