Stone's film, "Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst," doesn't focus solely on the infamous Feb. 4, 1974, kidnapping of the newspaper heiress by the SLA. The first feature-length documentary about the story, the movie, which opens Friday in San Francisco and Berkeley, examines the historical context in which the SLA was founded and how the group managed, in surreal fashion, to capture so much of the nation's attention -- despite being a small ragtag band of self-styled revolutionaries who may have defended their actions with high ideals but were deeply misguided, John McMurtrie profiles the film and speaks with director Robert Stone in the San Francisco Chronicle.

"Greek film-makers say they are being hurt by government cutbacks imposed after the Athens Olympics. The country's film production fund has handed out very few grants this year. It is backed by the Culture Ministry, which funded the games. The annual Thessaloniki film festival also saw its budget cut by 600,000 euros to 3.6m euros, its director Michel Demopoulos said," BBC reports.

A Cairo court rejected on Tuesday an attempt by Egyptian Christians to ban a film they say damages the reputation of the country's Christian minority. The film, "I Love the Cinema," upset many of Egypt's Coptic Christians because of scenes showing kissing in church, a boy urinating on the congregation and a fight at a wedding in which shoes are thrown at the priest, Reuters reports.

The 16th annual Boston Jewish Film Festival closed Nov. 14, with Paul Morrison’s “Wondrous Oblivion” and Yaron Zilberman’s documentary “Watermarks” taking home this year’s Audience Awards.

Set in working-class London in the 1960s, “Wondrous Oblivion” looks at a cricket-obsessed 11-year-old Jewish boy and the racial intolerance that engulfs his neighborhood when a Jamaican family moves in next door. Director Morrison earned a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination for his previous film, “Solomon and Gaenor,” and is currently pursuing American distribution for “Wondrous Oblivion.”

Zilberman’s “Watermarks” features seven champion women athletes who fled Austria in the 1930s, brought together in Vienna 60 years later to share their stories and participate in a swimming reunion. Kino International will distribute the documentary in the U.S., where it is scheduled to open Jan. 21 in New York City.

Four competitive sections comprise the lineup for the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, set for January 20-30, 2005. The anticipated roster of 60 premiere films was unveiled this afternoon by Sundance Film Festival Director Geoff Gilmore.

Get the latest in indieWIRE's special Park City section.

"A Paris court has ruled that an acclaimed new film by the director of Amelie is not French enough to vie for French prizes. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's 'A Very Long Engagement,' a French story filmed in French, has drawn rave reviews," BBC reports.

"French film director Philippe de Broca, best known for his eccentric comedies with Jean-Paul Belmondo, has died. The 71-year-old's most popular films included 'The Man From Rio,' starring Belmondo, and 'The King of Hearts,' with Alan Bates," BBC reports.

"The Gulf Arab city of Dubai launches its first international film festival next month, screening many controversial films to Arab audiences for the first time.
Organizers say the festival, whose 75 mainly Arab and South Asian films will be followed by seminars, hopes to foster a debate on relations between the West and Arab and Islamic countries. But the Dec. 6-11 event, in which movies will not face the censorship usually practiced by local authorities, will also offer Arab audiences a chance to become more aware of the diversity of the Arab world and see films that touch on the thorny issue of relations with the United States and Israel," Andrew Hammond reports for Reuters.

"Early in Zhang Yimou's 'House of Flying Daggers,' the hero, Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro), unsheathes a sword to slice the buttons off a showgirl's robe. This scandalizes onlookers despite the setting - a brothel. Later, the drunken Jin pulls the dancer to the ground, flips her over and tears her dress. The scene is tame by Western standards; not much is revealed beyond shoulders and prettily disheveled hair. Still, Jin's display of lust is an expression of a significant, if subtle change that is starting to brew in Chinese film," Jean Tang reports in the New York Times.

