This year Turin GLBT Film festival 2009 tagline is From Sodom to Hollywood. This year celebrate its 24th edition.

Highlight in this film festival are Giuseppe Patroni Griffi. Homage to Catalan Director whose workds like Food of Love, Amic/Amat, Caricias recommended.

In this festival, Directors have premiered their films and now having highly recommendation, directors such as, François Ozon (France) , Gus Van Sant (USA) , Derek Jarman, Todd Haynes, Eytan Fox (Israel), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand), Alain Guiraudie (France) , Auraeus Solito (Philippines), Christophe Honoré (France)  and Brillante Mendoza (Philippines).

Feature Film : In competition

Feature Films: Out of Competion

 PANORAMA: FEATURE FILMS

INDEPENDENCIA

Un Certain Regard
Official Selection
Cannes Film Festival 2009

Directed by Raya Martin

Written by Ramon Sarmiento and Raya Martin
Presented by Arte Cinema France, Cinematografica, Atopic, Razor Film, Volya Films, Fonds Sud Cinema, World Cinema Fund, Prince Claus Fund Global Film Initiative, Hubert Bals Fund,Roadrunner Network

Cast: Techie Agbayani, Sid Lucero

MANILA

Official Selection
OUT OF COMPETITION
Cannes Film Festival 2009

Directed by Adolfo Alix, Jr. and Raya Martin

Bicycle Pictures and MJM Production

Written by Ramon Sarmiento and Adolfo Alix, Jr.
Executive Producers: Piolo Jose Pascual and Edgar Mangahas
Producer: Arleen Cuevas

The script was written by Adolfo Alix Jr and Ramon Sarmiento and their Executive producer is non other than Piolo Pascual ( Last year he was invited in Paris Film Festival featuring Filipino Films). The this film from Martin adn Alix Jr is a tribute to filipino directors Lino Brocka (Jaguar, Maynila : Sa kuko ng liwanag, Tinimbang ka ngunit kulang) and Ishmael Bernal (Himala).

 It was shot in black and white and inspired by the work of the 2 most acclaimed filipino directors. ” Manila By Night” (1980) by Ishmael Bernal and ” “Jaguar” (1979) by Lino Brocka.

The film is divided into two parts. Piolo is William, a drug addict who tries to build his life again. Piolo’s character here is a homage to the main actor of ” Manila by Night”. Ms. Rosanna Roses (Ang lalake sa Buhay ni Selya) and Jodi Sta Maria (Bagong Buwan), Baron Geisler (Jay) complete the cast.

 On the second part, Piolo is Phillip, a body guard who works for the son of the Mayor of Manila. He belongs now to the family and after a shoot out, he feels the true value of his work. Trying to escape the incident, he was drag into the dark side of the city. Piolo’s character here is a homage to the actor of ” Jaguar” . Allesandra de Rossi ( Small Voices,Independencia), Jay Manalo (Aishite Imasu: Mahal Kita 1941), Anita Linda ( Adela, Jaguar) and Jiro Manio (Magnifico, Tambolista) complete the cast.

* Jaguar compete for Golden Palm in 1980 Festival de Cannes.

* Anita Linda stars in Jaguar in 1979 film of Lino Brocka

* Katherine Luna ( The Masseur, Adela, Ang Babae sa Breakwater) also in this film.

This year Cannes Film Festival will celebrate its 62th edition. This year film in competition and parallel sections are highly represented European and Asian Films.

Here are the list of the films.

In Competition:

Pedro Almodovar – Broken Embraces
Andrea Arnold – Fish Tank
Jacques Audiard – Un Prophete
Marco Bellocchio – Vincere
Jane Campion – Bright Star
Xavier Giannoli – A L’Origine
Isabel Coixet – Map of the Sounds of Tokyo
Michael Haneke – The White Ribbon
Ang Lee – Taking Woodstock
Ken Loach – Looking for Eric
Lou Ye – Spring Fever
Brillante Mendoza – Kinatay
Gaspar Noe – Enter The Void
Park Chan-Wook – Thirst
Alain Resnais – Les Herbes Folles
Elia Suleiman – The Time That Remains
Quentin Tarantino – Inglourious Basterds
Johnnie To – Vengeance
Tsai Ming-liang – Face
Lars Von Trier – Antichrist

