the big apple film festival Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Attention New Yorkers (or people who live somewhere near New York and from time to time travel to the city for a taste of some quality entertainment): The Sixth Annual Big Apple Film Festival begins tonight over at Tribeca Cinemas and runs through Saturday, November 7th. Named one of the "25 Coolest Film Festivals" by Moviemaker Magazine (partly because yours truly is heavily involved with all aspects of the festival, natch), this year's slate of over 100 different films looks to be their best yet.

Now this isn't some giant big city festival by any means; it's more of a small, intimate slice-of-NY-life sorta festival that supports and promotes homegrown talent. Tonight they're opening the festival with Against the Current, starring Joseph Fiennes, Elizabeth Reaser, Justin Kirk and Mary Tyler Moore -- and if you're one of the lucky ones in attendance, you'll spot a hottie Cinematical stud named Erik Davis hosting the post-screening Q&A. I'll also be on hand to host the Q&A for the closing night film, Breaking Upwards, and to watch that film's star, Zoe Lister-Jones (a pretty awesome actress who you need to put on your Watch List, like, yesterday) receive this year's Emerging Talent Award alongside Aaron Stanford, who's screening his new film How I Got Lost on closing night as well.

If you're a fan of indie film and fun, intimate film festivals, there's no reason why you shouldn't pop in and check out a film or several during the week. And if you happen to run into me during one of the screenings, do say hello.

For more info on the Big Apple Film Festival (including where to buy tickets), check out the fest's official website.

Here are some stuff and things for your lazy Sunday:

-- News of that planned Arrested Development movie has finally found its way to the trades, with both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter saying that series creator Mitch Hurwitz is real close to signing a deal to write and direct the film. Ron Howard (who narrated the show), as well as the original cast, are all expected to return (we hope).

-- Two more Star Trek character posters have arrived online, with one featuring Eric Bana as the Romulan villain Nero, and the other shows Zoe Saldana as a very sexy Uhura. These end a pretty busy week for Trek, which began with the debut of the film's first full-length trailer and a special presentation of footage by director J.J. Abrams. Check out larger versions of these posters, as well as the other two previously released character posters, in the gallery below.



-- The 5th Annual Big Apple Film Festival came to a close last night, where yours truly moderated six very fun Q&A sessions over the course of the four-day fest and was on hand for the final awards ceremony. Winning Best Feature was The Living Wake, with The Project taking the fest's Cityscape Award (which goes to the film that best exemplifies the city of New York). Thanks to all those Cinematical readers who stopped me to say hello!

-- Looks like Universal plans to turn those Jason Bourne films into the next James Bond franchise, as Variety tells us the studio has cut a deal with author Robert Ludlum's estate which gives Universal exclusive rights to not only the Jason Bourne character, but also a first look at other Ludlum novels. As far as a fourth Bourne film goes, Paul Greengrass and Matt Damon have already signed on, and George Nolfi is currently writing the script.

My favorite film festivals are the ones that are kinda small, intimate and easy to access, which is why we here at Cinematical are big fans of The Big Apple Film Festival in NYC. The 5th Annual Big Apple Film Festival begins this Wednesday at Tribeca Cinemas with the New York premiere of festival darling The Living Wake, starring Mike O'Connell and Jesse Eisenberg. Easily one of the more eccentric films of the year, The Living Wake is a must see for anyone who likes a little absurd with their humor.

Aside from The Living Wake (which also played CineVegas and the recent Los Angeles AFI Fest), Big Apple is screening upwards of 90 films this year (their largest number to date) - most of which come packaged with New York style, settings and edge. Other notable films in the lineup include The Project (Audience Award winner at Slamdance '08), Goodbye Baby, The Ultimate Jew: Jackie Mason, iMurders, Last Call and a pretty cool doc called Beyond Wiseguys about Italian-Americans in film. Cinematical will be on hand for all four nights of the fest (Wednesday through Saturday), and yours truly will also be moderating six post-screening Q&As, so definitely make sure you stop in and say hello.

For more on The Big Apple Film Festival, like a complete schedule and info on how to buy tickets, please visit their official website. See you later in the week!

Sure, the big festivals like Tribeca are fun to attend, but every once and a while it's nice to settle into one of the smaller fests, where the seats are cheap, the beer is free and you're guaranteed plenty of entertainment. One of the things I love about The Big Apple Film Festival (now in its third year) is its focus on short films -- in fact (and here's a rarity in festival world), Big Apple will open this Thursday with a shorts program, instead of a feature. Refreshing, ain't it?

Some of the other highlights at this year's fest are the premieres of Everything's Jake (Friday night) and Searching for Bobby D. (Saturday night). Following the screening of Jake on Friday, Ernie Hudson (remember him from Ghost Busters?) will receive a lifetime achievement award. Also, on Saturday afternoon, there's a free panel discussion on indie film distribution featuring folks like Jason Leaf (co-President, Avatar Films), David Paterson (writer, Love Ludlow) and Cleo Godsey (Director of Business Affairs, First Run Features). Oh, and don't forget about the Horrorfest Series -- this year, four shorts will be featured including Witchwise and Penny Dreadful. Yours truly is on the fest's advisory board, and I'll also be there for most of the screenings -- so feel free to say hello (just look for the hot shot in the Cinematical t-shirt). For more info on Big Apple (which will be held at Tribeca Cinemas), check out the official website.

These days it doesn't take much to create your very own film festival. In fact, it feels as if every other day Cinematical receives a press release announcing (insert festival name) to take place in (insert random town, city, country). Two years ago, a good friend of mine proved that starting your own film fest was as easy as making a few phone calls and creating a website. In its third year, The Big Apple Film Festival (held every November) has already received over one hundred submissions. And it's April. And he does this by himself.

Recently, the Sundance Institute announced that they will bring a handful of films from this year's Sundance Film Festival, along with some of its filmmakers, to Brooklyn's Academy of Music for a week-long screening series. This is great stuff... if you're from New York. Oh, and the Tribeca Film Festival is just about to kick off, followed by Cannes in May. All of it fantastic ... if you're from New York, France or have enough money and time to travel to either place. However, once you arrive, in order to attend some of the big events, you're going to need to work in the industry or know someone with an exclusive hook-up. You do know someone with an exclusive hook-up, right?

While there are hundreds of film festivals out there that are fairly easy to attend, it's the Sundances, Tribecas, Torontos and Cannes that get the most press. Subsequently, the better films screen there and, for the average schmo, it's very hard to gain access. Can something be done to make this whole process easier? I'd love to go to Sundance and Cannes, but I have no money, no time and very little pull. What if the larger festivals found a way to screen some of their more popular films over the internet for a small fee? What if, like the Superbowl, every year the festival's travel to a different city?

So, I ask you: What's your idea of the perfect film festival? And, is there anything these larger film festivals can do to help pull in those small town folks who just want to see a good flick?