The sixth edition of the Eurasia International Film Festival (Sept 21-25) in Kazakhstan was a showcase of films from Central Asian and Turkish-speaking countries, but what particularly stood out in its various programs was the strong output of Kazakh films, a result of increasing government and private backing in project development, production and post-production facilities. High above Kazakhstan’s former capital and current cultural center Almaty, construction crews were racing to finish buildings for the 2011 Asian Winter Games in the foothills of the majestic Tien Shan mountain range. A country larger than Europe, Kazakhstan spans the oil-rich coast of the […]

The Amazonas Film Festival wrapped its 7th edition Thursday night with an unbelievable showcase of one of the state’s most proud traditions. After handing out the jury awards (listed below), the stage in the Teatro Amazonas became the site for an astounding carnival known as the Parintins Folk Festival, which brought roars of applause from the locals and wide-eyed curiosity to those attendees visiting abroad and are used to the usual stale closing night film fest pleasantries. The Parintins Fest is one of the largest folklore festivals in the world, and on this evening the Amazonas Fest gave a small […]

One of the instant observations you take from spending time in Amazonas is the love this state in the rainforest has for the arts. It seems every month it’s kicking off a jazz, dance, opera or film festival. And most of them, including the film fest, admittance is free (the opera fest tix are $1.50). The State Council of Culture has spearheaded this movement not only in Amazonas’ capital city, Manaus, but throughout the state. Musicians, dancers and filmmakers travel to communities throughout the state year-round to perform and also give workshops only asking for room and board in return. […]

The 7th annual Amazonas Film Festival Brazil opened last night with a mixture of culture and cinema in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest. The festival kicked off with a screening of Lucy Walker‘s Waste Land, which looks at Brazilian artist Vik Muniz who uses the garbage from a landfill in San Paulo to transform the lives of some of the people who work there. But for those of us who came over from the States it was the setting of the screening that was more eye catching: the Teatro Amazonas, where the opening scene from Fitzcarraldo was shot. One […]

As a filmmaker who makes G-rated porn I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to being thoroughly excited when I learned that a festival devoted to celebrating sex onscreen had filled its opening night slot with a flick that contains not one sex scene. And writer/director/producer/editor Zach Clark’s SXSW 2009 hit Modern Love Is Automatic (pictured right), a refreshingly respectful and poignant comedy that centers around a jaded nurse who moonlights as a dominatrix and her aspiring (or rather delusional) model roommate, wasn’t the only selection to subversively screw with the very definition of porn. This year’s fifth edition, which […]

The Vimeo Festival + Awards has announced the winners of its first annual competition last night in New York. From the press release: A distinguished panel of judges — including M.I.A., David Lynch, Roman Coppola, Ted Hope, Lucy Walker, and Morgan Spurlock, to name a few — chose the winners from more than 6,500 entries submitted from around the world. Legendary cult Director David Lynch, who judged the Experimental Category of the Festival commented, “The quality of films I watched for the Vimeo Festival was A Number One.” Roman Coppola, film Director and founder and owner of The Directors Bureau, […]

Jamie Stuart’s video of the 48th New York Film Festival will be live next week. For now, a trailer…. Download this trailer here in Quicktime.

I was very excited to see the list of Woodstock Film Festival winners over at Indiewire. Two Filmmaker favorites picked up the top prizes. You’ve read about Jeff Malmberg’s Marwencol on the site before (see Alicia Van Couvering’s blockquote interview with the director here), and if your memory is good you’ll remember that I picked Stranger Things directors Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal for our 2009 “25 New Faces” after seeing the rough cut of this very same feature. I think this is a beautiful, delicate, and extremely well directed and acted film, and I’m really happy that it’s now […]

Here’s part one of five from yesterday’s press conference of the New York Film Festival’s opening day film, The Social Network, at Lincoln Center yesterday. Parts two through five can be seen at the film’s YouTube site.

Starting with Jesse Eisenberg, stills from today’s red carpet and press conference by Jamie Stuart, whose filmic ode to this year’s New York Film Festival will be up on the site soon.