Fin de Cinema (Free subscription) | 15/11/2009
3-Iron – dir. Kim Ki-duk When rewatching Kim Ki-duk’s 3-Iron , I had the fear that the very stylized contrivances that made me initially like it would have worn thin. As admirable as it may have seemed to situate your films around characters that barely utter a word to one another (if at all), this action proved a little too precious when I revisited The Isle , despite its occasional grotesqueness....
Art Knowledge News (Free subscription) | 11/11/2009
PARIS.- Funny yet touching, unpredictable yet brilliant, Beat Takeshi Kitano is a multifaceted and prolific artist that has captivated the Japanese public. Comedian and host of nine TV shows ranging from the highly comical to the very serious, he is one of the most popular entertainers in his own country. Abroad, Takeshi Kitano is a widely acclaimed author and actor, and has directed 'Sonatine' (1993),...
glaadBLOG.org (Free subscription) | 04/11/2009
AFI FEST, the American Film Institute’s annual presentation of some of the year’s most noteworthy films, will be screening Tom Ford’s directorial debut, A Single Man, which won the Queer Lion and was nominated for the Golden Lion at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. Summary courtesy of AFI FEST: Unfolding on a single day in Los Angeles [...]
The Hamlet Weblog (Free subscription) | 13/10/2009
Along with the prizes, ITV DVD have sent ten interesting facts about the release of Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet ... 1. Hamlet was the first British film to win both the Academy Award for best picture and the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Award for best picture 2. Laurence Olivier became the first person ever to direct themselves to a best actor or actress Oscar 3. Hamlet cost $2 million to make;...
contessanally (Free subscription) | 02/10/2009
The Place: Granaries of the Cipriani Hotel - Jaeger-LeCoultre Black Tie dinner. During the Venice Film Festival , Jaeger-LeCoultre gave a dinner party at the granaries of the Cipriani Hotel on the Giudecca. White sofas and orchids were placed on the riva overlooking Saint Mark’s Square and the Ducal Palace for guests to sit and admire the view as champagne was served. The famous watchmaker invited...
IndieLondon (Free subscription) | 29/09/2009
Film: Lebanon What’s it about? An account of the first day of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, set within the bowels of a lone Israeli tank. Why so essential? Samuel Maoz’s provocative movie recently won the coveted Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival, and is said to represent a tour-de-force from everyone concerned. Claustrophobic, unflinching and genuinely...
Sunday Tribune (Free subscription) | 27/09/2009
"WHAT'S up, Doc?" enquired John Lasseter. "Up," replied Pete Docter. He was handing Lasseter the first draft of what was to become one of Disney Pixar's most loved and funniest cartoons. Docter's aptly-titled Up is a gorgeous, high-flying bittersweet love story about a grieving grumpy old man Carl who uses thousands of gaily-coloured helium-filled balloons to float away into the...
DCist (Free subscription) | 27/09/2009
Left wing propagandist, or righteous speaker of truth to power? Hypocritical blowhard or man of the people? Egotisical hack or talented documentarian? Chances are you already have a strong opinion about Michael Moore, and already know if you're planning to check out his latest film, Capitalism: A Love Story . The film met with warm receptions at the Cannes and Venice film festivals, winning the Little...
Women's Lens (Free subscription) | 22/09/2009
Director Samuel Maoz exits the ceremony after receiving the Golden Lion Best Film Award for 'Lebanon' at the 66th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis) "Lebanon," an Israeli film that recounts Israel's 1982 invasion of the Middle East country through soldiers' eyes, won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival on
Best Movies 2008 (Free subscription) | 21/09/2009
UPDATE: Sony Classics is on a roll today. The company also picked up the Robert Duvall movie Get Low, about which I wrote last week. Original article follows. I've been meaning to write about Lebanon since it recently won the Golden Lion, the top prize at the Venice Film Festival. The Israeli war film, directed by Samuel Maoz, takes place inside a tank and is an account of a rescue attempt that hopes...
RopeofSilicon: Latest Headlines (Free subscription) | 21/09/2009
Photo: Sony Pictures Classics Sony Pictures Classics has picked up the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner Lebanon for U.S. distribution. The acquisition follows a recent trend by Sony Classics as the third Israeli film in recent years to be picked up by the studio following Ari Folman's Waltz With Bashir and Eran Kolirin's The Band's [...]
Stephen Applebaum Writer/Journalist/Editor for Hire (Free subscription) | 19/09/2009
In September, a former IDF soldier took the top prize at the prestigious Venice Film Festival for a harrowing drama based on his traumatic experiences during the 1982 Lebanon war. Samuel Maoz won the Golden Lion just over a year after fellow Israeli Ari Folman's elegant animated account of his attempt to understand his role in the war, Waltz with Bashir, surprisingly failed to win anything at
The Guardian (Free subscription) | 17/09/2009
This week Jason Solomons meets the cockney auteur Nick Love to talk about Fila tracksuits, football violence and why he decided to remake Alan Clarke's classic The Firm. We have an exclusive interview with Israeli director Samuel Maoz, who took the Golden Lion at this year's Venice film festival for his harrowing war film Lebanon, set entirely inside a tank during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. Xan...
amberlust (Free subscription) | 15/09/2009
We've heard it before. The former Gucci god simply wanted to make movies. Tom Ford made his directorial debut at the Venice film festival Friday, joining the fray for the coveted Golden Lion with his much anticipated film, "A Single Man". Starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore and Matthew Goode, the film is a movie adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's 1964 novel, about a college professor...
US Official Tabloid Gossip (Free subscription) | 15/09/2009
The Italian press, which before the Venice Film Festival had celebrated the high number of Italian films in the festival's official selection, has gone into a period of soul searching and finger pointing after Italian films were for the most part excluded from the event's major prizes. The festival concluded Saturday with the top prize going to the Israeli feature "Lebanon." Brit Colin Firth...
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