Color Me Kubrick

A new film co-starring Richard E. Grant arrives in the next few weeks. Grant, prolific Mbabane native, plays a character named Jasper opposite actor John Malkovich.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001290/

www.richard-e-grant.com
Malokvich (above) plays Alan Conway in this true story about a man who pretends to be legendary film director Stanley Kubrick during the filming of Eyes Wide Shut in London. Kubrick, although exceedingly famous, is not a known face -- like Steven Speilberg. And Conway impersonates Kubrick with almost no knowledge of the director's films or personal life. Color Me Kubrick is directed by Brian Cook.
Now for the unusual distribution plan. Color Me Kubrick will open in theaters across the country on March 23 and will be shown digitally in Landmark Theaters where available. On the same night, HDNet Moview will broadcast the television premiere of Color Me Kubrick twice, at 8:05 p.m. and 11:05 p.m. EST. Magnolia Home Entertainment will release the DVD thorugh retail outlets on Tuesday, March 27, immediately following the theatrical release.
http://www.colormekubrick.com/

Pan Africa Film and Television Festival Update

Listen to Voice of America's report on the festival's first documentary competition.

http://www.voanews.com/english/Entertainment/2007-03-01-voa14.cfm?renderforprint=1

Africa United

Over the weekend the biggest film festival in Africa opened. The biennial Pan-African Film and Television Festival opened in Burkina Faso.

News out of Africa has been limited on the festival, but this great overview piece ranFriday and Saturday in many African newspapers.

Africa's biggest film festival opens in Ouagadougou
Boureima Hama Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
2.23.07

Africa's biggest film festival opens on Saturday in the capital of Burkina Faso hoping for a revival of the continent's ailing cinema industry.

The Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, or Fespaco, which runs from February 24 to March 3, is a two-yearly event gathering more than 3 000 film types from across the continent, from South Africa through Mali to Morocco, as well as from the African diaspora.

Ironically, this year's event takes place as the curtain comes down for cinemas across the continent, but also as African films rake up top international awards, feeding hopes of a new golden age in the years to come.

South Africa's Tsotsi last year won Oscar celebrity status, picking up Hollywood's coveted best foreign-language film award. It is one of two South African entries among the 20 feature films competing for Fespaco's top prize, the Etalon d'Or de Yennenga or Golden Stallion of Yennenga.

Also competing for the top Fespaco award this year are two films from Chad, including one that last September won the Venice Film Festival's Special Jury Prize -- Daratt (Dry Season) by Mahamet-Saleh Haroun.

Haroun, who is 45 and has shot three feature films, plans to buy a block of land in the Chadian capital Ndjamena to build a cinema there.

With the exception of South Africa and Nigeria, cinema houses have been closing down one after the other across the continent, the African monthly Continental said in its February issue. Senegal's last cinema shut down last year, Congo-Brazzaville's seven cinemas have been sold to churches, of the eight cinemas in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde, only one has survived.

"African film is in crisis and the closure of cinemas is only the most visible sign," the magazine said.

After receiving state backing in the post-independence 1970s, producers, directors and distributors have largely had to fend for themselves since the 1990s, when governments cut funding due to pressure from world financial institutions.

With little funding, few to no cinema schools and a poverty-struck public, African film-makers have had to look abroad for support.

Gabon's entry for the top award, L'Ombre de Liberte (Shadow of Freedom) by Imunga Ivanga, for example, was five years in the making, three of them spent drumming up funds for the modest budget of just under €1-million ($1.3 million).

Also competing for the Etalon d'Or de Yennenga -- a reference to the mythical founder of the Mossi empire, whose descendants make up 40% of the country's 14-million people -- are films from Benin, Burkina Faso (three), Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea (three), Mali, Morocco, Nigeria and Senegal and the north African states of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco.

The 20th edition of Fespaco will also feature awards for TV-video films and sitcoms as well as for short movies.

And the African International Film and Television Market (MICA) will be held on the sidelines in a bid to help buyers and distributors to screen African film. - Sapa-AFP

Tsotis Competes for Best Film

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6404013.stm

New Releases

This week's new releases to DVD features several scary movies and several scar people.

Conejo en la Luna (2006), directed by Jorge Ramírez Suárez, tells the story of a couple framed for murdering a politician and suddenly find themselves emersed in the world of corrupt government officials, bad cops and murderous henchmen, according to Netflix.

Frankenstein vs. Baragon (1965), directed by Ishirô Honda, features another wrongly accused individual. After being blamed for destroying the countryside a 20-foot-tall mutant fights it out with the guilty monster/reptile Baragon. Honda was the director of the original Godzilla movie.

Perversion Story (1969), directed by Lucio Fulci, is a high-definition transfer from the original vault negative. The mystery mixes obsession, deceit, sex and murder when a doctor turns Casanova and begins dating a stripper.