Organizers will announce the first batch lineups for the 2005 Sundance Film Festival on Monday and Tuesday. indieWIRE.com is planning to publish the Dramatic, Documentary, and World Cinema competition lineups at 5 p.m. ET tomorrow (Monday), followed by the Premieres, Park City at Midnight, American Spectrum, Frontier, Special Screenings and Collection lineups on Tuesday at the same time.

Check out indieWIRE's special Park City section for the latest.

The Short film lineup is due to be announced on December 6th.

“The Other Side”
Begins Filming In Miami
In-Too-Deep Drama Co-Stars

Academy Award-Nominee Chazz Palminteri & Michael Rapaport

St. Louis International Film Festival announces winners.

"Today, more than a half-century after Kinsey's research broke like a tidal wave across the postwar American calm, with the publication of his "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" in 1948 and the companion "Human Female" volume in '53, he and the new territories he helped open up in American culture remain turbulently unsettled topics. The capable Kinsey film and a rich new novel about his career, T.C. Boyle's "The Inner Circle," arrive at a time when the country seems as whipsawed as ever about sex. Each work vibrates in a distinct chord struck between past and present," Steven Winn reports for the San Francisco Chronicle.

"Suspicion simmered and confusion reigned in the palm-potted halls of the Four Seasons Hotel on Monday, as the heated business of promoting holiday and Oscar-season movies was mixed with uncertainty over what publicist represented what movie star or filmmaker and for how long. The firing of the publicity veteran Leslee Dart last week by her longtime partner, Pat Kingsley - chairwoman of the industry's leading publicity agency, PMK/HBH - set off an unusual scramble for position among filmmakers and their usually low-profile media representatives," Sharon Waxman reports for the New York Times (free subscription required to view).

Avant-garde U.S. theater director Robert Wilson said he admired France for nurturing foreign artists like him and complained that the United States was too narrow-minded in its public arts funding, Joelle Diderich reports for Reuters.

German Films Service + Marketing, formerly known as Export-Union of German Films, will debut a new program tomorrow night in New York. The new bi-monthly sneak-peak screeening is aimed at showcasing films that the group feels will be of interest to U.S. buyers.

Dennis Gansel's "Napola," winner of the best international film prize at the recent Hamptons International Film Festival, will open the series. It also earned Max Riemelt (one of its two male leads) an acting award at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in July. The film is described as "the heart-wrenching story of two boy's moral awakening while attending a brutal Nazi military academy." The film Napola" will open in Germany in January, in time for the 60th anniversary of World War II's end in May.

"Bill Condon, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of 'Gods and Monsters' who directed and wrote 'Kinsey,' confirms that Neeson's gentle voice and manner jibe with Kinsey's. The sexual pioneer has been rediscovered almost 50 years after his death," Ruth Stein speaks with Liam Neeson about "Kinsey" in the San Francisco Chronicle.

"Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron has signed a three-year, first-look production deal with Warner Brothers, Variety magazine reports. The deal will allow him to work not only on big-budget 'mainstream' films, but also on smaller Spanish-language pictures," The Guardian reports on the article.

"The Dutch director of an acclaimed multicultural comedy has said he is considering delaying a sequel, following the murder earlier this month of controversial filmmaking compatriot Theo van Gogh," The Guardian reports.

"A community college instructor who was suspended for showing 'Fahrenheit 9/11' in class the week before the presidential election is offering no apologies and says he was unfairly punished," Paul Nowell reports in the Associated Press.

"The New York television station WNET has rejected a promotion for 'Kinsey,' a film that has triggered protests among some conservative groups, because it is too provocative, the station said on Friday," the A.P. reports.

Distributors and doc directors have been buzzing this week in anticipation of the Academy's announcement of the doc short list, naming the dozen films that will now vie for one of 5 nominations in the best doc Oscar category.

