This year the Art House Convergence has seen a huge jump in attendance. Eleven years ago when Sundance initiated the Art House Convergence a small handful of arthouse theater owners were in attendance. Five years ago when I began coming, there were more exhibitors plus the distributors of art house cinema began to come to chat and discuss their offerings. The congenial mix of the two charmed me. It reminded me of the early days of Sundance in the late 80s when acquisitions execs all knew and liked each other and we were able to cover all the ground without stress.
This year there were so many more people - about 600 total - including vendors of everything an exhibitor must need plus a parallel event of the Film Festival Alliance, a great initiative of Ifp established in 2010 in which festivals get together to discuss mutual interests.
The confluence of the smaller regional festivals and the art house theaters is a natural fit since the festivals are held in the theaters and bring in the community, obviously a desired outcome of art house exhibitors. All that combined makes for a much larger event than ever before and points toward even greater growth for Ahc, something perhaps to be desired but also something which perhaps will not be quite so welcoming for newcomers as the earlier events.
The topics covered in the break out sessions are a large part about the logistics of U.S. art house operations from creating fan bases and membership. Another large part focuses on festival logistics from starting a film festival – and here I want to give a plug to Jon Gann, the founder of DC Shorts Film Festival for his new book, So, You Want to Start a Film Festival: Conversations with Top Festival Creators -- to the panel “Conversation with Sundance Senior Manager Adam Montgomery” in which Montgomery discussed Sundance’s process of accepting submissions, the work flow, planning, technology, usage tips and more.
Some awards by way of recognition to those who established indies as a going concern and are keeping it going through their hard work and devotion were Gary Meyer, founder of Landmark Theaters in 1975, Jan Klingenhofer and Chapin Cutter.
Niches and small business introducing themselves included the former Emerging Pictures executive Barry Rebo with his new startup CineConductor, along with his international partner Ymagis. The service for a $75 per month fee allows theaters to download unlimited DCPs (The Digital Cinema Package is a collection of digital files used to store and convey digital cinema (DC) audio, image, and data streams.) from all distributors – an easy and cheaper way for theaters to show more films at various times during the week.
Barry Rebo of CineConductor says, “We had a terrific Art House Convergence. We arrived with 51 high profile arthouse members and left with close to 65, maybe more once we re-connect with ones now tied up at the actual festival.
Current venues are both evangelizing our value to new venues and lobbying rights holders to deliver their booked film via the CineConductor service rather than hard drives. It not only save the venues money it makes their day-to-day operations ever more efficient.
We also have two high profile international film agencies we are servicing via the portal - UniFrance’s ongoing Young French Cinema 2 and Tiff & TeleFilm Canada’s upcoming See The North series.
More information about CineConductor: Click this link.
Considering we only debuted the system - really a 'soft opening' - at last year’s Ahc and connected the first batch of venues beginning in June of ‘15 getting to 51 quality sites by the end of the first indicates the service is being seen as being both highly cost effective (venues join on a Network Access Fee basis - no charge for equipment and only $75.00 per month for Unlimited Dcp deliveries of Specialty Film & Event Cinema programs offered by their rights holder via CineConductor.
Rights Holders (Rh) - traditional distribution companies; international film advocacy groups; international sales agents; the filmmakers themselves pay nothing today to post on the CineConductor portal. They pay only $50.00 per feature Dcp delivery Includes Kdm if requested) and $10.00 per Dcp trailer set (flat and scope) once they accept an engagement directly from a participating venue. It’s a great deal for both the exhibition and distribution sides of the arthouse field.
For the broader arthouse community - exhibitors, distributors and audiences - our decision to go this way was based on our belief that by offering a flat fee, more valuable content is made available on more screens. More onscreen diversity will drive a more diverse audience. I’m happy to report it’s already working as planned.
What we have created is truly and international platform. My investor/ parent company, Ymagis, is Paris-based and operates all across Europe. See www.ymagis.com "
Another endeavor of note is Benjamin Oberman’s (Film Festival Flix) mountain climbing film “Citadel” around which he can mobilize literally millions of outdoors sports folk through organizations he has formed alliances with in every region of the U.S. This type of specialized distribution is one excellent way into the future! Compared to his development of this last year, he has moved miles ahead.
Another to watch is Bobbi Thompson as she creates pop-up theaters in studio spaces with art exhibition for adults with learning disabilities and other handicaps.
An example of the new types of festivals is that of Gary Meyer, always a pioneer from his launching of Landmark theaters, of animation showcases, of Telluride Film Festival programming to his newest, Eat Drink Films. Based in a San Francisco his site discusses film and food and hosts recently Real Food Media also announced the launch of its third-annual contest with a call for submissions of super-short films on underreported issues, unique change-makers and creative solutions to foster a broad, public conversation about solving our global food system’s most intractable problems – from hunger to diet-related illnesses to environmental crises.
And Ahc has gone international. Last year a few folks from France, Europa Cinemas and the U.S. in Progress in Poland (American Film Festival’s Ula Sniegowska) and in France (Adeline Monzier of Unifrance) were here. This year they are here again and joined by Brigitte Hubmann of Telefilm Canada with film packages available directly to theaters via Barry Rebo’s CineConductor, a model that German films and all other national film entities should emulate. Also attending this year is Europa International, a consortium of 40 European international sales agents from 13 European countries looking to find direct outlets to theaters without the distribution middleman. This will become increasingly important at Netflix swopes down on worldwide digital rights acquisitions. TrustNordisk’s head of sales, Susan Wendt from Denmark represented Europa International here.
Europa International’s panel presented European case studies on ways to attract new audiences in the era of social media with an eye toward directing young people towards “quality” cinema and fostering critical minds while forming partnership strategies included Justin Camileri of Euro Media Forum, Fatima Djoumer of Europa Cinemas, Matts Gillmor of Palladium, Elisa Giovannelli of Cineteca Bologna and Justyna Kociszewska of Kino Lab.
U.S. distributor Neil Friedman’s Menemsha Films is here with the Jonathan Pryce film “Dough” a funny and feel-good trans-cultural mix proving ‘you don’t have to be Jewish’ to love this film. Representing Menemsha at Ahc is former United King acquisitions executive from Israel, Oded Horowitz, who has now moved to California with his partner and their 6 year old twin girls. Diarah N’Daw-Spech of ArtMattan is here among now old friends managing to inject some diversity into a little too homogenous population of film lovers.
This place is full of 'our' people, that is, we-the-now-older generation who got this thing going in the 80s: those I mentioned above plus Paul Cohen, Ira Deutchman, Anne Thompson, Mj Pekos (Dada Films), Larry Greenberg (Momentum/ eOne), Richard Abramowitz (Abramarama), Cary Jones (IFC), Peter Baxter (Slamdance), Peter Becker (Janus) (who was a young one when we began but was there - and our sympathy to him for his father’s passing… whose colleague Jonathan Turrell whose father Saul in those days in print distribution at Janus Films was one of New York’s most colorful figures), Ron Diamond (Animation Show of Shows), Peter Belsito (SydneysBuzz), Mark Fishkin (California Film Institute), Christian Gaines (ArtPrize), Larry Kardish (Board member and former head of NY Film Society, Lincoln Center, now with Chatham Film Club), Greg Laemmle of Laemmle Theaters, Los Angeles’ preeminent indie arthouse started by his grandfather Carl Laemmle, former head of Universal (!), Richard Lorber (Kino Lorber), Scott Mansfield (monterey media), Mike Thomas (Theatre Properties) and Michael Donaldson (Donaldson & Callif).
After the panel “Why Critics Matter: A Conversation with Anne Thompson and Sam Adams” moderated by Ira Deutchman, a discussion of contemporary film criticism and its importance within the independent exhibition community created a flurry of comments on the Ahc newsletter which you can read along with other year round commentaries of importance by subscribing to Google Groups "Art House Convergence". Sam Adams himself writes,
“In a national survey covering 25 art house theaters and 20,000 patrons, Avenue Isr's Woody Smith said that reviews were the third-most important tool in drawing audiences to theaters, just behind recommendations from friends. (Most-effective, by a wide margin: trailers.) 41 percent of respondents listed print reviews among the most important factors, with online reviews at 35 percent, although the former number drops dramatically when limited to viewers 35 or younger.
Speaking anecdotally to me, many exhibitors told me that Rotten Tomatoes plays a huge role in what films audiences select. In one medium-sized market, the local paper, which no longer employs its own critics, uses the Tomatometer to decide which review to pull from the wire services: If it's "fresh," they run a positive review; if it's "rotten," they run a pan. By pretty much any measure, that's a huge dereliction of duty — not to mention incredibly lazy journalistic practice — but the good news is that same exhibitor sought me out later to tell me he going to start a criticism contest for local students, bringing back dialogue to a community that's lost an outlet for those voices.”
At Ahc with a new panel discussion, one most worthy of notice is Hollie Mahadeo, General Manager of Enzian Theater in Maitland Florida. Her initiative, Starting Young: Hooking Youth on Cinema, discussed cultivating the next generation of filmgoers and film lovers. Amy Averett of Alamo Drafthouse, Mats Gillmor of Palladium and Hollie Mahadeo of Enzian spoke of their successes in this crucial area.
Hollie has spent 17 years building a home for youth in cinema. Art houses do not generally think about kids because the ones working in them are usually young and single and the ones attending them are usually grandparents. As Hollie and her colleagues grew, they married and now have children and so are concerned with how cinema and their own children will interact. Six years ago their audience was all over 40 and so they began programming to get 20-somethings in.
Then they started courting the children with their Peanut Butter Matinees, programming films to appeal to the children and their parents, like “Neverending Story”. These monthly matinees work well for parents with children from five to ten years who would not ordinarily go to cinemas. The room seats 220 but is filled with tables and chairs so some play while others eat and others sit enraptured by the cinema. They have 1,200 screenings in a year and are a $3.5 million organization in all.
The Peanut Butter Matinee has a kid friendly menu, balloons to take away, raffles to take part in and the film, always projected digitally. It has grown to special holiday celebrations for Christmas, Halloween, Easter and the children have also grown. The events are free for children under 12; all others buy $8 tickets.
