Film
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Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Poignant Documentary Conflates Pain and Comedy
By: - May 14th, 2013Seeing Joan Rivers on stage at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield prompted us to check out the video documentary. It was featured a couple of years ago in the Berkshire International Film Festival. With an appearance by the star at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington. Missed it. Having seen the bitch in heat we were curious to learn more about the insecure, fragile little girl from Brooklyn lurking behind that ferocious, grotesque, surgically altered mask. If you think you know Joan Rivers see this documentary and think again.
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BIFF Announces 8th Season
Berkshire International Film Festival May 30 to June 2
By: - Apr 26th, 2013The 8th Annual season of The Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) today announces the line-up to the action packed program showcasing over 75 of the latest in independent feature, documentary, short and family films from some 20 countries. The festival, which takes place from May 30 – June 2, 2013 in Great Barrington and May 31 – June 2nd in Pittsfield, MA, will bring films, filmmakers, industry professionals and film fans together for a four-day festival celebrating independent film featuring 27 documentaries, 25 narrative features and 24 short films.
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The American Documentary Film Festival (AmDocs)
Returns to Palm Springs for a Second Season
By: - Apr 25th, 2013The Palm Springs area has added The American Documentary Film Festival (AmDocs) to its lineup. Local filmmaker Teddy Grouya who is also a working Hollywood professional, inaugurated the first AmDocs festival in April of 2012. He brought Academy Award winner Oliver Stone and his film “Comandante†to opening night audiences along with a variety of USA films and those from foreign countries. The four-day event was so highly successful it gave the festival the impetus it needed to become an ongoing festival/event.
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Buzkashi! Shown at MASS MoCA
Final Film in Series: Compete! - The Human Tower
By: - Apr 06th, 2013Cinema Lounge at Mass MoCA screened the Canadian Indi-Film BUZKASHI! recently, which was shot in Tajikistan, Central Asia. Buzkashi, an ancient sport, is vaguely a cross between rugby and polo with few rules. The ‘ball,’ however, is a headless goat. There may be 200 riders on a huge field and slowly the film develops the game and its main characters into a fantastic tale set in a vast and fascinating landscape.
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12th Annual Native American Film Festival
The Agua Caliente Cultural Museum
By: - Mar 03rd, 2013All of the films have a direct connection to Native American or Indigenous people and their culture. All films screened at the festival have either been made by Native American or Indigenous filmmakers, actors, writers, producers, and/or technical experts from around the world.
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The 63rd Berlinale
February 7-17, 2013
By: - Feb 20th, 2013300,000 tickets were sold for 400 films at this year's Berlinale, the largest film festival in the world?! 19 films from 13 countries were judged in the 'Competition,' all others were screened in Berlin and are looking for distribution and an audience worldwide.
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Sundance Award Winner Valley of Saints
Special Screening at Images Cinema on February 8
By: - Feb 04th, 2013Images Cinema is hosting an event organized by the Muslim Student Association of Williams College, a film screening of “Valley of Saints†with director Musa Syeed on Friday, 2/8 at 5pm. The film will be introduced by Syeed, and the film will be followed by a Q&A with the director..
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Music from the Big House
Canadian Blues Singer Rita Chiarelli at Angola Prison
By: - Feb 02nd, 2013As the inmates tell us in this stunning documentary by Erin Faith Young and Tony Burgess at Louisiana's legendary, Angola Prison "Life means life." In a search for the roots of the blues Canadian musician, Rita Chiarelli, worked with the inmates to perform "Music from the Big House."
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2013 Oscar Nominated Animation Shorts
Screened at Images Cinema February 16
By: - Feb 02nd, 2013During the Academy Awards celebration there is mostly apathy for categories like best Animation Shorts. Most of the home viewing audience have not seen the nominated shorts. On February 16 Images Cinema in Williamstown will screen all five nominated shorts. The hour and a half program on Saturday morning provides terrific family entertainment.
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The Zincograph by Vladislav Todorov
Bulgarian Film at Palm Springs International Film Festival
By: - Jan 25th, 2013The screenplay written by Bulgarian educator and novelist Vladislav Todorov is based on his novel “The Zincographâ€. It’s a wildly inventive and whimsically directed movie by Emil Christov that stars Ruscen Vidinliev in a winning performance in how to succeed in Balkan politics without really existing.
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Silver Linings Playbook Oscar Gold
Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence As Red Hot Lovers
By: - Jan 24th, 2013Despite a fifteen year age gap, Jennifer Lawrence (22) and Bradley Cooper (37) sizzle as a romantic couple in the comedy "Silver Linings Playbook." That's true mostly because of the remarkable maturity and superb acting skills of Lawrence who is nominated for her second Oscar. The first was for "Winter Bone" and in between she starred in 'The Hunger Games." But Brad, also Oscar nominated, ain't just chopped liver.
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ArtsEmerson February Film Orgy
The Next Thing Festival and World Cinema Classics
By: - Jan 22nd, 2013ArtsEmerson: The World On Stage continues its third season of independent and repertory films by screening classics of world cinema, plus a wide array of films to compliment The Next Thing (TNT) Festival, a 10-day mash up of live performance, film, music and workshops that explores emerging aesthetics in contemporary performance.