On the list are: Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman's "Born Into Brothels," Paola di Florio's "Home of the Brave," Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller's "Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train," Jessica Yu's "In the Realms of the Unreal," Stacy Peralta's "Riding Giants," Christian Bauer's "The Ritchie Boys," Byambasuren Davaa and Luigi Falorni's "The Story of the Weeping Camel," Morgan Spurlock's "Super Size Me," Mark Wexler's "Tell Them Who You Are," Kevin MacDonald's "Touching the Void," Lauren Lazin's "Tupac: Resurrection," Kirby Dick's "Twist of Faith."

The films were chosen by a documentary branch screening committee.

"When Marco Bellocchio, one of Italy's best-known anti-establishment film-makers, was asked to make a film about Moro's abduction and murder, he decided it was time to get inside the terrorists' heads, rather than simply set out the facts. So 'Good Morning, Night' (Buongiorno Notte) is not a documentary but the story of the fictional character Chiara, the only woman in the Red Brigades cell that snatches Moro. Bellocchio calls her the 'piccola terrorista' or "little terrorist," The Guardian speaks with Bellocchio about the film depicting a character from one of Italy's most notorious rebel organizations from the '70s.

"Robin Williams, a five-time Golden Globe winner, will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award for career achievement at January's ceremony. The announcement Thursday from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which hands out the Golden Globes, cited Williams, 52, for his 'outstanding contribution to the entertainment field,'" the Associated Press reports.

DEJ Productions has unveiled a sales distribution agreement with First Look Media, the companies announced yesterday. In the words of the announcement, "The strategic relationship will facilitate the introduction of multiple DEJ titles into the home entertainment marketplace through the
convergence of the DEJ and First Look sales forces."

First Look's Bill Lischak said in a statement, "DEJ's strong relationships on the rental side of the home video/DVD industry coupled with their proven talent in acquiring highly creative and commercial product is a perfect compliment to our highly successful US video/DVD sales force, as well as our deep international sales, distribution and financing relationships."

The U.S. Comedy Arts Festival Aspen (USCAF) and HBO announced more programming for the 11th annual Festival to be held February 9th -13th in Aspen, Colorado.
Guffman really is coming to Aspen as writer-director Christopher Guest, Catherine O’Hara, Fred Willard, Eugene Levy, Bob Balaban and Parker Posey will relive the making of their seminal 1996 comedy “Waiting for Guffman." The film, about the desperate Broadway wannabe Corky St. Clair, big-time talent scout Mort Guffman and the broken small town dreams of Blaine, Missouri, became the catalyst for Guest’s groundbreaking style of mockumentary comedy hits “Best in Show” and “A Mighty Wind.”

The Festival will also honor Garry Trudeau with the Freedom of Speech Award at a career tribute hosted by "Boondocks" creator Aaron McGruder. The annual award is in recognition of the challenges artists have faced while using their craft to speak out on social issues. Trudeau, one of the most influential and popular social commentators of his generation, won the Pulitzer Prize for “Doonesbury” – the first time the award went to a comic strip artist. Trudeau also teamed with Robert Altman to create the innovative campaign comedy “Tanner ’88” and the new sequel “Tanner on Tanner” currently airing on The Sundance Channel. Previously George Carlin, Dick Gregory, Bill Maher, The Smothers Brothers, Michael Moore and August Wilson have been acknowledged with this award for their commitment to free expression. For more information, visit their website.

"'And Man About Dog' is certainly pulling in punters at the box office in the Republic of Ireland. In fact, there is speculation it could end up being the biggest, independent Irish film of all time. Set partly in north Belfast, its central characters are described as 'three luckless Belfast chancers,'" BBC reports.

"The 1993 Oscar ceremony celebrated women in the movies. If the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has yet to officially recognize men in the movies, it's because in such a male-dominated industry, every year is men's year. But 2004 is even more so. The number of potential best actor nominees keeps rising like registered Republicans. There are so many knockout performances that 'An Unfinished Life, ' in which Robert Redford is said to deliver another, has been postponed until 2005 to give the Sundance Kid a fighting chance at his first acting Oscar," Ruth Stein reports in the San Francisco Chronicle.