Amy of Alamo states that it is cheaper to bring kids to the movies than to hire a babysitter.
Enzion has also instituted a Filmmaking Camp, a summer day camp now in its seventh year. It began as a one-week camp for 10 kids but now has a four-week camp, Thirty-two kids go to a two-week session in Camp 1 and another 32 go to a second two-week session. They have temporary staff of two filmmakers who bring in the equipment and one head instructor, a teacher from a local film school and a counselor to help with the scheduling, meals, and other issues. There are volunteer filmmakers from college and a junior counselor program for kids too old to be campers but too young to be filmmakers (yet). The oldest graduate of the camp is now in high school and looking at film schools. The youngest camper is in the fifth grade. At the end of the camp there are at least two world premiers.
Now they also have youth acting Programs. For grades 2 through 12, classes are held after school twice a week.
All in all, the Ahc was full and fun. The cold was bitter and when we left to go down the road to Sundance, about half of us were nursing our first winter colds which made for an even more fun filled Sundance Film Festival…well for me at least, my low energy level was no match of the excitement of the festival this year.
This year there were so many more people - about 600 total - including vendors of everything an exhibitor must need plus a parallel event of the Film Festival Alliance, a great initiative of Ifp established in 2010 in which festivals get together to discuss mutual interests.
The confluence of the smaller regional festivals and the art house theaters is a natural fit since the festivals are held in the theaters and bring in the community, obviously a desired outcome of art house exhibitors. All that combined makes for a much larger event than ever before and points toward even greater growth for Ahc, something perhaps to be desired but also something which perhaps will not be quite so welcoming for newcomers as the earlier events.
The topics covered in the break out sessions are a large part about the logistics of U.S. art house operations from creating fan bases and membership. Another large part focuses on festival logistics from starting a film festival – and here I want to give a plug to Jon Gann, the founder of DC Shorts Film Festival for his new book, So, You Want to Start a Film Festival: Conversations with Top Festival Creators -- to the panel “Conversation with Sundance Senior Manager Adam Montgomery” in which Montgomery discussed Sundance’s process of accepting submissions, the work flow, planning, technology, usage tips and more.
Some awards by way of recognition to those who established indies as a going concern and are keeping it going through their hard work and devotion were Gary Meyer, founder of Landmark Theaters in 1975, Jan Klingenhofer and Chapin Cutter.
Niches and small business introducing themselves included the former Emerging Pictures executive Barry Rebo with his new startup CineConductor, along with his international partner Ymagis. The service for a $75 per month fee allows theaters to download unlimited DCPs (The Digital Cinema Package is a collection of digital files used to store and convey digital cinema (DC) audio, image, and data streams.) from all distributors – an easy and cheaper way for theaters to show more films at various times during the week.
Barry Rebo of CineConductor says, “We had a terrific Art House Convergence. We arrived with 51 high profile arthouse members and left with close to 65, maybe more once we re-connect with ones now tied up at the actual festival.
Current venues are both evangelizing our value to new venues and lobbying rights holders to deliver their booked film via the CineConductor service rather than hard drives. It not only save the venues money it makes their day-to-day operations ever more efficient.
We also have two high profile international film agencies we are servicing via the portal - UniFrance’s ongoing Young French Cinema 2 and Tiff & TeleFilm Canada’s upcoming See The North series.
More information about CineConductor: Click this link.
Considering we only debuted the system - really a 'soft opening' - at last year’s Ahc and connected the first batch of venues beginning in June of ‘15 getting to 51 quality sites by the end of the first indicates the service is being seen as being both highly cost effective (venues join on a Network Access Fee basis - no charge for equipment and only $75.00 per month for Unlimited Dcp deliveries of Specialty Film & Event Cinema programs offered by their rights holder via CineConductor.
Rights Holders (Rh) - traditional distribution companies; international film advocacy groups; international sales agents; the filmmakers themselves pay nothing today to post on the CineConductor portal. They pay only $50.00 per feature Dcp delivery Includes Kdm if requested) and $10.00 per Dcp trailer set (flat and scope) once they accept an engagement directly from a participating venue. It’s a great deal for both the exhibition and distribution sides of the arthouse field.
For the broader arthouse community - exhibitors, distributors and audiences - our decision to go this way was based on our belief that by offering a flat fee, more valuable content is made available on more screens. More onscreen diversity will drive a more diverse audience. I’m happy to report it’s already working as planned.
What we have created is truly and international platform. My investor/ parent company, Ymagis, is Paris-based and operates all across Europe. See www.ymagis.com "
Another endeavor of note is Benjamin Oberman’s (Film Festival Flix) mountain climbing film “Citadel” around which he can mobilize literally millions of outdoors sports folk through organizations he has formed alliances with in every region of the U.S. This type of specialized distribution is one excellent way into the future! Compared to his development of this last year, he has moved miles ahead.
Another to watch is Bobbi Thompson as she creates pop-up theaters in studio spaces with art exhibition for adults with learning disabilities and other handicaps.
An example of the new types of festivals is that of Gary Meyer, always a pioneer from his launching of Landmark theaters, of animation showcases, of Telluride Film Festival programming to his newest, Eat Drink Films. Based in a San Francisco his site discusses film and food and hosts recently Real Food Media also announced the launch of its third-annual contest with a call for submissions of super-short films on underreported issues, unique change-makers and creative solutions to foster a broad, public conversation about solving our global food system’s most intractable problems – from hunger to diet-related illnesses to environmental crises.
And Ahc has gone international. Last year a few folks from France, Europa Cinemas and the U.S. in Progress in Poland (American Film Festival’s Ula Sniegowska) and in France (Adeline Monzier of Unifrance) were here. This year they are here again and joined by Brigitte Hubmann of Telefilm Canada with film packages available directly to theaters via Barry Rebo’s CineConductor, a model that German films and all other national film entities should emulate. Also attending this year is Europa International, a consortium of 40 European international sales agents from 13 European countries looking to find direct outlets to theaters without the distribution middleman. This will become increasingly important at Netflix swopes down on worldwide digital rights acquisitions. TrustNordisk’s head of sales, Susan Wendt from Denmark represented Europa International here.
Europa International’s panel presented European case studies on ways to attract new audiences in the era of social media with an eye toward directing young people towards “quality” cinema and fostering critical minds while forming partnership strategies included Justin Camileri of Euro Media Forum, Fatima Djoumer of Europa Cinemas, Matts Gillmor of Palladium, Elisa Giovannelli of Cineteca Bologna and Justyna Kociszewska of Kino Lab.
U.S. distributor Neil Friedman’s Menemsha Films is here with the Jonathan Pryce film “Dough” a funny and feel-good trans-cultural mix proving ‘you don’t have to be Jewish’ to love this film. Representing Menemsha at Ahc is former United King acquisitions executive from Israel, Oded Horowitz, who has now moved to California with his partner and their 6 year old twin girls. Diarah N’Daw-Spech of ArtMattan is here among now old friends managing to inject some diversity into a little too homogenous population of film lovers.
This place is full of 'our' people, that is, we-the-now-older generation who got this thing going in the 80s: those I mentioned above plus Paul Cohen, Ira Deutchman, Anne Thompson, Mj Pekos (Dada Films), Larry Greenberg (Momentum/ eOne), Richard Abramowitz (Abramarama), Cary Jones (IFC), Peter Baxter (Slamdance), Peter Becker (Janus) (who was a young one when we began but was there - and our sympathy to him for his father’s passing… whose colleague Jonathan Turrell whose father Saul in those days in print distribution at Janus Films was one of New York’s most colorful figures), Ron Diamond (Animation Show of Shows), Peter Belsito (SydneysBuzz), Mark Fishkin (California Film Institute), Christian Gaines (ArtPrize), Larry Kardish (Board member and former head of NY Film Society, Lincoln Center, now with Chatham Film Club), Greg Laemmle of Laemmle Theaters, Los Angeles’ preeminent indie arthouse started by his grandfather Carl Laemmle, former head of Universal (!), Richard Lorber (Kino Lorber), Scott Mansfield (monterey media), Mike Thomas (Theatre Properties) and Michael Donaldson (Donaldson & Callif).
After the panel “Why Critics Matter: A Conversation with Anne Thompson and Sam Adams” moderated by Ira Deutchman, a discussion of contemporary film criticism and its importance within the independent exhibition community created a flurry of comments on the Ahc newsletter which you can read along with other year round commentaries of importance by subscribing to Google Groups "Art House Convergence". Sam Adams himself writes,
“In a national survey covering 25 art house theaters and 20,000 patrons, Avenue Isr's Woody Smith said that reviews were the third-most important tool in drawing audiences to theaters, just behind recommendations from friends. (Most-effective, by a wide margin: trailers.) 41 percent of respondents listed print reviews among the most important factors, with online reviews at 35 percent, although the former number drops dramatically when limited to viewers 35 or younger.
Speaking anecdotally to me, many exhibitors told me that Rotten Tomatoes plays a huge role in what films audiences select. In one medium-sized market, the local paper, which no longer employs its own critics, uses the Tomatometer to decide which review to pull from the wire services: If it's "fresh," they run a positive review; if it's "rotten," they run a pan. By pretty much any measure, that's a huge dereliction of duty — not to mention incredibly lazy journalistic practice — but the good news is that same exhibitor sought me out later to tell me he going to start a criticism contest for local students, bringing back dialogue to a community that's lost an outlet for those voices.”
At Ahc with a new panel discussion, one most worthy of notice is Hollie Mahadeo, General Manager of Enzian Theater in Maitland Florida. Her initiative, Starting Young: Hooking Youth on Cinema, discussed cultivating the next generation of filmgoers and film lovers. Amy Averett of Alamo Drafthouse, Mats Gillmor of Palladium and Hollie Mahadeo of Enzian spoke of their successes in this crucial area.
Hollie has spent 17 years building a home for youth in cinema. Art houses do not generally think about kids because the ones working in them are usually young and single and the ones attending them are usually grandparents. As Hollie and her colleagues grew, they married and now have children and so are concerned with how cinema and their own children will interact. Six years ago their audience was all over 40 and so they began programming to get 20-somethings in.