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Oscar Nominated Zero Dark Thirty
The Hunt to Kill Bin Laden
By: - Jan 21st, 2013In the journalistic, nothing but the facts approach of director Kathryn Bigelow,and screenwriter Mark Boal there is a dry austerity to the tale of tracking down and killing Osama Bin Laden. The film is an Oscar nominee for Best Picture which Bigelow won in 2010 for another war themed film The Hurt Locker. As agent Maya, Jessica Chastain, is a front runner for Best Actress. She already has won a Golden Globe for her performance.
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German Spy Thriller Barbara
Christian Petzold Film in Palm Spring Festival
By: - Jan 20th, 2013Christian Petzold, one of Germany’s finest film directors, presents an insightful drama and character study in his screen story “Barbaraâ€. It’s a film about the effect of constantly being under suspicion and under scrutiny and how long-term repression plays on a society. The spy thriller was included in the annual Palm Springs Film Festival.
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The Intouchables Screened at Palm Springs
Charming French Comedy is a Must See
By: - Jan 20th, 2013This classy little comedy tale of Philippe, a super-rich quadriplegic (Francois Cluzet) and a young man, who goes by the name of Driss (Omar Sy) whom Philippe hires from the Parisian projects to become his caretaker, is funny, clever, poignant, and a delight, thanks mainly, to its two stars: Francois Cluzet and Omar Sy. It was screened during the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
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Unfinished Song Wraps Palm Springs Film Festival
Co Starts Terrence Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave
By: - Jan 20th, 2013“Unfinished Songâ€, written and directed by English filmmaker Paul Andrew Williams is the light-hearted, poignant and touching love story of Marion and Arthur; a devoted couple of English septuagenarians. The dramedy is the type of movie that just seems to be right up the Brits alley.
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The Informant by Writer/Director Jamie Meltzer
One of 60 Plus Documentaries in Film Festival
By: - Jan 20th, 2013The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) usually attracts a large contingent of documentary film entries (some sixty plus). Documentary filmmakers are drawn to this festival as are moths to a flame. If you want your “docu†to be seen, then PSIFF is the 800-pound gorilla when it comes to audience exposure. But they only accept the best for consideration.
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Beasts of the Southern Wild
Richly Deserving Oscar Nominee
By: - Jan 18th, 2013In a field of nine "Beasts of the Southern Wild" has a snowball in hell's chance of winning an Oscar for Best Picture. It has a slim chance in the three other categories for which it has been nominated, including Best Actress for the nine-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis. While a long shot indie this is truly one of the most unique, compelling and astonishing films of the past year.
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Tarantino’s Dreary Django Unchained
What’s So Funny About Slavery
By: - Jan 16th, 2013Arguably, Quentin Tarantino is a Sam Peckinpah wannabe, washing the screen with buckets of spattering blood and piles of corpses, with, here’s the twist, a sense of humor. It's more Kill Bill this time with carnage delivered by pistols rather than swords. Yet again, heads roll, with witty dialogue.
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Defiant Requiem at Palm Springs Film Festival
Holcaust Themed Documentary by Doug Schultz
By: - Jan 11th, 2013“Defiant Requiemâ€, currently screening at the Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), is a powerful and emotional documentary by Doug Shultz that honors the Prisoners of Terezin (the infamous Nazi concentration camp located just outside of Prague).
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Check Mate Screened at Palm Springs Festival
Dominian Republic's Writer/ Director Jose Maria Cabral
By: - Jan 11th, 2013Film writer/director Jose Maria Cabral has cracked the code on how to get your first feature length film accepted at the third largest film festival in North America, and he is only twenty-four years old. No, he hasn’t a powerful relative in the movie industry.
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Mondays at Racine Oscar Nominated
Screened at Berkshire International Film Festival
By: - Jan 10th, 2013Cynthia Wade’s 39-minute documentary film MONDAYS AT RACINE, chronicling a salon in Long Island that opens its doors every month to women diagnosed with cancer, is nominated for an Academy Award in the Documentary Short Form category. This is the second nomination for director Cynthia Wade, who previously won the Oscar in 2008 for her documentary short FREEHELD. This is a first time nomination for producer Robin Honan. The documentary was featured during the 2012 Berkshire International Film Festival.
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2013 Oscar Nominations
Let the Games Begin
By: - Jan 10th, 2013The just released list of nominations for the annual Oscars evokes a debate about the depth and quality of films this year. There appears to be a field of good but not great films and performances. Arguments will be made for the special merits of nominees but overall the selection is somewhat enervating. Will it be a big night for Lincoln or Les Miz? Can Life of Pi sneak in there? Or Django Unchained and even Argo? The suspense is brutal.
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Palm Springs International Film Festival
Spain's Oscar Nominated Blancanieve (Snowhite)
By: - Jan 08th, 2013The Opening Night movie at this year’s festival is a somewhat unusual, but brilliant selection, called “Blancanieves†(“Snowhiteâ€) from Spain. It’s also Spain’s Official Oscar submission for the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
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Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock
Psycho Killer Bio Pic DOA
By: - Jan 06th, 2013Forget the Hollywood PR hype. This is not “Best picture of the Year†material. If Hitchcock were alive today, he would groan at the amateurish, venal, and non-engaging movie that bears his famous name.
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