Tuesday, November 11-----American debut filmmaker Brian Hecker has been awarded the first International Film Guide Inspiration Award given at an American film festival, at this past weekend’s Awards Gala at the (www.fliff.com). Hecker won for his feature debut, the comedy Bart Got A Room, which closed the Festival. The film, a winning family comedy shot in south Florida, debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2008 and has been picked up for distribution by Plum Pictures (...
Gospel Hill (US, Giancarlo Esposito)
Monday, November 10---------After nearly four weeks of film screenings, special events, receptions and information seminars, weary Festival honcho Gregory von Hausch took to the stage of the Cinema Paradiso last evening to announce this year's award winners at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF). Winning top prize as Best Film of the Fest was Gospel Hill, the feature debut of actor/director Giancarlo Esp...
Sunday, November 9-------Don’t let the twinkle in his eyes or the lilt in his Irish accent fool you….. Mark Mahon is indeed a man on a mission, at least when it comes to his feature film directing debut, the boxing drama STRENGTH AND HONOUR. The film, which screened last night to an enthusiastic audience response at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, is a redemptive story about the emotional and professional comeback of a wounded fighter, in many ways a parallel...
Saturday, November 9---------In case you were curious to know where the center for swinging sex is in America (if you answer Los Angeles, New York or San Francisco, you are dead wrong), the correct answer to the above question is: Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas City? You mean that mini-metropolis smack dab in the middle of the country in the swing state that still is not sure if it is "red" or "blue". Well, according to the film FLING, which had its East Coast...
Eli Wallach in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN
Friday, November 7--------The venerable actor Eli Wallach, a raconteur at 93 years young, was honored last evening at the Cinema Paradiso following the rare screening of the 1950s cause celebre BABY DOLL, which was the actor's debut film. The event, sponsored by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, also included a tribute to Wallach's leading lady (on the stage, screen and in real life), actress Anne Jackson. Both were at the...
Anne Jackson and Eli Wallach
Jane Lynch
Brandon RouthRichard Chamberlain
Thursday, November 6---------The stars were not only in the sky but on the red carpet at a special Gala Event at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival this evening. Over 15 celebrity a...
Wednesday, November 5------It may seem tame to today's audiences but in 1955 when director Elia Kazan was making the Southern gothic classic BABY DOLL, it was a cause celebre. The film, which was banned by the Catholic Legion of Decency and was the subject of church boycotts (priests told their parishioners that if they saw the film that their souls would be damned for all eternity), became one of the most notorious films of the repressive Eisenhower Years.
Wel...
Tuesday, November 4--------The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival marks its half way point tomorrow evening with the screening of its Centerpiece Film, the engaging PLAY THE GAME. The film, by writer/director Marc Fienberg, is an original comedy with surprising and clever twists about a young ladies' man, David, who teaches his dating tricks to his lonely, widowed grandfather. But as David's supposedly foolproof techniques fail him, Grandpa Joe quickly transforms into...
Monday, November 3-----From iconoclastic American indie director Michael Berggmann comes this sexy political thriller starring Mario Van Peebles and Bonnie Loren. The film begins on the last day of Naomi Holbroke's marriage to a high-ranking British government official. Seeming to be a failure as a housewife, Naomi sets off to reclaim the acting career she gave up “for him” twenty-five years ago.
In France at a film festival, she meets film director Billy Rust and ...
Saturday, November 1---------The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) and BigStar.TV (BST) are working together on a new joint venture that will offer a broader range of opportunities for the independent filmmaker to showcase their work. “BigStar.TV and FLIFF have officially joined forces to develop a unique online short film competition, film screenings, and an innovative new plan that will streamline festival film trafficking, programming, decrease costs of shipping prints, ...
Friday, October 31---------The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival has been chosen to be the first film festival in the US to give out a special new award to an emerging filmmaker. The International Film Guide Inspiration Award, presented by Wallflower Press (www.wallflowerpress.co.uk), the largest independent film book publisher in the UK, and the Criterion Collection (www.criterion.com), the leading distributor of classic world cinema, is a unique prize of film books, r...
Wednesday, October 29---------As the weather turns cold and nasty in most parts of the United States, all eyes turn southward to the sunshine state of Florida, where, among other benefits, one of the country's most respected regional film festivals is currently unspooling, The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (affectionately known as FLIFF) is celebrating its 23rd edition, which began on October 15 and runs through November 11....that's a month-long celebration of sun,...
Monday, November 12--------The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival ended last evening with a gala premiere screening of the Festival Closing Night Film, MIDNIGHT CLEAR, with director Dallas Jenkins and actor Stephen Baldwin in attendance. Prior to the screening, Gregory von Hausch, erstwhile Festival Director and the charismatic on-stage presence for the event, announced the major winners in a variety of categories.Winning Best Film honors was the French film THE DIVING BELL AND THE BU...
Monday, November 12--------For Dallas Jenkins, the director and producer of the feature film MIDNIGHT CLEAR, making movies that reflect his Christian values represents both an opportunity and a challenge in the Hollywood film community. “People have got a lot of misconceptions that I am looking to either openly preach or hide Christian messages between the lines”, Jenkins shared at an interview on Sunday afternoon, just prior to the screening of his debut feature MIDNIGHT CLEAR as the Clos...
Monday, November 12---------If you like your humor British and bawdy (and who doesn't?), then the feature film MAGICIANS is right up your alley. The film had its US Premiere on Saturday evening at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, and was an instant hit with the capacity crowds at the back-to-back screenings at the Cinema Paradiso. Starring the comedy team of David Mitchell and Robert Webb, whose Channel Four series PEEP SHOW has been an award-winning megahit in the UK, MAGICI...
Sunday, November 11----------Actor Stephen Baldwin will attend the Closing Night ceremonies of the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and the screening of his latest film MIDNIGHT CLEAR, which screens at the Maniaci Center for the Performing Arts. MIDNIGHT CLEAR is an inspirational holiday drama which boasts a fine ensemble cast, including Stephen Baldwin, K. Cullan, Kirk Woller, Mary Thornton and Victoria Jackson. For five people in a small Southwestern town, Christmas Eve is the...
November 10----------In an on-going trend, actor Frank Whaley (best known for his role as the put-upon assistant who turns the tables on his abusive agent boss Kevin Spacey in SWIMMING WITH SHARKS) has put on the director's hat for his latest film, NEW YORK CITY SERENADE. In fact, this is the third film the actor-turned-directed has helmed. In 1999, he debuted with the critically acclaimed JOE THE KING, starring Noah Fleiss, Val Kilmer and John Leguizamo, which premiered at the Sundance F...
Friday, November 9----------Actor Gary Sinise was honored this evening for his two-decade film career by the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. The Oscar nominee was in town to receive the Festival's prestigious Career Achievement In Film Award, as well as participate in an on-stage tribute moderated by Phoebe Flowers, chairperson of the Florida Film Critics Circle. The tribute included clips from some of Sinise's most compelling performances. After the Tribute, the crowds made t...