Then they started courting the children with their Peanut Butter Matinees, programming films to appeal to the children and their parents, like “Neverending Story”. These monthly matinees work well for parents with children from five to ten years who would not ordinarily go to cinemas. The room seats 220 but is filled with tables and chairs so some play while others eat and others sit enraptured by the cinema. They have 1,200 screenings in a year and are a $3.5 million organization in all.
The Peanut Butter Matinee has a kid friendly menu, balloons to take away, raffles to take part in and the film, always projected digitally. It has grown to special holiday celebrations for Christmas, Halloween, Easter and the children have also grown. The events are free for children under 12; all others buy $8 tickets.
Amy of Alamo states that it is cheaper to bring kids to the movies than to hire a babysitter.
Enzion has also instituted a Filmmaking Camp, a summer day camp now in its seventh year. It began as a one-week camp for 10 kids but now has a four-week camp, Thirty-two kids go to a two-week session in Camp 1 and another 32 go to a second two-week session. They have temporary staff of two filmmakers who bring in the equipment and one head instructor, a teacher from a local film school and a counselor to help with the scheduling, meals, and other issues. There are volunteer filmmakers from college and a junior counselor program for kids too old to be campers but too young to be filmmakers (yet). The oldest graduate of the camp is now in high school and looking at film schools. The youngest camper is in the fifth grade. At the end of the camp there are at least two world premiers.
Now they also have youth acting Programs. For grades 2 through 12, classes are held after school twice a week.
All in all, the Ahc was full and fun. The cold was bitter and when we left to go down the road to Sundance, about half of us were nursing our first winter colds which made for an even more fun filled Sundance Film Festival…well for me at least, my low energy level was no match of the excitement of the festival this year.
- 2/2/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The 41st Telluride Film Festival, which has become a harbinger of heavyweight Oscar contenders over the past few years, has announced its schedule for the fest – which opens Friday and runs through Labor Day — just as a charter planeload of industry festgoers departs Lax. Despite a well-publicized battle with the upcoming Toronto Film Festival over Oscar-buzzed movies, Telluride honchos Tom Luddy, Gary Meyer and Julie Huntsinger have some pretty impressive contenders in the mix. Of course, film-freak paradise that it is, Telluride is not all about hot awards titles but a mix of programming that always whets the appetite of movie lovers who flock here each Labor Day weekend.
That said, Oscar watchers will be eagerly lining up for Fox Searchlight and New Regency’s Birdman, which is coming directly from its opening-night slot at the Venice Film Festival where it received rapturous reviews — not only for star Michael Keaton...
That said, Oscar watchers will be eagerly lining up for Fox Searchlight and New Regency’s Birdman, which is coming directly from its opening-night slot at the Venice Film Festival where it received rapturous reviews — not only for star Michael Keaton...
- 8/28/2014
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline
With so many sites offering good reading it’s easy to miss out on some. That’s why I want to spotlight Eat Drink Films!, the weekly online magazine devised by my longtime friend Gary Meyer, who also serves as Senior Curator for the Telluride Film Festival. As someone who enjoys food and drink as well as movies, Gary developed the idea for an entity that would exist online and also sponsor live events for like-minded people. You’ll find recipes, restaurant recommendations, and tie-ins with culinary-minded movies like The Hundred-Foot Journey and The Trip to Italy. Gary serves as editor, gathering good writing from a wide variety of sources (mostly in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...
[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...
- 8/19/2014
- by Leonard Maltin
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
If you were planning to book a spot on the annual charter flight from Lax to Colorado's Telluride Film Festival (August 29 through September 1, 2014), it's full. Every year the usual suspects convene at the La airport and get their prized copy of the schedule to peruse on the flight. That's because the annual Labor Day Rocky Mountain festival does not announce its four-day slate in advance, trying to fly under the radar and skip the usual competition for world premieres. This fabulously curated festival has been on a roll of late. Founded forty years ago by Bill and Stella Pence and continued by co-directors Gary Meyer, Julie Huntsinger and Tom Luddy, the festival has been riding high on its prescient pre-Oscar bookings, from "Slumdog Millionaire" and 'The King's Speech" to "Argo." Last year, however, the combo of "12 Years a Slave" and "Gravity" broke the camel's back with rival Toronto Film Festival,...
- 6/18/2014
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Our friend, Gary Meyer, Senior Curator of Telluride Film Festival has launched a new project! It involves three things most people we know know enjoy --- the name reflects that passion: EatDrinkFilms.com
It is starting out most specifically for the San Francisco and Bay Area but some material will be of interest elsewhere. If it is successful it might expand to other cities.
The plan also includes the EatDrinkFilms Festival in 2015 which will play the Bay Area and then tour within a short time frame with filmmakers and food people via Skype. Theaters booking it will want to do local events with restaurants, etc.
This online magazine will be published weekly and curated with two or three original stories in each category, sometimes crossing the line as we have in the first issue with Meredith Brody’s wonderful article about having dinner with the directors of the new movie The Galapagos Affair, Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller. They discuss the movie and the food they are enjoying.
We have exclusive excerpts from the new books Forest Feast from Erin Gleeson and The $11 Billion Year by Anne Thompson, a few recipes, how to enjoy the Cider Summit in Berkeley and Gary offers his personal picks of movies to see at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
In coming issues you can expect:
* “Dueling Critics” -Selected new movies reviewed by two different writers
* Stories about special film events and festivals
* Good writers, new and established, offering surprising stories and ideas
* Local food and drink reviews
* Secret Restaurant offering tested recipes by Peter Moore using in-season ingredients fresh from the local Farmers’ Markets
* The Eat & Drink-Ubator taking you behind-the-scenes of new products and how they came to exist
And much more. Expect surprises.
The site is in a beta format as we work to improve the look and layout. But we wanted to get this to you as soon as possible.
Please take a look at EatDrinkFilms and sign up to be alerted when each new edition is posted. We will not share your info with anyone and promise not to clutter your inbox.
We hope that you have a good time and will let us know your thoughts and ideas.
Maybe you want to contribute too. Send us your thoughts to
garytff [at] gmail.com...
It is starting out most specifically for the San Francisco and Bay Area but some material will be of interest elsewhere. If it is successful it might expand to other cities.
The plan also includes the EatDrinkFilms Festival in 2015 which will play the Bay Area and then tour within a short time frame with filmmakers and food people via Skype. Theaters booking it will want to do local events with restaurants, etc.
This online magazine will be published weekly and curated with two or three original stories in each category, sometimes crossing the line as we have in the first issue with Meredith Brody’s wonderful article about having dinner with the directors of the new movie The Galapagos Affair, Dayna Goldfine and Dan Geller. They discuss the movie and the food they are enjoying.
We have exclusive excerpts from the new books Forest Feast from Erin Gleeson and The $11 Billion Year by Anne Thompson, a few recipes, how to enjoy the Cider Summit in Berkeley and Gary offers his personal picks of movies to see at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
In coming issues you can expect:
* “Dueling Critics” -Selected new movies reviewed by two different writers
* Stories about special film events and festivals
* Good writers, new and established, offering surprising stories and ideas
* Local food and drink reviews
* Secret Restaurant offering tested recipes by Peter Moore using in-season ingredients fresh from the local Farmers’ Markets
* The Eat & Drink-Ubator taking you behind-the-scenes of new products and how they came to exist
And much more. Expect surprises.
The site is in a beta format as we work to improve the look and layout. But we wanted to get this to you as soon as possible.
Please take a look at EatDrinkFilms and sign up to be alerted when each new edition is posted. We will not share your info with anyone and promise not to clutter your inbox.
We hope that you have a good time and will let us know your thoughts and ideas.
Maybe you want to contribute too. Send us your thoughts to
garytff [at] gmail.com...
- 6/7/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Today I am writing from Cartagena, Colombia where I attended Ficci, the Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias.
This former colonial jewel in the crown of Spain offers a huge array of delights, film-wise, art-wise, food-wise and people-wise. Gorgeous arts and gorgeous people, sweet, polite and proud. As much as I love Havana, Cartagena is how Havana should look.
And as much as I loved Careyes where I was last week, the art and artisanal scope here is so wide; from the Colombian painter and sculptor, Botero to indigenous palm weaving – décor for homes (not cheap!), bags, designer clothing, linen and rubies.
Aside from films, my big discoveries of the day are Ruby Rumie, a Colombian artist who spends much of her time here in her studio in the Getsemaní section of town and in Chile. Coincidentally (again) Gary Meyer (Telluride Film Festival) and his wife Cathy who are here with Gary on the Documentary Competition Jury (I just left them in Careyas!) also just discovered her as well. The other artist, Olga Amaral, works in indigenous styles of weaving and textile production and now is favoring gold leaf displays of woven wall tapestries. Stunning. Both are available at the Nh Gallery, a place I just happened to wander into as I was walking from the theater to my equally stunning hotel Casa Pestagua.
The courteous and helpful people here are a proud mix of white, brown and black. They say the blacks will never follow the orders of a white. They say the blood of slaves is embedded in the wall fortifications of the city. The Inquisition here was very powerful, and they say the Jews (Conversos) coming in the conquistadors’ ships went to settle Medellín and the Catholics to Bogotá. Cartagena was the last city to be free of the Spanish crown and as such, it was extremely conservative.
It would take days to visit all the museums throughout the city. The Art Biennale is now in many of them (free entry) including the Museum of the Inquisition with its torture machines. The Museum of Gold with pre-Colombian gold artworks is astounding. All the gold of Latin America (and emeralds, diamonds and silver) went from here in the Spanish galleons back to Spain until the city declared its independence in 1811. We in the North know this history but from a different perspective. Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins of Latin America and Gonzalo Arijon’s documentary Eyes Wide Open, an update of Galeano’s ideas are good starting points for understanding this part of the world. Eye opening indeed!