"Kinsey," Bill Condon's smart, stirring life of the renowned mid-century sex researcher Alfred C. Kinsey, has a lot to say on the subject of sex, which it treats with sobriety, sensitivity and a welcome measure of humor. Mr. Condon, who parsed the riddles of erotic desire in his earlier film 'Gods and Monsters,' regards the humid matters of the flesh with a dry, sympathetic intelligence. What really turns him on, though - or at any rate what makes his new movie's heart beat faster - is science," A.O. Scott reviews in the New York Times.

"I first met Icíar Bollaín in 1994 when we were casting 'Land and Freedom.' She clearly had a very particular talent and we wrote a part especially for her. Since then, she has won acclaim in Spain both as an actor and a writer-director. Her second film, 'Flowers From Another World,' won the International Critics' Award at Cannes in 1999. Her new one, 'Take My Eyes,' is remarkable. It is the first Spanish film to tackle domestic abuse," Ken Loach reports in The Guardian.

"The new film 'A Very Long Engagement' was filmed and set in France and uses French actors, extras and technicians. And now its French director is fighting in French courts to prove his film is French," Claudia Parsons reports in Reuters.

"Pavlik, a horrifically-scarred soldier, stuns a raucous drinks party into silence with a graphic story about slaughtering a village of Chechens. The fashionable Muscovite party-goers shudder, giggle and carry on with their conversations. This gulf between Russian civilians and the soldiers supposedly fighting on their behalf in Chechnya (news - web sites) forms the subject of 'My Step-Brother Frankenstein,' a new film which explores the trauma of soldiers in an uncaring society," Oliver Bullough reports in Reuters.

Who's the offending 'film magazine editor' depicted in Pullquote's frustrating scenario at the Walter Reade Theater?

Midway through the screening of Curtis Harrington's lame Who Slew Auntie Roo? at the Walter Reade (audience of maybe a dozen), all of a sudden somebody's having a long conversation back in the corner; I look back and can just make out that it's film magazine editor, talking on the intercom, speaking at the level you'd use for any normal phone call.  So I got up and walked back there...

The San Francisco Film Society, the Italian Cultural Institute and the Consulate General of Italy present New Italian Cinema (Nov 14 – 21 at the AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres), an eight-day film series that celebrates Italy’s rich cinematic tradition and introduces audiences to the newest generation of Italian filmmakers. The selection this year encompasses edgy drama and stylish romance, delves into issues affecting young and old and travels the breath of Italy as well as numerous foreign countries. New Italian Cinema features the world premiere of "Too Much Romance… It's Time for Stuffed Peppers" directed by Lina Wertmüller and starring Sophia Loren and F. Murray Abraham; seven new films by first-time or second-time directors competing for the City of Florence Award; a tribute to Matteo Garrone, the director of "The Embalmer"; and Beppo Cino’s "A Sicilian Miracle" starring Maria Grazia Cucinotta, best known to American audiences as the Mediterranean beauty in "Il Postino." For more information, visit the San Francisco Film Society website.

"The murder of Theo van Gogh has laid bare the dangerous tensions between race, culture and liberal society," Henk Spaan reports for BBC.

"Indignant conservative groups are protesting this week's opening of the film 'Kinsey,' denouncing it as propaganda seeking to glorify the researcher they blame for inspiring the sexual revolution," David Crary reports for the Associated Press.

"Michael Moore plans a follow-up to 'Fahrenheit 9/11,' his hit documentary that assails President Bush over the handling of the Sept. 11 attacks and the war on terrorism, according to a Hollywood trade paper," A.P. reports.

"The road to the awards season has already thrown up potholes for two of the year's most talked about films - Michael Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11' and Mel Gibson's 'Passion of the Christ' are deemed ineligible for Golden Globes consideration," The Guardian reports.