Un Certain Regard

Bong Joon Ho – Mother
Alain Cavalier – Irene
Lee Daniels – Precious
Denis Dercourt- Demain Des L’Aube
Heitor Dhalia – Adrift
Bahman Ghobadi – Nobody Knows About The Persian Cats
Ciro Guerra – The Wind Journeys
Mia Hansen-Love – Le Pere De Mes Enfants
Hanno Hofer, Razvan Marculescu, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Propescu and Ioanna Uricaru – Tales From The Golden Age
Nikolay Khomeriki – Tale In The Darkness
Yorgos Lanthimos – Dogtooth
Pavel Lounguine – Tzar
Raya Martin – Independencia
Corneliu Porumboiu – Police, Adjective
Pen-Ek Ratanaruang – Nymph
Joao Pedro Rodrigues – To Die Like A Man
Haim Tabakman – Eyes Wide Open
Warwick Thornton – Samson & Delilah
Jean Van De Velde – The Silent Army
Hirokazu Kore-Eda – Air Doll

Closing Film

Jan Kounen – Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky

Out of Competition

Robert Guediguian – L’Armee Du Crime
Alejandro Amenabar – Agora
Terry Gilliam – The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus

Midnight Screenings

Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar – A Town Called Panic
Sam Raimi – Drag Me To Hell
Marina De Van – Ne Te Retourne Pas

Special Screenings

Anne Aghion – My Neighbor, My Killer
Adolfo Alix Jr and Raya Martin – Manila
Souleymane Cisse – Min Ye
Michel Gondry – L’Epine Dans Le Coeur
Zhao Liang – Petition
Keren Yedaya – Jaffa

Festival de Malaga started in 1998. This year will be its 12 the edition in which every year the objective of the festival is to show the quality of Spanish cinema. This year contributes to spanish cinema in different major production in different section: Official Selection, ZonaZine, Latin American Territory, Documentary, Short Films and a homage to the different personalities in cinema industry.

Official Selection:

• La vergüenza : The Shame
  David Planell / 2009
• Fuga de cerebros : Brain Drain
  Fernando González Molina/ 2009
• Bullying : Bullying
  Josecho San Mateo / 2009 
• Agallas : Guts
  Samuel Martín Mateos, Andrés Luque Pérez / 2009 
• Un buen hombre : A Good Man
  Juan Martínez Moreno / 2009
• La Escarcha : The Frost
  Ferran Audí / 2008
• Amores locos : Mad Love
  Beda Docampo Feijóo / 2009
• 7 minutos : 7 minutes
  Daniela Féjerman / 2009
• Trash : Trash
  Carles Torras / 2009
• El niño pez : The Fish
  Lucía Puenzo / 2009
• Tres días con la familia : Three days with the family
  Mar Coll / 2009
• 7 pasos y medio : 7’5 steps
  Lalo García / 2009 
• Pagafantas : The friend Zone
  Borja Cobeaga / 2009
• Flores negras : Black Flowers
  David Carreras / 2008

The 7º Film Festival in Spanish PELIKULA 2008, Instituto Cervantes presents a work of Nacho G. Velilla titled “Fuera de la Carta “. It inspired, funny,and a social sound, filmed with more velocity than rhythm, and in spite of all, interpreted with certain conviction” as the critics say, there is not better way to open two weeks of Spanish film festival upon celebrating a month of FESTIVAL with a comedy that cause to enjoy. Nacho G. Velilla is in Manila to present his work as an opening film for 2 weeks of PELICULA/PELIKULA 2008.

Movie enthusiasts will see noteworthy films and other activities such as mime theatre performances, concerts, and photo exhibits of Spanish culture. 

The seventh edition of the Pelicula/Pelikula Spanish Film Fest will take place at Greenbelt 3 in Makati City from October 1-12, 2008. Catch the Philippine premiere of 18 movies from Spain and Latin America including Fuera de carta (Chef’s Special), Mataharis, Los crímenes de Oxford (The Oxford Murders), Yo soy la Juani (I am Juani), and Concursante (The Contestant).