The beauty of the city and its people is matched by the food. There is great food here here and some very haute cuisine restaurants. Ceviches of many kinds, new sweet fruits like the pitaya and the drink mixing limeade and coconut milk delight the palate. The festival invites enough but not too many industry folks so it can host lunches and dinners in wonderful venues along with cocktail hours where we can all meet and talk. Talk among us is of food and film, film and food…even of food film festivals that are cropping up from Berlin, San Sebastian, here and in Northern California…stay tuned.
The Colombian government is aware of the need for the public to rediscover their own stories and to this end all the festival screenings are free, and all are packed Sro. The government also supports filmmakers with a deliberate, well-planned and well executed strategy to increase production and create an infrastructure.
Colombian films’ biggest challenge is to increase their share of their rapidly growing domestic market, worth $182.3 million in box office in 2012. One way forward is international co-production, where Bam (Bogotá Audiovisual Market) July 14-18, 2014 plays a large role. There is a mini version of this here (Encuentros Cartagena), centering on French and Colombian co-production, but not limited to that, with guests like George Goldenstern from Cinefondation (Cannes), producer/ international sales agent Marie-Pierre Masia and and the ever present Thierry Lenouvel of Cine-Sud whose film Tierra en la lengua aka Dust on the Tongue won the Best Picture Award in Competition. Vincenzo Bugno of World Cinema Fund of the Berlinale is always here too as is Jose Maria Riba on the Jury of the Competition and programmer for San Sebastian and Directors Fortnight. Also on the jury are Wendy Mitchel and Pawel Pawlikowski whose film Ida (Isa: Portobello Film Sales) is playing (outside of the Competition). A look at the winning competition films shows the strength of co-productions today.
Best Picture: Dust on the Tongue of Ruben Mendoza (Colombia) Colombia Film of $15,000. Special Jury Prize: The Third Side of the River (La tercera orilla) which premiered in Competition at the Berlinale, by Celina Murga (Argentina, Netherlands, Germany) (Isa: The Match Factory) Best Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To kill a man (Matar a un hombre) which premiered in Sundance (Chile, France). Film Factory is selling international rights and Film Movement has U.S. It also won the Fipresci or International Critics’ Award. Best Actor: Fernando Bacilio by El Mudo (Peru, Mexico, France), Urban Distribution International is the sales agent.
Cinema in Colombia continues its steep ascent in the international production world. The reasons, according to Bugno, lie in “new political decisions, funding structures, and the developing of a new producing environment that also has to do with new emerging young talent.”
A visit to the festival headquarters proves the point of the extensive government support of film not only for its own sake, but for the sake of all the people, dispossessed, abused, Lgbt, children and women. It is a beautiful sight to see such support, and the people seem to reciprocate; I hear more praise than complaints about the government and everyone seems cautiously optimistic, aware of its current position vis à vis what has thankfully become recent history with the guerillas who had been waging war with the government for the past 40 years and the current elections and competing points of view between the former President Uribe and the current President Juan Manuel Santos.
Aecid , Association Espagnola de Cooperacon Internacional para el Desarrollo (The Spanish Association for International Cooperation for Development), a festival sponsor supports social cohesion, equality of genders, construction of peace, respect for cultural diversity and the reduction of poverty.
Currently in Colombia, national cinema holds a 10% share of the Colombian market and 8% of the box office. In 2012, 213 films were produced in Colombia, a huge increase since 2009 when 19 were produced according to Ocal, the Observotario del Cine f nCl [sic]. In 2012, 23 of the 213 domestic films were released theatrically, a tremendous increase from the 6 Colombian films released in the year 2000. [1],[2] This number surpasses every record in Colombia’s film history
This 10 day spectacular film festival gives free entry to all at 8 theaters and, proving the point that people love the movies, every single screening is packed solid, Sro. More than 135 films come from 27 countries. 48 daily screenings include 14 open air screenings in great locations. There are 40 world premieres and 26 Latin American premieres.
150 invited guests included Abbas Kiarostami, Clive Owen, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Pavel Pawlikowsky with his film Ida, John Sayles with whom I had an interesting talk about U.S. current distribution and of Return of Seacaucus Seven and Sunshine State. The screening of his film Go For Sisters has received an enthusiastic response from the audiences.
Since 2013, coproductions between the U.S. and Colombia with variations on the theme are on the rise. With its 40% cash rebate, Colombia is proving to be a great place to make movies.
Colombians such as Simon Brand are making English language genre films such as this year’s festival debuting Default (Isa: Wild Bunch). For budgets under Us$1 million, action, thrillers and horror genres can cross borders, and can recoup costs and even profit.
The reverse is also notable. Four films screening here are Colombian films made by Americans. The winner to three prizes here for Best Director, Best Documentary and the Audience Prize, Marmato by Marc Grieco was workshopped twice at Sundance where it premiered this January 2014. It is represented internationally by Ro*co and its U.S. representative is Ben Weiss at Paradigm. The other three remarkable debut films are Mambo Cool by Chris Gude,Manos Sucias by Josef Wladyka (a Japanese-Polish American) and Parador Hungaro by Patrick Alexander and Aseneth Suarez Ruiz. Look for upcoming interviews with these four directors who came to Colombia and, because of their experiences here, decided to make these exceptional movies. My next blog will be interviews with each of these films’ directors.
Secundaria , the first film I saw here was not shot here although it too was directed by an American who made 21 trips to Cuba to make it. Documenting the high school ballet training and competitions held by Cuba’s world famous National Ballet School -- Watch the trailer here -- it was not only beautiful but it magically captured the ever-present economic issues of Cuba. I can’t wait to see Primaria about the grade school of the Nbs.
Director and coproducer Mary Jane Doherty has been an Associate Professor of Film at Boston University since 1990. Proud of her lineage as a student of iconic documentarian Ricky Leacock, she developed B.U.’s Narrative Documentary Program: a novel approach to non-fiction storytelling using the building blocks of fiction film. Lyda Kuth , the coproducer, is founding board member and executive director of the Lef Foundation, which supports independent filmmakers through the Lef Moving Image Fund. In 2005, she established Nadita Productions and was producer/director on her first feature documentary, Love and Other Anxieties.
A cocktail party is given daily at the festival where we can all meet up. It was there I met Gail Gendler VP of Acquisitions for AMC/ Sundance Channel Global (international not domestic) and Gus
Dinner one night was with the jury for Nuevos Creadores (New Creators). Cynthia Garcia Calvo, Editor in Chief of LatamCinema.com, a Latino equivalent to Indiewire.com out of Chile and Argentina and I spoke of possible ways to cooperate. The third member of the jury, Javier Mejia, director of Colombia’s best film of 2008 Apocalypsur also has a documentary here, Duni, about a Chilean filmmaker who left Chile during the dictatorship and came to Colombia where he made political films in Medellin but never discussed his reasons for coming or even his Chilean roots. How happy I was that I had seen and enjoyed the films of the third jury member, Daniel Vega, who with his brother Diego made The Mute aka El Mudo (Isa: Urban Media) which played in Toronto and San Sebastian and his earlier film October, both dark comedies or perhaps dramadies dealing with subjective realities in unique environs of Peru we have never seen. He promised to help me with the Peru chapter of my upcoming book. Peru is in the lower middle of countries which support filmmaking. Their film fund is a rather laid back affair administered by the Ministry of Culture who receives money from the Ministry of Finance when they “get around to it”.
Jury for New Creators: Javier Mejía, Cynthia García Calvo and Diego Vega,displaying the winner for the Best Short Film: Alen Natalia Imery (Universidad del Valle) who won a Sony video camera, 2,000, 000 pesos of in kind services from Shock Magazin, and a scholarship for graduate Project Management and Film Production at the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga
Second prize went to The murmur of the earth Alejandro Daza (National University) - Win a Sony camera, and a Fellowship for Graduate Record Audio and Sound Design of the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga.
Other winners are:
Official Colombian Film Competition
Jurors: David Melo - Alissa Simon - Daniela Michel
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA) Winner of the I.Sat Award for $30K and the Cinecolor Award for $11k in deliveries
Special Jury Prize: Mateo by María Gamboa
Best Director: Rubén Mendoza for Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua). Winner of Hangar Films Award for $30K in film equipment to produce his next film.
Additional Awards
Audience Award Colombia: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of $15K
Official Documentary Competition
Jurors: Gary Meyer- Luis Ospina - Laurie Collyer
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of the Cinecolor Award for $13Kin post-production services.
Special Jury Prize: What Now? Remind Me (E Agora? Lembra-me) by Joaquim Pinto (Portugal)
Best Director: Justin Webster for I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) (Spain, Denmark, U.K.)
Official Short Film Competition
JurorsOswaldo Osorio -Pacho Bottia - Denis de la Roca
Best Short Film: Statues (Estatuas) by Roberto Fiesco (Mexico). Winner of a professional Sony camera and $3K from Cinecolor in post-production services for his next project.
Special Jury Prize: About a Month (Pouco Mais de um Mês) by André Novais Oliveira (Brazil)
Best Director: Manuel Camacho Bustillo for Blackout chapter 4 "A Call to Neverland" (Blackout capítulo 4 "Una llamada a Neverland") (Mexico). Winner of a Sony photographic camera.
Gems
Jurors: Mauricio Reina - Manuel Kalmanowitz - Sofia Gomez Gonzalez
Best Film: Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan). Winner of the Rcn Award for $50 to promote the release of the film in Colombia.
Special Jury Prize: Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen (Singapore)
[1] http://www.cinelatinoamericano.org/ocal/cifras.aspx
[2] http://www.mincultura.gov.co/areas/cinematografia/estadisticas-del-sector/Documents/Anuario%202012.p...
This former colonial jewel in the crown of Spain offers a huge array of delights, film-wise, art-wise, food-wise and people-wise. Gorgeous arts and gorgeous people, sweet, polite and proud. As much as I love Havana, Cartagena is how Havana should look.
And as much as I loved Careyes where I was last week, the art and artisanal scope here is so wide; from the Colombian painter and sculptor, Botero to indigenous palm weaving – décor for homes (not cheap!), bags, designer clothing, linen and rubies.
