This Just In: New DVD Releases

The Glamorous Life of Sachiko Hanai (Hatsujô kateikyôshi: sensei no aijiru ), 2003, directed by Mitsuru Meike, Japan
When call girl Sachiko Hanai (Emi Kuroda) gets shot in the head, she not only survives, she emerges with psychic powers and a genius IQ. Soon, the slut turned brainiac is living a life of danger, having unwittingly walked off with George W. Bush's finger. With the president's fingerprint all that's needed to launch a nuclear missile, just about every spy in the world is after the digit -- and Sachiko -- in this surreal sexploitation romp

Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster (San daikaijû: Chikyu saidai no kessen ), 1964, directed by Ishirô Honda, Japan
Three-headed mutant dragon Ghidorah goes nose to nose with Mothra, Godzilla and Rodan in director Ishirô Honda's classic Japanese monster flick. Released from a meteor that crash-landed, Ghidorah rampages through Tokyo, with Mount Fuji becoming the climactic battleground for a four-beastie smack down when Mothra, Godzilla and Rodan show up. Yosuke Natsuki, Yuriko Hoshi, Akiko Wakabayashi and Takashi Shimura head the cast.

Invasion of Astro-Monster (Kaijû daisenso ), 1965, directed by Ishirô Honda, Japan
Aliens from Planet X borrow Godzilla and Rodan, claiming the monsters can help eradicate the ferocious triple-headed Ghidorah. But the extraterrestrials actually intend to invade Earth. Now, American astronaut Glenn (Nick Adams), his fellow space traveler Fuji (Akira Takarada) and brilliant inventor Tetsuo (Akira Kubo) must stop the sinister plot. Directed by Ishirô Honda, this classic sci-fi adventure co-stars Jun Tazaki and Kumi Mizuno.

New Film Sheriff in Town

Tom Huckabee, Lone Star International Film Festival Director

The Lone Star International Film Festival has named Tom Huckabee as its new festival director. The industry insider from Fort Worth has returned to the city of his roots to work on the festival.
Huckabee was executive producer on Frailty (2001), writer of Deep in the Heart (1996), executive consultant on The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005) and writing, directing and producing for various TV programs.
Huckabee is taking on the task of bringing Hollywood and the indie world of film to Fort Worth for the film festival Nov. 8-11, 2007. Lone Star is seeking film submissions for its film competition.
Meanwhile Fort Worth Sister Cities International is presenting a sidebar during the festival focusing on film from our seven Sister City countries: Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico and Swaziland. If you’re an indie filmmaker or film distributor from these countries contact us at steve_c_roth@yahoo.com.
Huckabee was feted in Fort Worth last Thursday in a mobile celebration that moved from the T&P Station Lofts, to the Flying Saucer and finally winding down at 8.0 in Sundance Square.
Make plans now to join us for the festival and film series this November 2007.

Playing this Weekend in North Texas

Get out and see a movie. Particularly if it's raining AGAIN. Here are films from or about our seven Sister City countries playing locally:

Black Book
Angelika, Dallas
Award-winning Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven directs “Black Book”, an epic World War II thriller based on the real life story of Rachel, a Jewish refugee who escapes to Holland and joins the Dutch resistance to seek revenge on the German Nazis who destroyed her life. When she falls in love with a Gestapo officer, Rachel must walk the line between friendship and enemy status during a time of heightened paranoia and chaos.

Severance
Magnolia Theater, Dallas
Working nine to five is a real killer, but office outings can be even worse. A coach lurches out of bustling Budapest, heading for the mountainous border. Aboard are seven employees of international weapons manufacturer Palisade Defence, global suppliers of innovative weaponry for the past 75 war-torn years. The lucky group is being treated to a team-building weekend at the company's newly-built luxury spa lodge. But things quickly go awry as the colleagues find their corporate weekend is sabotaged by a deadly enemy. Forget office politics, only the smartest will survive this bloody office outing! Directed and co-written by Christopher Smith (Creep).

The Lives of Others
Inwood Theater, Dallas
In East Berlin, five years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Captain Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) of the secret Stasi police is given the mission to spy on a celebrated writer and actress couple (Sebastian Koch, Martina Gedeck) for the German Democratic Republic. But Wiesler's loyalty begins to erode as his immersion in "the lives of others," in love, literature and freethinking, makes him acutely aware of the shortfalls of his own existence. Written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Winner of 7 German Film Awards including Best Director and Outstanding Feature Film. Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film.

Coming Soon

Golden Door
Magnolia Theater, Dallas (June 15)
The classic tale of coming to America is turned into a wondrous and magical experience in writer/director Emanuele Crialese's (Respiro) romantic fable. Driven by fantastic dreams and confronted with shocking realities, one man makes an epic odyssey in search of a brand new world. On a perilous steamship journey from his Sicilian village, the widower Salvatore Mancuso (Vincenzo Amato) encounters the ravishing, mystery-shrouded Englishwoman Lucy (Charlotte Gainsbourg, The Science of Sleep)—as the Old World literally collides into the New with seductive results. Amid a harrowing crossing, an unexpected love story unfolds all the way to the halls of Ellis Island, where both Salvatore and Lucy will stop at nothing to make it through the Golden Door to the America of their imaginations.

Titanic Studio Sold in Mexico

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslett in Titanic

The Rosarita, Mexico, studio where sea-faring films such as Titanic, Master and Commander, Pearl Harbor and Tomorrow Never Dies were filmed, has been sold.

Baja Studios, formerly owned by Twentieth Century Fox, was sold to an investment group called Baja Acquisitions for eight figures.

