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Always an indication of the imminent onset of awards season, AFI Fest typically gets ahead of the curve with world and local premieres of would-be contenders. For some films, it’s a prestigious Hollywood launching pad to build momentum toward the Golden Globes, guild honors and the Oscars, while for others it’s a brief moment in the spotlight before getting eclipsed by higher-profile titles.

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The Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival (Oct. 9-19) prides itself on being a bridge between “East and West,” but this year’s edition found its greatest strength in films even closer to home (or as close to home as Hawaii can get, considering it’s the most geographically isolated populated landmass in the world). Festival programmer Anderson Le and director Chuck Boller brought in

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Following on the heels of the Pusan International Film Festival, the Tokyo International Film Festival (Oct. 18-26), ever wanting to position itself as the "go to" festival for new Asian cinema, seems to get sloppy seconds. Even the newcomer, the Bangkok International Film Festival, programmed an edgier Asian section, scooping the new Naomi Kawase film, Nanayo, a few weeks before TIFF. Long

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The defining moment of the Los Angeles Film Festival (June 19-29), presented by Film Independent, didn’t occur at a gala screening or a high-profile filmmaker panel, but transpired instead at the fest’s annual Finance Conference as Mark Gill, former president of Miramax and currently CEO of The Film Department, delivered the keynote address. As widely reported in the entertainment press,

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The CineVegas Film Festival (June 12-21) celebrated its tenth year in a manner befitting its Sin City setting: a colossal, ten-day jubilee of film and fun. High and low culture rubbed a lot more than just shoulders — among the many special events were not only a screening by contemporary art darling Takashi Murakami on a waterfall at the Wynn Resort but also a fete at Sapphire’s, the

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Just past Madison Square Garden, if you can weave through its mass of disoriented tourists, beneath the neon moniker of the New Yorker hotel, you’ll find a disproportionate number of same sex couples, groups of men with distinct fashion sense, packs of women and yet nary a high heel – all them congregating outside the Loews 34th Street movie theater. And if you’re keen enough to glance inside

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Jodie Foster “came out” during a recent Hollywood Awards ceremony, Gus Van Sant’s feature on the assassination of San Francisco’s gay mayor Harvey Milk is now in production, and gay and lesbian liaisons amongst the older [Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi] and younger star sets [Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson?] are now looked upon with almost avuncular support. Yet, way before

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The 2008 Tribeca Film Festival (April 23 – May 4) could best be described as the year it edged closer to finding its niche in the overcrowded festival schedule. Cutting 40 films off of its slate, lowering ticket prices and (this is the biggie) centralizing the festival in Union Square — the first time TFF has had a home base since its first two years when it was in Lower Manhattan — the seventh

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To enter Gen Art, your name must be on a clipboard manned by a shining, feverish lady in black. If it is you feel lucky, chosen, special, because then you are permitted to taste what life should be like EVERY DAY: lo, there is free beer, free wine, free cookies and free popcorn. You eat, you drink, you look around. Are you in a singles bar? No – over there is a character actor whom you admire..

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The Miami International Film Festival’s (Feb. 28 - March 9) lack of public screenings before 4 p.m. makes sense only after you’ve plopped bare feet onto the beach and felt the sun on your face--unusual sensations for movie people, several of whom were seen sporting freshly burned skin in the fest’s first half. On Day 4, Henry Fonda flaunted his own deep, dark tan in Once Upon a Time in the West

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In only four years the Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) has taken on the Herculean task of establishing itself as a platform for Middle Eastern films to the Western world. And when there seems to be no limit to the amount of money the city will put into the fest (and itself: the tallest building in the world will soon be located in Dubai, its mall has the largest indoor amusement park

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Now in its second year, the spectacularly-funded new-kid-on-the-block Rome Film Fest (Oct. 18-27) exhibits the apparently ontologically inescapable teething pains that all toddlers must endure – disorganization, poor communication skills, a certain clumsiness, and a forward-looking sense of “anything’s possible.” Also, a tendency to imitate the mother’s facial expressions – in this case, the

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Now in its 20th year under the firm stewardship of festival director and art-film connoisseur Alan Franey, the Vancouver International Film Festival (September 27 to October 12) remains the same as it ever was: committed to an intelligent mix of new movies from Asia and Canada (and new nonfiction from around the world), and admirably resistant to the market pressures that sometimes threaten to

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It's been noted that with Tribeca nipping at its heels and film fests sprouting like kudzu, the New York Film Festival might be losing its relevance and lustre. Well, to judge by the 45th edition, such concerns are premature. From Sept. 28 to Oct. 14 the NYFF — the 20th with Richard Peña at the helm — rolled out a wide-ranging lineup of mostly exhilarating films. If they reflect, in Pena's words

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Blithely defying industry norms, Film Independent’s Los Angeles Film Festival (June 21-July 1) managed the unlikely achievement of figuratively conferring independent filmmaker status on blockbuster director Michael Bay by presenting the L.A. premiere of DreamWorks’ Transformers to an audience of 4,000 in four theaters simultaneously during the height of the festival. By now Film Independent’s

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As the oldest film festival in North America, the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFIFF) celebrated its 50th anniversary April 26-May 10 with a variety of special screenings, events and awards. Following a period of inapt leadership under previous management, the second fest helmed by executive director Graham Leggat saw SFIFF beginning to regain its stride while facing increasing

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The Sarasota Film Festival's (April 13-22) director of programming Tom Hall, programmer Holly Herrick, executive director Jody Kielbasa and the rest of the staff and attending filmmakers are getting a reputation... for making the SFF quite possibly the most enjoyable regional film festival experience in the United States. Of course 10 days of sun, sand and sea doesn't hurt, but the real

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The tone of the 36th edition of New Directors/New Films (March 21-April 1) might be encapsulated in the words of a character from The Great World of Sound, a first feature by Craig Zobel: "Fuck 'fair.' Life ain't fair." In fact, if the miserabilist flavor of the festival is any indication, the world (hedge fund managers excepted) is not a happy place. Many of the 26 films in the fest (a

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The Palm Springs International Film Festival (January 4-15), with a budget around $2.8 million, advertises itself as the fest “where star power and the cinema come together.” The order is significant. On opening weekend, this 18th edition and the fourth under director Darryl Macdonald hosted a meretricious gala at the Convention Center — replete with a video-clip homage to emcee Mary Hart of

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This year’s Marrakech International Film Festival (Dec. 1-9) did not boast any breakthrough films spread within its exotic 22-country, 121-film slate, but the 6th year did lift the fest up another notch in the global circuit by importing an intriguing array of glitzy guests. Roman Polanski, who had just come off of accepting a Lifetime Achievement trophy from the European Film Awards in Warsaw

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