Aside from films, my big discoveries of the day are Ruby Rumie, a Colombian artist who spends much of her time here in her studio in the Getsemaní section of town and in Chile. Coincidentally (again) Gary Meyer (Telluride Film Festival) and his wife Cathy who are here with Gary on the Documentary Competition Jury (I just left them in Careyas!) also just discovered her as well. The other artist, Olga Amaral, works in indigenous styles of weaving and textile production and now is favoring gold leaf displays of woven wall tapestries. Stunning. Both are available at the Nh Gallery, a place I just happened to wander into as I was walking from the theater to my equally stunning hotel Casa Pestagua.
The courteous and helpful people here are a proud mix of white, brown and black. They say the blacks will never follow the orders of a white. They say the blood of slaves is embedded in the wall fortifications of the city. The Inquisition here was very powerful, and they say the Jews (Conversos) coming in the conquistadors’ ships went to settle Medellín and the Catholics to Bogotá. Cartagena was the last city to be free of the Spanish crown and as such, it was extremely conservative.
It would take days to visit all the museums throughout the city. The Art Biennale is now in many of them (free entry) including the Museum of the Inquisition with its torture machines. The Museum of Gold with pre-Colombian gold artworks is astounding. All the gold of Latin America (and emeralds, diamonds and silver) went from here in the Spanish galleons back to Spain until the city declared its independence in 1811. We in the North know this history but from a different perspective. Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins of Latin America and Gonzalo Arijon’s documentary Eyes Wide Open, an update of Galeano’s ideas are good starting points for understanding this part of the world. Eye opening indeed!
The beauty of the city and its people is matched by the food. There is great food here here and some very haute cuisine restaurants. Ceviches of many kinds, new sweet fruits like the pitaya and the drink mixing limeade and coconut milk delight the palate. The festival invites enough but not too many industry folks so it can host lunches and dinners in wonderful venues along with cocktail hours where we can all meet and talk. Talk among us is of food and film, film and food…even of food film festivals that are cropping up from Berlin, San Sebastian, here and in Northern California…stay tuned.
The Colombian government is aware of the need for the public to rediscover their own stories and to this end all the festival screenings are free, and all are packed Sro. The government also supports filmmakers with a deliberate, well-planned and well executed strategy to increase production and create an infrastructure.
Colombian films’ biggest challenge is to increase their share of their rapidly growing domestic market, worth $182.3 million in box office in 2012. One way forward is international co-production, where Bam (Bogotá Audiovisual Market) July 14-18, 2014 plays a large role. There is a mini version of this here (Encuentros Cartagena), centering on French and Colombian co-production, but not limited to that, with guests like George Goldenstern from Cinefondation (Cannes), producer/ international sales agent Marie-Pierre Masia and and the ever present Thierry Lenouvel of Cine-Sud whose film Tierra en la lengua aka Dust on the Tongue won the Best Picture Award in Competition. Vincenzo Bugno of World Cinema Fund of the Berlinale is always here too as is Jose Maria Riba on the Jury of the Competition and programmer for San Sebastian and Directors Fortnight. Also on the jury are Wendy Mitchel and Pawel Pawlikowski whose film Ida (Isa: Portobello Film Sales) is playing (outside of the Competition). A look at the winning competition films shows the strength of co-productions today.
Best Picture: Dust on the Tongue of Ruben Mendoza (Colombia) Colombia Film of $15,000. Special Jury Prize: The Third Side of the River (La tercera orilla) which premiered in Competition at the Berlinale, by Celina Murga (Argentina, Netherlands, Germany) (Isa: The Match Factory) Best Director: Alejandro Fernández Almendras for To kill a man (Matar a un hombre) which premiered in Sundance (Chile, France). Film Factory is selling international rights and Film Movement has U.S. It also won the Fipresci or International Critics’ Award. Best Actor: Fernando Bacilio by El Mudo (Peru, Mexico, France), Urban Distribution International is the sales agent.
Cinema in Colombia continues its steep ascent in the international production world. The reasons, according to Bugno, lie in “new political decisions, funding structures, and the developing of a new producing environment that also has to do with new emerging young talent.”
A visit to the festival headquarters proves the point of the extensive government support of film not only for its own sake, but for the sake of all the people, dispossessed, abused, Lgbt, children and women. It is a beautiful sight to see such support, and the people seem to reciprocate; I hear more praise than complaints about the government and everyone seems cautiously optimistic, aware of its current position vis à vis what has thankfully become recent history with the guerillas who had been waging war with the government for the past 40 years and the current elections and competing points of view between the former President Uribe and the current President Juan Manuel Santos.
Aecid , Association Espagnola de Cooperacon Internacional para el Desarrollo (The Spanish Association for International Cooperation for Development), a festival sponsor supports social cohesion, equality of genders, construction of peace, respect for cultural diversity and the reduction of poverty.
Currently in Colombia, national cinema holds a 10% share of the Colombian market and 8% of the box office. In 2012, 213 films were produced in Colombia, a huge increase since 2009 when 19 were produced according to Ocal, the Observotario del Cine f nCl [sic]. In 2012, 23 of the 213 domestic films were released theatrically, a tremendous increase from the 6 Colombian films released in the year 2000. [1],[2] This number surpasses every record in Colombia’s film history
This 10 day spectacular film festival gives free entry to all at 8 theaters and, proving the point that people love the movies, every single screening is packed solid, Sro. More than 135 films come from 27 countries. 48 daily screenings include 14 open air screenings in great locations. There are 40 world premieres and 26 Latin American premieres.
150 invited guests included Abbas Kiarostami, Clive Owen, Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu, Pavel Pawlikowsky with his film Ida, John Sayles with whom I had an interesting talk about U.S. current distribution and of Return of Seacaucus Seven and Sunshine State. The screening of his film Go For Sisters has received an enthusiastic response from the audiences.
Since 2013, coproductions between the U.S. and Colombia with variations on the theme are on the rise. With its 40% cash rebate, Colombia is proving to be a great place to make movies.
Colombians such as Simon Brand are making English language genre films such as this year’s festival debuting Default (Isa: Wild Bunch). For budgets under Us$1 million, action, thrillers and horror genres can cross borders, and can recoup costs and even profit.
The reverse is also notable. Four films screening here are Colombian films made by Americans. The winner to three prizes here for Best Director, Best Documentary and the Audience Prize, Marmato by Marc Grieco was workshopped twice at Sundance where it premiered this January 2014. It is represented internationally by Ro*co and its U.S. representative is Ben Weiss at Paradigm. The other three remarkable debut films are Mambo Cool by Chris Gude,Manos Sucias by Josef Wladyka (a Japanese-Polish American) and Parador Hungaro by Patrick Alexander and Aseneth Suarez Ruiz. Look for upcoming interviews with these four directors who came to Colombia and, because of their experiences here, decided to make these exceptional movies. My next blog will be interviews with each of these films’ directors.
Secundaria , the first film I saw here was not shot here although it too was directed by an American who made 21 trips to Cuba to make it. Documenting the high school ballet training and competitions held by Cuba’s world famous National Ballet School -- Watch the trailer here -- it was not only beautiful but it magically captured the ever-present economic issues of Cuba. I can’t wait to see Primaria about the grade school of the Nbs.
Director and coproducer Mary Jane Doherty has been an Associate Professor of Film at Boston University since 1990. Proud of her lineage as a student of iconic documentarian Ricky Leacock, she developed B.U.’s Narrative Documentary Program: a novel approach to non-fiction storytelling using the building blocks of fiction film. Lyda Kuth , the coproducer, is founding board member and executive director of the Lef Foundation, which supports independent filmmakers through the Lef Moving Image Fund. In 2005, she established Nadita Productions and was producer/director on her first feature documentary, Love and Other Anxieties.
A cocktail party is given daily at the festival where we can all meet up. It was there I met Gail Gendler VP of Acquisitions for AMC/ Sundance Channel Global (international not domestic) and Gus
Dinner one night was with the jury for Nuevos Creadores (New Creators). Cynthia Garcia Calvo, Editor in Chief of LatamCinema.com, a Latino equivalent to Indiewire.com out of Chile and Argentina and I spoke of possible ways to cooperate. The third member of the jury, Javier Mejia, director of Colombia’s best film of 2008 Apocalypsur also has a documentary here, Duni, about a Chilean filmmaker who left Chile during the dictatorship and came to Colombia where he made political films in Medellin but never discussed his reasons for coming or even his Chilean roots. How happy I was that I had seen and enjoyed the films of the third jury member, Daniel Vega, who with his brother Diego made The Mute aka El Mudo (Isa: Urban Media) which played in Toronto and San Sebastian and his earlier film October, both dark comedies or perhaps dramadies dealing with subjective realities in unique environs of Peru we have never seen. He promised to help me with the Peru chapter of my upcoming book. Peru is in the lower middle of countries which support filmmaking. Their film fund is a rather laid back affair administered by the Ministry of Culture who receives money from the Ministry of Finance when they “get around to it”.
Jury for New Creators: Javier Mejía, Cynthia García Calvo and Diego Vega,displaying the winner for the Best Short Film: Alen Natalia Imery (Universidad del Valle) who won a Sony video camera, 2,000, 000 pesos of in kind services from Shock Magazin, and a scholarship for graduate Project Management and Film Production at the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga
Second prize went to The murmur of the earth Alejandro Daza (National University) - Win a Sony camera, and a Fellowship for Graduate Record Audio and Sound Design of the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga.
Other winners are:
Official Colombian Film Competition
Jurors: David Melo - Alissa Simon - Daniela Michel
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA) Winner of the I.Sat Award for $30K and the Cinecolor Award for $11k in deliveries
Special Jury Prize: Mateo by María Gamboa
Best Director: Rubén Mendoza for Dust on the Tongue (Tierra en la lengua). Winner of Hangar Films Award for $30K in film equipment to produce his next film.
Additional Awards
Audience Award Colombia: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of $15K
Official Documentary Competition
Jurors: Gary Meyer- Luis Ospina - Laurie Collyer
Best Film: Marmato by Mark Grieco (Colombia, USA). Winner of the Cinecolor Award for $13Kin post-production services.
