Festivals

A snowstorm arrived, as predicted. Temperatures dipped into the 20s.

The official name of the Tallinn International Film Festival (PÖFF), is Black Nights an accurate moniker indeed for a festival taking place in a city which in November enjoys a scant 8 hours of light per day. “ideal conditions for watching a lot of movies” according to the organizers which like all Estonians seem to have a knack for putting the best possible face on a climate that can be less than forgiving.

Actress Jacqueline Fernandez was the host of  the 18th Jio Mami – Mumbai Film Festival’s opening ceremony, held at the Royal Opera House, India's only surviving opera house, a newly restored auditorium with three tiers has 574 seats, full with Bollywood celebrities like Aamir Khan, Jaya Bachchan, Kalki Koechlin, Anurag Kashyap, Shyam Benegal and Huma Qureshi among others. Khan took the stage to present the International Excellence in Cinema Award to Chinese film director and screenwriter Jia Zhangke, Bachchan presented the award for Indian Excellence in Cinema to director and screenwriter Sai Paranjpye.

The 13th edition of the Reykjavik International Film Festival (RIFF) just ended, and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was there. Board member Yoram Kahana presented the HFPA's appreciation plaque to RIFF's founder and director Ms.

Given the amount of films devoted to music’s many forms, it is perhaps not altogether by chance that it is the Auditorium Parco della Musica – a futuristic concert venue designed by architect Renzo Piano – that hosts the Rome Film Festival. One such offering is John Carney’s Sing Street.

The 11th edition of the annual Rome International Film Festival kicked off on October 13 and will run until October 23th under the artistic direction of Antonio Monda.   The Auditorium Parco della Musica, in Rome, is once again the main venue for the Fest where two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks took the stage for a conversation with the audience followed by a screening of scenes from some of his films, like Philadelphia, Forrest Gump and one he is particularly fond of That thing you do.

The film festival gets under way in the Crescent City, which has become a hub for film production. It may have been the biggest opening night the New Orleans Film Festival has ever seen.

The beauty of film festivals is that each one, from the smallest to the biggest, has its own character. A character that is determined not only by the organizers and the quality of the program, but also by the location and the audience.

In September 2016, a delegation of the HFPA members was once again invited to Finland to attend the 29th edition of the Helsinki International Film Festival (HIFF). This year members of the HFPA delegation were given the same warm welcome by our hosts: Sara Norberg, Executive Director of HIFF; Laura Laaksonen, Finnish Film Affair Producer; Jaana Puskala, head of International Department of the Finnish Film Foundation: Juulia Klemola, Finnish Film Affair Coordinator, Anni Wessman, Finnish FilmWeek Producer and Anna-Maria Rusi, in charge of all scheduling.

The main juries of the 12th Zurich Film Festival’s three competition categories have awarded their Golden Eyes to Hymyilevä Mies / The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Mäki (Finland, Germany, Sweden) by Juho Kuosmanen (International Feature Film). Madame B.