"Hundreds of mourners have rallied in Amsterdam during the cremation service for Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who was murdered a week ago," BBC reports.

"Ushered into the so-called pitch mart last weekend at the Screenwriting Expo the third annual installment of a three-day conference dedicated to neophyte outsiders who hope to become Oscar-track insiders, the screenwriters began jabbering. After all, they had shelled out $60 for the three-day conference and $25 a pop for each pitch," Nick Madigan reports for the New York Times.

As we've seen over the years, indie films can be big business and for producer and rep John Sloss, and producer wife Kathryn Tucker, so can real estate. The New York Times reports on the pair's latest deal, a pact for a new Chelsea apartment:

John Sloss, a lawyer who puts together financing for movies, and his wife, Kathryn Tucker, a film producer, have paid $5.1 million for a 25-foot-wide Chelsea town house owned by Norah P. and Edward P. H. Burden. Mr. Burden is a descendant of the shipping and railroad baron Cornelius Vanderbilt.

"Now, Thai cinema may be coming into its own. Technology investments, native ambition and the ever wandering eye of film agents have cast this Southeast Asian country as tbe wellspring of yet another new wave of cinema. A few overseas art-house offerings have made their way to America, ranging from 'Iron Ladies' (2000) to 'Bang Rajan,'" Vera H-C Chan reports for the San Francisco Chronicle.

"A new French cinema blockbuster was at the centre of a bitter legal battle yesterday as a Paris court was asked to decide whether it was actually French.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet's film, Un long dimanche de fiançailles (A very long Engagement), a first world war love story starring - like the director's previous worldwide hit, Amélie - the elfin Audrey Tautou, opened in cinemas across France last week. It is already a huge domestic success, drawing an audience of more than 1.6 million people so far," Jon Henley reports for The Guardian.

Kevin Spacey, Samuel L. Jackson, Liam Neeson and Laura Linney will be honored at the 16th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival in January, Borys Kit reports for the Hollywood Reporter.

In Variety, Ian Mohr reports on the anticipation building for the 2005 Sundance Film Festival (subscription required):

Specialty film execs and agents are panting at the prospect of a Sundance lineup chockful of highly anticipated films after light buying in Toronto and an AFM that's serving more leftovers than main dishes.

Add to the mix a new landscape among studio-based specialty film companies that could come into focus in the mountains.

"It's going to be so exciting," one grizzled vet of the indie scene uncharacteristically burbles. "You could have a new Miramax, and, presumably -- because specialty companies cannot afford to sit out Sundance -- a new Paramount. There's also a (reorganized) Fine Line and a who's-on-top between Focus and Fox Searchlight."

In Variety, Ian Mohr reports on another high profile Miramax exit, the departure of Matt Brodlie (subscription required):

Miramax Films vet Matt Brodlie will join Sony unit TriStar Pictures to serve as senior veep, production and acquisitions, reporting to division topper Valerie Van Galder.

Based in Los Angeles, Brodlie will be responsible for all TriStar acquisitions and productions.

In the new role, Brodlie also reports to Sony Motion Picture Group exec veep of worldwide marketing and distribution Paul Smith, and he will be involved in acquiring foreign-language films for theatrical distribution in various overseas territories."

"No artist ever prevented a war, but 10,000 of them have picked through the rubble afterward. In Jean-Luc Godard's 'Notre Musique,' a handful of real-life artists (the filmmaker included) meet up in Sarajevo with various fictional characters and carry out this eternal task, sorting through what's been left behind and imagining what might yet be put together. Opening Nov. 24, 'Notre Musique' is one of the old master's most direct and heartfelt works, but it is a Godard film all the same: allusive, punning and quotation-mad. Here is a guide to just a few of the references in the film, which Mr. Godard has divided into sections titled 'Hell,' 'Purgatory' and 'Heaven' (see 'Alighieri, Dante')," Stuart Klawans