Special Jury Prize: What Now? Remind Me (E Agora? Lembra-me) by Joaquim Pinto (Portugal)
Best Director: Justin Webster for I Will Be Murdered (Seré asesinado) (Spain, Denmark, U.K.)
Official Short Film Competition
JurorsOswaldo Osorio -Pacho Bottia - Denis de la Roca
Best Short Film: Statues (Estatuas) by Roberto Fiesco (Mexico). Winner of a professional Sony camera and $3K from Cinecolor in post-production services for his next project.
Special Jury Prize: About a Month (Pouco Mais de um Mês) by André Novais Oliveira (Brazil)
Best Director: Manuel Camacho Bustillo for Blackout chapter 4 "A Call to Neverland" (Blackout capítulo 4 "Una llamada a Neverland") (Mexico). Winner of a Sony photographic camera.
Gems
Jurors: Mauricio Reina - Manuel Kalmanowitz - Sofia Gomez Gonzalez
Best Film: Like Father, Like Son by Hirokazu Koreeda (Japan). Winner of the Rcn Award for $50 to promote the release of the film in Colombia.
Special Jury Prize: Ilo Ilo by Anthony Chen (Singapore)
[1] http://www.cinelatinoamericano.org/ocal/cifras.aspx
[2] http://www.mincultura.gov.co/areas/cinematografia/estadisticas-del-sector/Documents/Anuario%202012.p...
- 3/26/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
On the opening night of my first Telluride Film Festival, in 1979, co-founder Bill Pence stood on the stage of the historic 1913 Sheridan Opera House and told us that if we could see all the films we wanted to he would consider the festival a failure. Although Bill and his wife Stella have passed the baton to Gary Meyer, Julie Huntsinger, and fellow founder Tom Luddy, that mission statement has remained intact: Telluride is an embarrassment of riches, more than ever as it celebrated its 40th year by adding an additional day to the Labor Day Weekend festivities.While it’s tempting to avoid the big-name movies that will open theatrically in a matter of weeks, it’s undeniably...
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[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]...
- 9/4/2013
- by Leonard Maltin
- Leonard Maltin's Movie Crazy
As Telluride Film Festival co-director Gary Meyer reminded at the opening day press conference, he and co-directors Tom Luddy and Julie Huntsinger like to stay away from the word "world premiere." But they do in fact book them and it seems that the Telluride Oscar record is so good that more and more studios and indies are bringing films here as well as Venice and Toronto and New York. In fact, Cannes entries "All is Lost," "Inside Llewyn Davis" and "Nebraska" are skipping Toronto on their way to New York. So I made sure to see them here. (More later.) Paramount's Jason Reitman romance "Labor Day" debuted Thursday, while two unannounced big films made a big splash Friday: Warner Bros. awards hopeful "Prisoners," which nabbed rave reviews for Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal and Fox Searchlight's "12 Years a Slave," directed by Steve McQueen. Alfonso Cuaron's "Gravity," which we reviewed in Venice,...
- 8/31/2013
- by Anne Thompson and Ryan Lattanzio
- Thompson on Hollywood
This year's Telluride Film Festival will be dedicated, in part, to Roger Ebert, it was announced Thursday. The late movie critic was a fixture at the Colorado film festival, the 40th edition of which begins on Thursday, and championed the festival and its films in his writing. Photos: Roger Ebert's Life and Career in Pictures "I'm deeply touched that the board of the Telluride Film Festival decided to honor Roger this way and I send my sincere thanks and congratulations on their 40-year anniversary to festival directors Tom Luddy, Gary Meyer, and Julie Huntsinger," Ebert’s wife, Chaz, said
read more...
read more...
- 8/29/2013
- by Hilary Lewis
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Throughout the week, Indiewire will feature remembrances of Roger Ebert from across the industry. Today, we're focusing on the film festival community. Yesterday, we ran thoughts from indie executives. Gary Meyer, Telluride Film Festival In 1978 Landmark took over an old theater in Chicago, the Parkway, to show daily changing double features. We needed to get publicity but the switchboard at both the Tribune and Sun Times refused to put me through to their film critics, Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert respectively. I went to the Sun Times where the receptionist would not call up to Roger or give me any tips on how to make an appointment. I went outside and waited until she went on a break, leaving the lobby unattended. It was my chance to slip in and take the elevator to any floor, asking where Mr. Ebert's desk was. I was told to go up another floor...
- 4/10/2013
- by Indiewire Staff
- Indiewire
Presenters to include David Bordwell, Ira Deutchman, Ava DuVernay, Crispin Hellion Glover, and Tim League
The 6th annual Art House Convergence, the only yearly meeting of independent art house movie theater owners and operators in the Us and Canada will be held January 14-17, 2013 in Midway, Utah. Presented in cooperation with Sundance Institute, this annual conference features inspirational speakers, informative sessions and enlightening panel discussions by industry leaders. University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor and author David Bordwell and Emerging Pictures Managing Partner Ira Deutchman will be among the keynote speakers at this event, while filmmaker/marketer/distributor Ava DuVernay, renegade auteur Crispin Hellion Glover, and Alamo Drafthouse Founder & CEO Tim League will be among the many participating in Convergence presentations.
Since it originated in 2008, the Art House Convergence has doubled in size each year and has evolved into a leading national resource for the support of independent film and the promotion of film culture in local communities. Past keynote speakers have included Sundance Film Festival Director John Cooper; film producer Ted Hope; and filmmaker Michael Moore. In 2012, over three hundred people gathered from thirty-six states, Washington, D.C. and Toronto.
This year, over twenty sessions and panel discussions will cover a wide range of topics including increasing and engaging audiences through film education, new media marketing, digital cinema, fundraising, programming, and financial management.
Highlights include:
Midnight Movies: Innovative Ways to Attract Audiences Managing with Metrics: Lessons from Tim League and the Alamo Drafthouse Race & Diversity in the Art House, with Ava DuVernay and other panelists Digital Cinema Update: Surviving the Transition & Avoiding the Traps A performance by renegade auteur Crispin Hellion Glover Driving Marketing for Films Without Major Studio Backing The Non-Profit Art House: The Modern Sustainable Model Case Study: Fund Raising and Installing Digital Cinema at the County Theatre Repertory Film Programming: Good Old Films, Great New Audiences Increasing Leadership Resilience and Minimizing Burnout, with Dewey Schott The Digital Art House: Lessons and Experiences From Europe
““O Wonder! How many goodly creatures are there [at the Convergence]! How beauteous [humanity] is! O brave new world that has such people in’t.” I think if Shakespeare had written about the Art House Convergence, he would have written this!” says Convergence Director, Russ Collins; “Silly metaphors aside, Art House cinema operators are truly the goodly creatures of cinema exhibition. In cities both large and small, they daily present the brave new creations of cinema artists from around the globe for the benefit and wonder of their communities. Annually, these Art Houses operators gather in Utah, in January, just before the start of the Sundance Film Festival to learn, share, commiserate and be inspired at this acclaimed conference. We look forward to all of our colleagues from specialty film theaters across North America joining us January 14-17 at the 2013 Art House Convergence.”
For Art House Convergence program and registration details, visit www.arthouseconvergence.org Hi-res images available upon request.
Interview Suggestions:
Russ Collins
Chair, Art House Convergence; Executive Director, Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, Mi
734-646-0528 or russ@arthouseconvergence.org
Casey De La Rosa
Sundance Film Festival Media Contact
Requests through: 310-360-1981, casey_delarosa@sundance.org
Gary Meyer
Co-Director, Telluride Film Festival; Co-Founder, Landmark Theaters 510-665-9494 or garytff@gmail.com
About the Sundance Institute Art House Project & Art House Convergence
In 2005, the Sundance Institute Art House Project was created to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Sundance Institute by honoring Art House theatres. Twelve representative art house theatres from around the country were designated as Sundance Institute Art House Project theatres. Representatives from each theatre were invited to attend the festival to gain further insight into the scope and scale of independent cinema worldwide. The group realized the benefits of an ongoing dialogue within the art house community and in 2008 presented the first Art House Convergence, an industry educational program designed to empower and inform independent cinemas nationwide. The growth of the Art House Convergence and its development of research, surveys and year round communication among art house theaters affirm that the organization has evolved into a leading national resource for the support of independent film and the promotion of film culture in local communities.
The 6th annual Art House Convergence, the only yearly meeting of independent art house movie theater owners and operators in the Us and Canada will be held January 14-17, 2013 in Midway, Utah. Presented in cooperation with Sundance Institute, this annual conference features inspirational speakers, informative sessions and enlightening panel discussions by industry leaders. University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor and author David Bordwell and Emerging Pictures Managing Partner Ira Deutchman will be among the keynote speakers at this event, while filmmaker/marketer/distributor Ava DuVernay, renegade auteur Crispin Hellion Glover, and Alamo Drafthouse Founder & CEO Tim League will be among the many participating in Convergence presentations.
Since it originated in 2008, the Art House Convergence has doubled in size each year and has evolved into a leading national resource for the support of independent film and the promotion of film culture in local communities. Past keynote speakers have included Sundance Film Festival Director John Cooper; film producer Ted Hope; and filmmaker Michael Moore. In 2012, over three hundred people gathered from thirty-six states, Washington, D.C. and Toronto.
This year, over twenty sessions and panel discussions will cover a wide range of topics including increasing and engaging audiences through film education, new media marketing, digital cinema, fundraising, programming, and financial management.