An attorney for Baja Acquisitions would not reveal the new owners or their plans for the 46-acre oceanfront studio.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, “The studio's activities spread economic activity across the border region. Extras and crew members were hired from throughout Baja California and San Diego. Materials, supplies and services were purchased on both sides of the border.

“Movie stars, directors and others connected with productions rented houses, condos and villas during filming.

“Titanic contributed more than $60 million to the cross-border region during the nine months that production was under way, Baja Studios general manager Charles Arneson said at the time.”

Since 2000 the studios have become a tourist attraction with the addition of a museum for Titanic props. Retail and restaurants around the studio took on the Titanic moniker and theme.

Hungarian Hero

Hungarian director Istvan Szabo (above) has reportedly signed on to direct a film about World War II hero Captain Francis “Frank” Foley.

Producer Timothy Haas said Szabo is onboard and that filming for The Inside Outside Man is slated for Hungary and London.

He’s currently searching for stars to play the leads Frank and Kay Foley. Foley, a British secret service agent, was known as “the man who saved 10,000 Jews” during the war.

The film is controversial in Britain, with some claiming it could harm national security. A legal dispute is under way between the producer and the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6)

Szabo is known to American audiences for directing Being Julia, which led to an Academy Award nomination for Annette Bening, and for Mephisto, which won the 1982 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

This Just In: New DVDs

Meatball Machine, 2005, directed by Yudai Yamaguchi and Jun'ichi Yamamoto, Japan
A new romance between factory workers Yôji (Issei Takahashi) and Sachiko (Aoba Kawai) is going well -- that is, until aliens invade Earth and implant themselves into tumor-like growths on human shoulders. When Sachiko is attacked and transformed into a slave cyborg, it's up to the half-infected Yôji to rescue his lover. Co-directors Jun'ichi Yamamoto and Yudai Yamaguchi surround their tender love story with a rollickingly gross splatter-fest.

Out of Hand, 2005, directed by Eva Urthaler, Germany
Determined to quell the boredom of their unremarkable adolescent lives, Sebastian and Paul (Sergej Moya and Ludwig Trepte) kidnap a beautiful woman (Elisabetta Rocchetti) and take her to a remote location where no one will hear her scream. Of course, once they get her there, they have another problem: They have no idea what to do with her. As the boys' anger and frustration fester, the situation threatens to get seriously out of hand.

The Great Masters of the Italian Renaissance, 3-Disc Series, 2006
The great artistic achievements of the Italian Renaissance spring to life in this engrossing documentary series. Fanning out across Europe, the filmmakers provide enlightening historical context about the artists and the times in which they lived. Among the masters profiled are Raphael, Michelangelo, Fra Angelico, Piero Della Francesca, Caravaggio, Tintoretto, Anthony van Dyck and Bernardo Strozzi.

Cannes Winners Announced

The Cannes Jury, headed by Stephen Frears, awarded the Romanian film 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days the Palme d'Or of this 60th Cannes Festival. But our films and artists from our Sister Cities countries did very well!

The Grand Prize was awarded to Naomi Kawase (left) of Japan for The Mourning Forest.

Kawase said, "It's wonderful to have been able to make films and to continue making them. I'm happy. It's very difficult to make a film. I think it's as difficult as living; it is similar to life. In a life, you also encounter many difficulties, many things that make you suffer; there are many things that make you hesitate or stumble on your path. At those moments, I believe, you look for something deep within that can restore your confidence and strength. You try to find strengths – and I don't mean money, cars, or clothing – it's not necessarily something visible. It can be the wind, the light, the memory of the Ancients which gives us their strength. And when you find that foothold in the world, you can be all alone and go on. Thank you for appreciating my film, for recognizing what I wanted to say with it. Thank you very much! This is a wonderful world."

The Best Screenplay went to Fatih Akin (left) of Hungary for The Edge of Heaven.

“Thank you much, the Jury,” Akin said. “I have to write a new screenplay and that will inspire me a lot. I want to thank all the people who have worked on the film, everybody, whole crew. I want to thank my wife. I have one message for Turkey. All is one, united we stand, divided we fall.”

The prize for Best Director was awarded \to Julian Schnabel for Le Scaphandre et le Papillon (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly).

The prize for Best Leading Actor was awarded to Konstantin Lavronenko for his performance in The Banishment by Andreï Zyvagintsev.

The prize for Best Leading Actress was awarded \to South Korean actress Jeon Do-yeon for her performance in Secret Sunshine by Lee Chang-dong.

The Jury Prize, a tie, was awarded to Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and to Silent Light by Carlos Reygadas (far left).

Carlos Reygadas said: "Good evening. Thank you to Jaime, Natalia, Jean Labadie, the Festival, and the jurors."

Awarded by the Cinéfondation-Short Film Jury presided by Jia Zhangke along with actress Marina Hands, the Palme d'Or for Best Short film was awarded to Ver Llover (Watching it Rain) by Elisa Miller.

Elisa Miller: "Thank you very much! Gracias! I'm very, very happy. I thank the Festival. It was incredible to be here. I thank Mexico. Thank you!"

Additionally in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar recognition was given to Gegenüber (Counterparts) by Jan Bonny, of Germany and The Edge of Heaven by Fatih Akin of Hungary was presented the Ecumenical Jury Prize.

The Jury mentioned: "This film skillfully tells the story of the intersecting destinies in Germany and Turkey of men and women from different backgrounds. It makes the viewer aware of the pain and complexity of the loss of cultural identity and relationships, as well as the valuable cultural exchanges, transitions, and cohabitations possible between these two worlds. Two other major themes are parent-child relationships, sacrifice, and reconciliation." Established in 1974, the Ecumenical Jury designates works of artistic quality, film testimonials to the depth of human feeling and its mystery, through human preoccupations, hopes, and despairs.