Festivals

The 69th Cannes Film Festival kicked off  with Woody Allen’s Café Society which has its morning press screening in advance of the evening gala and the customary glitz of the montée des marches. The 80 year-old director, a festival favorite, climbed the red-carpeted steps of the Palais du Cinema along with his cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Kirsten Stewart, Blake Lively and Corey Stoll (Steve Carell and Parker Posey also play in the film but did not make the trip to the Croisette).

Security is tighter than ever, the red carpet is in place, the jury has arrived. Like so many migrating birds, thousands of journalists, photographers, executives, producers, directors, sales agents and stars ranging from A to Z-lists flock to the once-sedate town in the South of France for ten days of films, deals and parties in a yearly ritual that reverberates around the world - and all the way through the end of the year, when the final fate of many of these characters will be revealed during awards season.

When 69th Cannes International Film Festival opens tomorrow with the gala premiere of Woody Allen’s latest, the period comedy Café Society, it will follow closely a tradition that began with its very first edition: its deep connection with the world at large, beyond the Croisette and beyond cinema itself. In 1946, when the project of an international film festival, proposed 15 years earlier by France's Minister of National Education, finally came into being, Cannes emerged from the shadows of the Second World War, offering art as succor for a deeply wounded world.

It is “magico” said one of the organizers. And that may be the most apt description for the Film Festival in La Paz and Todos Santos in Baja California, Mexico.

They’re nine intense days during which film, music, and even food take over a hotel and cinema complex located in one Prague’s busiest areas.   Everything comes together on the vast red carpet positioned right in front of the doors of the CineStar Andel, where both local and international stars will pass nightly as they travel to their designated premiere or event.

With a keynote q&a with President Obama and the usual dizzying array of offerings in its multiple film/ TV, music and new/interactive media sections, the 29th edition of the South By Southwest festival launches this Friday, March 11, in Austin, Texas. With a massive lineup that includes 89 world premieres in the film section, this year’s SXSW will run until March 20.

This is Germany: Rules are not meant to be broken – or are they? Let us show you how many ways black can be unique.

The hot and the cold of it!  The black and the white of it! With temperatures hovering in the low 30s in Berlin you’d think covering up would be a no brainer, but apparently stars are made of sterner stuff than we, mere mortals, because the Berlin Film Festival not only hosted a slew of great movies, but also saw women on the red carpet pretending it was Hollywood hot.    The guys seemed perfectly prepared as a suit allows style and protection from the chilly temps, but even during the day as things warmed to a toasty 40 degrees range, women still seemed to choose image over practicality, with some stars going for minis and naked legs.

As the Berlinale enters its 5th day and film theatres are filling up with film critics and movie fans, the Berlin International Film Festival is hosting the European Film Market. In its tenth year at the Martin-Gropius Bau Center, this year’s EFM presented Industry debates focussing on current issues in the film and media industry.

Coming after the Golden Globes and Sundance, the Berlin Film Festival opens the international season for personal, independent cinema. As Globes celebrate the year that was, and Sundance presents a first batch of projects, Berlin gets the ball rolling internationally.