Highlights include:
Midnight Movies: Innovative Ways to Attract Audiences Managing with Metrics: Lessons from Tim League and the Alamo Drafthouse Race & Diversity in the Art House, with Ava DuVernay and other panelists Digital Cinema Update: Surviving the Transition & Avoiding the Traps A performance by renegade auteur Crispin Hellion Glover Driving Marketing for Films Without Major Studio Backing The Non-Profit Art House: The Modern Sustainable Model Case Study: Fund Raising and Installing Digital Cinema at the County Theatre Repertory Film Programming: Good Old Films, Great New Audiences Increasing Leadership Resilience and Minimizing Burnout, with Dewey Schott The Digital Art House: Lessons and Experiences From Europe
““O Wonder! How many goodly creatures are there [at the Convergence]! How beauteous [humanity] is! O brave new world that has such people in’t.” I think if Shakespeare had written about the Art House Convergence, he would have written this!” says Convergence Director, Russ Collins; “Silly metaphors aside, Art House cinema operators are truly the goodly creatures of cinema exhibition. In cities both large and small, they daily present the brave new creations of cinema artists from around the globe for the benefit and wonder of their communities. Annually, these Art Houses operators gather in Utah, in January, just before the start of the Sundance Film Festival to learn, share, commiserate and be inspired at this acclaimed conference. We look forward to all of our colleagues from specialty film theaters across North America joining us January 14-17 at the 2013 Art House Convergence.”
For Art House Convergence program and registration details, visit www.arthouseconvergence.org Hi-res images available upon request.
Interview Suggestions:
Russ Collins
Chair, Art House Convergence; Executive Director, Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, Mi
734-646-0528 or russ@arthouseconvergence.org
Casey De La Rosa
Sundance Film Festival Media Contact
Requests through: 310-360-1981, casey_delarosa@sundance.org
Gary Meyer
Co-Director, Telluride Film Festival; Co-Founder, Landmark Theaters 510-665-9494 or garytff@gmail.com
About the Sundance Institute Art House Project & Art House Convergence
In 2005, the Sundance Institute Art House Project was created to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Sundance Institute by honoring Art House theatres. Twelve representative art house theatres from around the country were designated as Sundance Institute Art House Project theatres. Representatives from each theatre were invited to attend the festival to gain further insight into the scope and scale of independent cinema worldwide. The group realized the benefits of an ongoing dialogue within the art house community and in 2008 presented the first Art House Convergence, an industry educational program designed to empower and inform independent cinemas nationwide. The growth of the Art House Convergence and its development of research, surveys and year round communication among art house theaters affirm that the organization has evolved into a leading national resource for the support of independent film and the promotion of film culture in local communities.
- 11/29/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Filmmaker John Waters has never been one to sugarcoat his message. And his recent public service announcement for San Francisco's Roxie Theater fundraising campaign is no exception.
"Hi, I'm John Waters and I'm here to urge you to support the Kickstarter campaign fundraiser for the Roxie Cinema," he said. "Why? Cause I get a kick out of the Roxie and if you don't, I outta kick your ass."
Though the Roxie is a San Francisco institution and the nation's oldest theater (the second-oldest in the world), the historic movie house is reportedly struggling to stay open as it converts to nonprofit status.
"There is no other theater in the country that does what the Roxie does," said Telluride Film Festival founder Gary Meyer of the independent theater.
Waters seems to agree:
"Where else can you see programming like this?" he asked in the video. "Obscure midnight classics, dirty cult movies,...
"Hi, I'm John Waters and I'm here to urge you to support the Kickstarter campaign fundraiser for the Roxie Cinema," he said. "Why? Cause I get a kick out of the Roxie and if you don't, I outta kick your ass."
Though the Roxie is a San Francisco institution and the nation's oldest theater (the second-oldest in the world), the historic movie house is reportedly struggling to stay open as it converts to nonprofit status.
"There is no other theater in the country that does what the Roxie does," said Telluride Film Festival founder Gary Meyer of the independent theater.
Waters seems to agree:
"Where else can you see programming like this?" he asked in the video. "Obscure midnight classics, dirty cult movies,...
- 11/16/2012
- by Robin Wilkey
- Huffington Post
The most secretive of the fall festivals has now been unveiled. Kicking off Friday, Telluride 2012 has revealed their line-up, with highlights including Michael Haneke‘s Amour, Ramin Bahrani‘s At Any Price, Thomas Vinterberg‘s The Hunt, Roger Michell‘s Hyde Park on Hudson, Jacques Audiard‘s Rust & Bone, Noah Baumbach‘s Frances Ha and Sarah Polley‘s Stories We Tell.
Unfortunately absent are a few major titles, including Paul Thomas Anderson‘s The Master, Derek Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines, Terrence Malick‘s To the Wonder, Olivier Assayas‘ Something in the Air, but rumors point to Ben Affleck‘s Argo secretly getting a bow there, as they will announce a few more as the festival progresses this weekend. Check out the line-up and press release below, which includes more programs, such as showings of Stalker and Baraka.
The Act Of Killing (d. Joshua Oppenheimer, Denmark, 2012)
Amour (d.
Unfortunately absent are a few major titles, including Paul Thomas Anderson‘s The Master, Derek Cianfrance‘s The Place Beyond the Pines, Terrence Malick‘s To the Wonder, Olivier Assayas‘ Something in the Air, but rumors point to Ben Affleck‘s Argo secretly getting a bow there, as they will announce a few more as the festival progresses this weekend. Check out the line-up and press release below, which includes more programs, such as showings of Stalker and Baraka.
The Act Of Killing (d. Joshua Oppenheimer, Denmark, 2012)
Amour (d.
- 8/30/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Michael Winterbottom, Noah Baumbach, Sally Potter, Roger Michell, Ken Burns and Sarah Polley are headlining the 39th annual Telluride Film Festival, which kicks off its yearly four-day run Friday, August 31. A cineaste’s paradise, Telluride also has programmed films from international filmmakers Ramin Bahrani, Jacques Audiard, Liz Garbus, Thomas Vinterberg, Pablo Larrain and Michael Haneke. “Balance is the most important part of our program,” says Julie Huntsinger, festival director along with Tom Luddy and Gary Meyer. “We reflect what’s out there, we reflect what is going on in cinema. It’s always a nice surprise to us when we have a particularly Telluride year, where there are new names. We chose the very best of what is out there, and we have exactly the program we want.” So the line-up, released by tradition just the day before the festival begins, includes “Everyday,” Winterbottom’s look at a woman struggling.
- 8/30/2012
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
Don’t be lulled into complacency by its bucolic mountain setting because when the 39th Telluride Film Festival gets underway Friday, movies that reflect an unsettled world will take center stage. "Without question, it became clear to us as we put together the program that a number of films deal with terrorist issues and international conflict,” says Gary Meyer, who serves as one of the festival’s directors along with Tom Luddy and Julie Huntsinger. “You can’t help it. It’s something of concern to all of us. You can’t fly out of an airport without thinking about it, and it’s a
read more...
read more...
- 8/30/2012
- by Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
French writer and avant-garde multimedia artist/photographer/filmmaker Chris Marker died at age 91 on July 29. The movie that they screen most at film schools is Left Bank Cinema entry "La jetee" (1962), followed by "A Grin Without a Cat" (1977), "Sans Soleil" (1983) and his documentary essay on Akira Kurosawa, "Ak"(1985). Marker's closest contemporaries in France were Agnès Varda and Alain Resnais, who described Marker as "the prototype of the twenty-first-century man." Film writer Roy Armes said he was cinema's only essayist. Here's The Guardian and Fandor. Telluride Film Festival co-director Gary Meyer posted on his Facebook page today: One of the world's great filmmakers, innovators and thinkers has passed away at 91. We thought and hoped Chris Marker would live forever. His short film La Jetee is one of the great movies and all of his work was unique. Little is on DVD but essential for your...
- 7/30/2012
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
The Way Home directed by Dr. Biju will screen at the 38th Telluride Film Festival. The festival presented by the National Film Preserve, announced its program on Friday.
The festival will take place from September 2-5, 2011 in the mountain town of Colorado, Us. The festival will screen 25 feature films plus Guest Director Programs, classics and restorations, short films and student films etc.
“This has proven to be a marvelous year for the Telluride Film Festival. We discovered many more fine movies than our four-day weekend could include. There were difficult decisions and the results make for an exciting and varied selection of new works by both established filmmakers, many returning to Telluride, and first-time directors,” said Festival Co-Director Gary Meyer.
The plot of The Way Home revolves around a doctor who is assigned the case of a woman who is the member of a terrorist group. The other films that...
The festival will take place from September 2-5, 2011 in the mountain town of Colorado, Us. The festival will screen 25 feature films plus Guest Director Programs, classics and restorations, short films and student films etc.
“This has proven to be a marvelous year for the Telluride Film Festival. We discovered many more fine movies than our four-day weekend could include. There were difficult decisions and the results make for an exciting and varied selection of new works by both established filmmakers, many returning to Telluride, and first-time directors,” said Festival Co-Director Gary Meyer.
The plot of The Way Home revolves around a doctor who is assigned the case of a woman who is the member of a terrorist group. The other films that...
- 9/2/2011
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
George Clooney, Pierre Étaix and Tilda Swinton
to receive Silver Medallion Awards Over twenty-five new features plus revival programs
and unique programming from Guest Director Caetano Veloso will be presented as part of the 2011 exhibition
Telluride, Co (September 1, 2011) . Telluride Film Festival (September 2-5, 2011), presented by the National Film Preserve, announces its program for the 38th Telluride Film Festival. Featuring diverse programming from around the globe, Tff once again sets the stage for some of the year.s most highly anticipated films.
Tff opens its 38th year with over twenty-five new feature films plus special artist tributes, Guest Director programs selected by Caetano Veloso, Backlot programs, classics and restorations, shorts, student films, seminars and conversations, each introduced or proceeded with a Q&A by its filmmaker, actors, writer or producer. Telluride Film Festival opens Friday, September 2 and runs through Labor Day, Monday, September 5.
The .Show.
38th Telluride Film Festival is proud...
to receive Silver Medallion Awards Over twenty-five new features plus revival programs
and unique programming from Guest Director Caetano Veloso will be presented as part of the 2011 exhibition
Telluride, Co (September 1, 2011) . Telluride Film Festival (September 2-5, 2011), presented by the National Film Preserve, announces its program for the 38th Telluride Film Festival. Featuring diverse programming from around the globe, Tff once again sets the stage for some of the year.s most highly anticipated films.
