The Envelope - LA Times - News: Film

Tokyo Film Festival opens with 'green' carpet

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The theme of this year's nine-day event is the environment and is backed by the government.

The Tokyo International Film Festival kicked off Saturday with an environmental theme and stars including American actress Julianne Moore and Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai walking a "green" carpet made of recycled plastic bottles.

'Waltz With Bashir' leads down filmmaker's nightmare alley

Thu, 4 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Ari Folman was an 19-year-old Israeli soldier in 1982. His film 'Waltz With Bashir' explores a massacre he has no memory of taking place.

ARI FOLMAN'S "Waltz With Bashir," which screens tonight at the Toronto International Film Festival, straddles many boundaries: between memory and dream, history and memoir, fact and fiction. Using animation to shift fluidly between frames, the movie investigates the Sept. 16, 1982, massacre of Palestinian refugees at the Sabra and Shatila camps in Beirut. Lebanese militiamen belonging to the Falangist Party, their passions inflamed by the assassination of the country's president-elect, Bashir Gemayel, slaughtered hundreds and possibly thousands of men, women and children, stacking their bodies in the narrow alleys between houses.

Telluride provides lofty Oscar peeks

Tue, 2 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Danny Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire' makes its first awards derby deposit.

With the triple whammy of the Venice, Telluride and Toronto film festivals, the awards season has kicked into high gear. Following it all is the Notes on a Season column, which returns on a regular basis to track the progress of the awards contenders to the stage of the Kodak Theatre on Feb. 22.

Another 'Juno' for Telluride Film Festival?

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The Colorado launching pad for numerous critical favorites and art-house winners opens for business Friday.

A year ago, the Telluride Film Festival set off the early fireworks for eventual Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis ("There Will Be Blood") and screenwriter Diablo Cody ("Juno"). Can this weekend's festival do the same for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "Flash of Genius" and "Slumdog Millionaire"?

Hollywood takes a backseat at Venice film festival

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The competition lineup highlights independent U.S. cinema, Italian productions and Japanese animation movies.

Big Hollywood studios will take a back seat at this year's Venice film festival, with the competition lineup highlighting independent U.S. cinema, Italian productions and Japanese animation movies.

Toronto film fest to open with World War One movie

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

"Passchendaele," starring and directed by Paul Gross, tells the story of an injured Canadian soldier.

A story based on the bloody trench warfare of World War One will open this year's Toronto International Film Festival, giving a somber and Canadian theme to the opening festivities.

Cannes pits Hollywood against obscure arthouse

Sun, 11 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Clint Eastwood is in the main competition with "Changeling," starring Angelina Jolie.

Hollywood legends and obscure arthouse directors descend on Cannes from Wednesday for the world's biggest film festival that combines edgy cinema with A-list celebrities, glitzy parties and frenetic deal-making.

'Blindness' to open Cannes Film Festival

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover and Gael Garcia Bernal co-star in the movie.

A new movie by Brazilian director Fernando Mereilles starring American actress Julianne Moore will open this year's Cannes Film Festival, organizers said Tuesday.

Cannes Film Festival announces official lineup

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

American films include Clint Eastwood's 'Changeling,' Steven Soderbergh's two Che Guevara films.

Eleventh-hour additions of Clint Eastwood's thriller "Changeling," starring Angelina Jolie, and Steven Soderbergh's double Che Guevara biopics, "The Argentine" and "Guerrilla," were among the big news delivered by festival general manager Thierry Fremaux during Wednesday's news conference to unveil the official lineup for the 61st annual Cannes Film Festival.

Tribeca Film Festival undergoes a bit of refurbishing

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

The event, created to spur renewal after 9/11, faces a period of transition as it looks to the long term.

TRIBECA Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal was in her Greenwich Street office last week, trying to talk over the loud buzz of refurbishing work, when dust and debris came spraying into the room through a wall-mounted air conditioning unit. Alarmed, Rosenthal leaped out of her seat and rushed to remove her suede jacket from harm's way.