Prayer Beads (2006 series), directed by Masahiro Okano, this movie blends realistic animation and live action in nine horror stories of karma and fate.

Synesthesia (2005), directed by Toru Matsurra, features a man with a strange sensory disease making him the only person in the world who can stop a serial killer.

The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On (1987), directed by Yuki Yukite Shingun, is a documentary in which Shingun tries to determine the reason for unexplained deaths of soldiers during World War II. He blends research and in-your-face interviews with former military officers, accusing them of war crimes.

New York Times: New Release Review

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/movies/homevideo/27dvd.html?8dpc

Sorpresa, sorpresa

My initial reaction was surprise, but then it turned to resignation and frustration as a filmie.
Germany's "Lives of Others" pulled what is considered an upset over Mexico's "Pan's Labyrinth" as Best Foreign Language Film. Mexico has yet to win an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film after six previous tries. This film by director Guillermo del Toro was considered to be "the time."
Director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (at left) pulled out the win in his first feature film after previous success in short films and television work.
So, why the frustration and resignation? Most of us never had the chance to see "Lives of Others." It only opened in this region on Friday, see previous blog. It doesn't open in Fort Worth until a "special screening" at the Modern Art Museum in March.
Maybe it's the better film. But most of us dont' know. Instead we're left with the sinking feeling that an opportunity was missed, both ours and Mexio's.
http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/movie.html?v_id=350173

Secret Lives

Finally The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) opens in area theaters today, Feb. 23. The film, nominated for Best Foreign Language Film is directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. http://www.sonyclassics.com/thelivesofothers/
It stars Ulrich Mühe as Stasi agent Gerd Wiesler, Ulrich Tukur as his chief officer Anton Grubitz, Sebastian Koch as the playwright Georg Dreymann, and Martina Gedeck as his lover Christa-Maria Sieland.
In 1984 eastern Germany, Stasi agent Gerd Wiesler, is assigned to spy on playwright Georg Dreymann, who is suspected of western leanings. The agent finds out the real reason for the spying is that the spy agency’s minister is attracted to Dreymann’s girlfriend and wants to get the playwright out of the way.
While Pan’s Labyrinth has garnered most of the buzz in that category. The Lives of Others made a case for it’s popularity a couple weekends ago during its US premier. The film opened with more than $200,000 in 13 theaters for an average of $16,430.
The film is currently an exclusive locally at Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth March, The Magnolia, Dallas, and the Angelika Plano. http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/entertainment/movies/16758431.htm


Maestro Update

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences screened the nominated shortfilms to a packed house at Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. Hungarian animator Geza M. Toth's Maestro is up for animated short. Checkout Kim Adelman's summary of the evening on indiewire.com
http://www.indiewire.com/movies/2007/02/shorts_everyone.html

Viva la Cinemex

Mexico City International Contemporary Film Festival (FICCO) is officially under way.
The festival’s goal is promoting the best world cinematography in the city and offering an “alterantive window” to attendees. The focus is on young directors in feature and documentary categories. http://www.ficco.com.mx/indexi.php
Competition includes the world premiere of Mexican director Ivan Avila’s La sangre iluminada and Mexican director Ruben Imaz’ Familia Tortuga (Turtle Family).
Films by Spike Lee, David Lynch and Bruno Dumont will screen, but not in competition.
The festival runs through March 4.

FILM NEWS

Indonesian Film Banned
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1854656.htm

Into Africa

So what’s it like filming in Africa?
Across the continent, film groups are trying to pull film producers in to learn more about options and opportunities.
James Hall, executive director of the Golden Lion Film Festival in Mbabane, Swaziland, has spent time cultivating the consular corps in his country. The work has netted him invitations to visit France and Cannes to market his festival and country.
The Golden Lion web site makes this invitation: “Filmmakers are invited to explore Swaziland, where African culture and tradition thrive in a beautiful mountainous setting. Mlilwane Game Reserve is only 15 minutes from two of the festival’s principal venues. Our South Africa venue, Casterbridge Cinema, is located in White River, the gateway to Kruger National Park, Africa’s oldest game reserve.” http://www.goldlionfest.co.sz/festival.html
And in Uganda director Kevin Macdonald told how his visit in 2002 for research encouraged him to return when it came time for filming. Macdonald’s The Last King of Scotland has been earning raves and actor Forest Whitaker appears a shoe-in for Best Actor at this weekend’s Academy Awards. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0455590/
"The locals had the desire for it to be good because it was their story, a lot of them had lived through the Amin period or knew Amin,” Macdonald said in an article posted on Filmmaker South Africa.
http://www.filmmaker.co.za/readarticle.php?article_id=197

In South Africa recently, screenwriters were cultivated with a symposium for writers attended by two-time Academy Award-winner Emma Thompson and British actor Stephen Fry at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg. The programs were held prior to the release of a film on local poet Ingrid Jonker. http://www.capefilmcommission.co.za/