edinburgh film festival Tagged Articles at Cinematical

A few international film festivals have announced their jury heads today, so here's a roundup, plus other fest circuit news:

• Chinese auteur Wong Kar-Wai (2046) will be replacing the late Anthony Minghella as the head of the jury at this month's Shanghai International Film Festival. Minghella, who died in March, will be honored by the fest, which runs June 14-22. Other jury members include filmmaker Bille August and Joan Chen, who once starred in a film co-written by Wong (1986's E nan).
• Actor Danny Huston (Children of Men) will head the Michael Powell jury at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, which runs June 18-29. He and others, including actress Joely Richardson and filmmaker Iain Softley, will be voting for the winner of the prestigious Michael Powell award. Last year's winner was Anton Corbijn's Control.
• Italian film critic Gian Luigi Rondi has been invited to be the new president of the three-year-old Rome Film Festival following a political shakeup that caused the resignation of former president Goffredo Bettini. Rondi was the artistic director of the Venice Film Festival between 1983 to 1986 and currently heads Italy's version of the Academy Awards, the David di Donatello Awards. He has so far declined that he will accept. The 2008 festival will run October 21-31.
• Jean-Luc Godard may be boycotting the Tel Aviv Student Film Festival, but other French filmmakers are set to attend another event, the Tel Aviv French Film Festival, which begins June 10. Those scheduled to appear include Alexandre Arcady, Diane Kurys and Laetitia Masson. Popular films set to screen include The Secret of the Grain and Love Songs, my review for which you can read here.

Just last night I was enjoying an IM conversation with Patricia from Moviefone and she asked me what movie I'd seen earlier in the night. When I said "The Kingdom," I was told that the film had already received a seal of approval from some of the MF staff. And I definitely concur. I offered that opinion that "It's pretty damn good. Peter Berg has become like a less pretentious Michael Mann." And then for the rest of the evening, the movie really stuck with me. It's a smart, slick and very topical action thriller about a team of FBI agents who travel to Saudi Arabia (hence "The Kingdom") to investigate a horrific explosion that left over 100 people dead.

And although I didn't know it at the time, while I was enjoying my screening of the movie in Philadelphia ... hundreds of attendees at the Edinburgh Film Festival were enjoying their own "surprise" screening of The Kingdom. Empire's Alan Morrison and I share several opinions on the film: "The film is anti-fundamentalist, but in no way anti-Muslim. The two bravest characters in the film are Saudi police officers. In fact, let's start a campaign now to win a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Ashraf Barhoum, who plays the dedicated Colonel Al-Ghazi." And this part made me chuckle: "The Kingdom looks, sounds and feels like a Michael Mann movie."

Then again, Mr. Mann is listed as a producer on The Kingdom, so maybe he stopped by to share a few pointers with director Peter Berg. And speaking of actor-turned-director, The Kingdom counts as his fourth feature film -- and he has yet to make one I dislike. (For the record: Very Bad Things, The Rundown and Friday Night Lights.) Anyway, the film's subject matter is sure to inspire a few newspaper editorials across the country, and I'm very curious to see how critics and moviegoers react to The Kingdom. The film, which stars Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman, opens on September 28.

It is unfortunate that Cinematical can't be present at all the world's film festivals. For instance, none of us will be covering this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival, which starts next Wednesday and runs through August 26. Sure, it isn't as well known as Sundance, Cannes, Toronto, Telluride, or Venice, but Edinburgh is the longest continually running film festival in the world (Venice and Cannes are both technically older). And it does have its share of prestigious premieres and otherwise excellent programming. This year opens with the premiere of David Mackenzie's Hallam Foe, and the schedule includes Anton Corbijn's Control, Park Chan-wook's I'm a Cyborg, but That's Okay, Julie Delpy's 2 Days in Paris and André Téchiné's The Witnesses. For more of what's in store, check out our spotlight on the schedule, or check out the festival's website.

I would love to attend the EIFF, not just to check out the films but also to visit Scotland and see some of my heritage. Of course, I know from previous film festival experience that I probably wouldn't actually get in any sightseeing. It's too bad I have a scheduling conflict this year, but maybe next --even if I'm busy in August. Starting in 2008 the festival will take place June 18-29. I don't quite understand the reasons for the move --just that it is said to make "artistic and commercial sense" -- but the change will remove the festival from being part of the city's month-long arts festival. It also gets the fest away from being squeezed in right before Venice and Toronto. Apparently the programming will end up a little different as the new time frame will allow the EIFF access to other films. The most important thing I can think of about the move, though is that I may actually be free next June.

Organizers of the Edinburgh Film Festival, which begins next week, are trying to avoid controversy by creating some. They sent an email to Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir suggesting that he not travel to Scotland to attend the Fest, let alone the screening of his new documentary, Five Days. The organizers, who plan on showing the film whether or not Shamir attends, say they fear for his safety, because of protests against Israel's activity in Lebanon. (The film focuses on Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip last year.)

Shamir told The Independent that he still isn't sure if he'll go. He wants to make a stand by attending, but doesn't want to be met with threats. The ironic thing is that Shamir is not really known for being supportive of his country's actions, anyway. His last doc, Checkpoint, was actually pretty critical of the Israeli government. Now, one spokesman for the festival is claiming the email was misread and that organizers are currently expecting Shamir to attend (expecting and embracing is not the same, of course).

Certainly international film festivals are meant to be more daring than this.