Tff opens its 38th year with over twenty-five new feature films plus special artist tributes, Guest Director programs selected by Caetano Veloso, Backlot programs, classics and restorations, shorts, student films, seminars and conversations, each introduced or proceeded with a Q&A by its filmmaker, actors, writer or producer. Telluride Film Festival opens Friday, September 2 and runs through Labor Day, Monday, September 5.
The .Show.
38th Telluride Film Festival is proud...
- 9/1/2011
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
"Take a close look at the lineup the Telluride Film Festival," advises Eugene Hernandez at indieWIRE. "These are films you’ll be hearing a lot about over the next few weeks during a fall festival swing that begins in Venice, travels to Telluride and continues through to big-city fests in Toronto and then New York. For many movies on the roster, the journey even dates back to Cannes in May."
The festival opens tomorrow and runs through Labor Day; meantime, here's the Show:
Viviana García Besné's Perdida, a look at the Calderon family, a cinema dynasty in Mexico.
Dr. Biju's The Way Home. See the description from the London Indian Film Festival.
Joseph Cedar's Footnote. See the Cannes roundup.
Mark Cousins's The Story of Film: An Odyssey. Trailer (scroll down about halfway).
David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method. Premieres tomorrow (Friday) in Venice.
Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne's The Kid with a Bike.
The festival opens tomorrow and runs through Labor Day; meantime, here's the Show:
Viviana García Besné's Perdida, a look at the Calderon family, a cinema dynasty in Mexico.
Dr. Biju's The Way Home. See the description from the London Indian Film Festival.
Joseph Cedar's Footnote. See the Cannes roundup.
Mark Cousins's The Story of Film: An Odyssey. Trailer (scroll down about halfway).
David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method. Premieres tomorrow (Friday) in Venice.
Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne's The Kid with a Bike.
- 9/1/2011
- MUBI
The guest director for the 38th Telluride Film Festival is Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso. He'll curate a special program for the four-day Labor Day weekend festival. I've seen Veloso in concert; I can't wait to see what he comes up with. Attendees at the Colorado Rocky Mountain fest won't find out the program until they arrive on opening day September 2. Congrats to fest directors Tom Luddy, Gary Meyer and Julie Huntsinger for thinking outside the box. Former guest director Peter Sellars suggested Veloso, who is a major film fan. Past Guest Directors include Michael Ondaatje, Alexander Payne, Salman Rushdie, Peter Bogdanovich, B. Ruby Rich, Phillip Lopate, Errol Morris, Bertrand Tavernier, John Boorman, John Simon, Buck Henry, Laurie Anderson and Stephen Sondheim. The Guest Director ...
- 6/28/2011
- Thompson on Hollywood
The Telluride Film Festival (September 2-5) chose Maira Kalman as the poster artist for its 38th year. New York-based Kalman has been working as a designer and illustrator for over 30 years. Of the poster she says: “High in the San Juan Mountains people gather each year to experience the unexpected: moving images from around the world that take them on journeys they may never have imagined. I wanted to capture some of these cinematic dreams directly on to the poster, the dreams I myself might encounter at the Festival.” More information on Telluride and Kalman is below: Fest co-director Gary Meyer calls it a terrific addition to their poster archives: “We were hoping that Maira would bring us the kind of surprising humor that ...
- 5/31/2011
- Thompson on Hollywood
Gary Meyer is the co-Director of Telluride Film Festival, owner of Balboa Theater in the Bay Area (Northern California) and one of the founders of the art house chain of theaters known as Landmark. Follow his blog of the Cannes Film Festival here.
- 5/19/2011
- Sydney's Buzz
Offering just two new dozen feature films over five days, the Telluride Film Festival is a carefully curated event. Which is another way of saying that it's programmers have idiosyncratic taste. Fest heads Tom Luddy, Gary Meyer and Julie Huntsinger clearly have favorite filmmakers who seem to return to the festival with each new movie. But, that's part of the festival's charm. To find the small crop of new films that ...
- 9/8/2010
- Indiewire
Peter Weir, Danny Boyle, Mark Romanek and Errol Morris will be headlining this year's Telluride Film Festival, which kicks off Friday.
Colorado mountain fest, now in its 37th year, officially announced its program Thursday, and festival directors Tom Luddy, Gary Meyer and Julie Huntsinger have stocked the high-altitude event with a typical mix of the new and unseen, the archival and obscure. Festivalgoers who make the trek to the lush box canyon in the western end of the San Juan Mountains will have their choice of outdoor screenings, shorts programs, filmmaker panels and sneak peeks at some of the fall's new releases as the program unspools through Monday.
Romanek's "Never Let Me Go," which Alex Garland adapted from the Kazuo Ishiguro novel, will screen Friday night at the 650-seat Palm Theatre. Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan star in the film, which Fox Searchlight will also show at the...
Colorado mountain fest, now in its 37th year, officially announced its program Thursday, and festival directors Tom Luddy, Gary Meyer and Julie Huntsinger have stocked the high-altitude event with a typical mix of the new and unseen, the archival and obscure. Festivalgoers who make the trek to the lush box canyon in the western end of the San Juan Mountains will have their choice of outdoor screenings, shorts programs, filmmaker panels and sneak peeks at some of the fall's new releases as the program unspools through Monday.
Romanek's "Never Let Me Go," which Alex Garland adapted from the Kazuo Ishiguro novel, will screen Friday night at the 650-seat Palm Theatre. Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan star in the film, which Fox Searchlight will also show at the...
- 9/2/2010
- by By Jay A. Fernandez
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In her fourth posting from the Berlin Film Festival, foreign correspondent Meredith Brody reveals her other profession: food critic. I meet Telluride Film Festival director Gary Meyer at a 9:30 a.m. screening of La Bocca del Lupo (The Mouth of the Wolf), a strange, poetic little film that begins and ends with silent found footage of long-ago Genova, dreamily spends time in a rather disreputable bar, and achieves nirvana during a long sequence where the love story between a Sicilian tough guy and a deep-voiced transsexual that began in prison is laid out for us in their own words. It seems even shorter than its announced 75 minute running time. Meyer, an old Festival hand full of strategies and shortcuts, leads me through the adjacent shopping ...
- 2/16/2010
- Thompson on Hollywood
The 2009 Telluride Film Festival has tapped Alexander Payne as its guest director of the year. Co-directors Tom Luddy, Julie Huntsinger and Gary Meyer have invited the acclaimed filmmaker to bring new ideas to the Colorado annual event.
Traditionally, the festival's directors invite a guest director as a key collaborator in the programming decisions. He is also expected to select films to be shown at the event. Payne ("About Schmidt") fitted the bill and honored the 36th annual festival by agreeing to the role.
Meyer said, "Alexander has succeeded in programming a group of films with both rarity and variety. We have a sophisticated audience at Telluride and he has met the challenge and exceeded our highest expectations."
The director/screenwriter joins past guest directors such as Peter Sellars, Salman Rushdie, Buck Henry and Slavoj Zizek among others.
Traditionally, the festival's directors invite a guest director as a key collaborator in the programming decisions. He is also expected to select films to be shown at the event. Payne ("About Schmidt") fitted the bill and honored the 36th annual festival by agreeing to the role.
Meyer said, "Alexander has succeeded in programming a group of films with both rarity and variety. We have a sophisticated audience at Telluride and he has met the challenge and exceeded our highest expectations."
The director/screenwriter joins past guest directors such as Peter Sellars, Salman Rushdie, Buck Henry and Slavoj Zizek among others.
- 6/17/2009
- icelebz.com
Directors David Fincher and Jan Troell and actress Jean Simmons will trek this weekend to the Rockies, where each will be feted with a tribute at the 35th Telluride Film Festival.
The pocket-size festival, which traditionally doesn't reveal its lineup until the last minute, gets under way today in the Colorado mountain town and runs through Monday. Despite the all-American locale, this year's event will have an especially international feel.
"Internationally, this has been another terrific year," Gary Meyer, who serves as fest director along with Tom Luddy, said of the lineup the two have assembled.
The only soft spot might be the U.S. component.
"The trend that all the fall festivals are facing," Meyer said, "is that because of the writers strike, a lot of high-profile American films that might have been available just aren't going to be ready in time."
That, in turn, could affect the way...
The pocket-size festival, which traditionally doesn't reveal its lineup until the last minute, gets under way today in the Colorado mountain town and runs through Monday. Despite the all-American locale, this year's event will have an especially international feel.
"Internationally, this has been another terrific year," Gary Meyer, who serves as fest director along with Tom Luddy, said of the lineup the two have assembled.
The only soft spot might be the U.S. component.
"The trend that all the fall festivals are facing," Meyer said, "is that because of the writers strike, a lot of high-profile American films that might have been available just aren't going to be ready in time."
That, in turn, could affect the way...
- 8/28/2008
- by By Gregg Kilday
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
At the Telluride Film Festival today, posing (left to right) with festival managing director Julie Huntsinger and co-director Gary Meyer (front), are a trio of the famous faces behind two of Telluride's buzz titles: Sean Penn, director of "Into The Wild" alongside Jennifer Jason Leigh, star of "Margot at The Wedding" with Noah Baumbach, the film's director. Penn's "Wild" is an adaptation of Jon Krakauer's famous book, starring Marcia Gay-Harden,...
- 9/2/2007
- AMC News: Film Festivals
On the opening day of the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, a rare moment when all three of the festival's new leadership team are in the same place at the same time. Pictured shortly after a briefing for the forty some journalists attending the festival are Telluride founding co-director Tom Luddy (left), with new managing director Julie Huntsinger and new co-director Gary Meyer. The major mantra from the festival chiefs...
- 9/1/2007
- AMC News: Film Festivals
Edith R. Kramer is serving as guest director for the upcoming Telluride Film Festival (August 31 - September 3, 2007). The retired Senior Film Curator and Director of the Pacific Film Archive at Uc Berkeley, Kramer worked for 22 years at the organization. "Edith has introduced me to many films and filmmakers I might never have discovered otherwise," said new festival co-director Gary Meyer. "Her international reputation will result...
- 8/29/2007
- AMC News: Film Festivals
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