Fuera de carta‘s director Nacho G. Velilla and Ángeles González Sinde, the writer of Todos estamos invitados, will be in the festival.

Watch the Trailer of Fuera de la Carta

This year is the 56th San Sebastian International Film Festival held in the North of Spain. This year The San Sebastian Festival’s Donostia Award will be given to Meryl Streep and Antonio Banderas.

This year presiding juries are Jonathan Demme, Joan Chen, Mirtha Ibarra and Amos Gitai.

The Other Man, who stars Liam Neeson ( Schindler’s List) , Antonio Banderas ( Philadelphia ), Laura Linney  (three times Oscar nominee : You Can Count On Me, Savages, Kinsey) and directed by Richard Eyre, will open the 56th San Sebastian Film Festival, the film describes a love triangle and a romantic obsession with elements of intrigue will open the San Sebastian-Out of Competition.

The Brothers Bloom, second feature from the director of the famous film Brick, Rian Johnson. Oscar winners Adrien Brody (The Pianist) and Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener), Mark Ruffalo and the Oscar candidate Rinku Kikuchi (Babel), will star in The Brothers Bloom, and will close the San Sebastian Film Festival.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas will be presented out of competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is based on a 2006 novel by Irish writer John Boyne, one of the major best-sellers in recent years. More than three million copies have already been sold and the book has been translated into 30 languages.

 Official Selections:

For more details check official website: 56th San Sebastian International Film Festival

This year 2008 at the 65th Edition of Venice International Film festival with the presence of George Clooney, Tilda Swinton, Ethan and Joel Coen, Takeshi Kitano, Charlize Theron, Francis Xavier Pasion, Lav Diaz, Fabrice du Welz, Emmanuelle Béart, Tariq Tapa, Natalie Portman, Anne Hathaway.

Here are the official List : Biennale Cinema  65th Venice Film Festival  Official Venezia 65 Awards 

GOLDEN LION for Best Film:

The Wrestler by Darren Aronofsky (USA)

 SILVER LION for Best Director to:

Aleksey German Jr. for Bumažnyj Soldat (Paper Soldier) (Russia)

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE to:

Teza by Haile Gerima (Ethiopia, Germany, France)

COPPA VOLPI for Best Actor:

Silvio Orlando for Il papà di Giovanna by Pupi Avati (Italy)

COPPA VOLPI for Best Actress:

Dominique Blanc for L’autre by Patrick Mario Bernard and Pierre Trividic (France)

MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD for Best Young Actor or Actress:

Jennifer Lawrence for The Burning Plain by Guillermo Arriaga (USA)

OSELLA for Best Cinematography to:

Alisher Khamidhodjaev and Maxim Drozdov for Bumažnyj Soldat (Paper Soldier) by Aleksey German Jr. (Russia)

OSELLA for Best Screenplay to:

Haile Gerima for Teza by Haile Gerima (Ethiopia, Germany, France)

SPECIAL LION for Overall Work to:

Werner Schroeter

“LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS” AWARD FOR A DEBUT FILM

The “Luigi De Laurentiis” Award for a Debut Film Jury at the 65th Venice Film Festival, comprised of Abdellatif Kechiche (President), Alice Braga, Gregory Jacobs, Donald Ranvaud, and Heidrun Schleef, has unanimously decided to award the

“LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS” AWARD FOR A DEBUT FILM to:

Pranzo Di Ferragosto by Gianni Di Gregorio (SIC – International Critics’ Week, Italy)

Aurelio De Laurentiis and Filmauro award a cash prize, of 100,000 USD, to the winning first film (50,000 to the director, 50,000 to the producer). To the director, an additional film voucher for 40,000 Euro will also be awarded, offered by Kodak.

Biennale Cinema  65th Venice Film Festival  Official Orizzonti Awards 

Melancholia by Lav DIAZ (Philippines)

 ORIZZONTI DOC PRIZE to:

Below Sea Level by Gianfranco ROSI (Italy / USA)

 SPECIAL MENTION to:

Un Lac by Philippe GRANDRIEUX (France)

 SPECIAL MENTION to:

Wo men (We) by HUANG Wenhai (China / Switzerland)