A number of familiar names are set to compete at the 61st Festival de Cannes, organizers announced today in Paris. While the fest has yet to announce its opening and closing films, nineteen features are set to vie for the Palme d'Or. Among the films in competition are new work by The Dardenne Brothers, Arnaud Desplechin, Atom Egoyan, Clint Eastwood, Lucrecia Martel, Walter Salles, Steven Soderbergh, and Wim Wenders. The fest's opening and closing films were not designated in this morning's announcement.

Get the full story at indieWIRE.com.

Janet Pierson has been named the new producer of the SXSW Film Festival and Conference, the organization has just announced. Matt Dentler, who has served as producer of the fest since 2004, has accepted a position in New York City to head the marketing and programming operations of Cinetic Media's new digital rights management unit, the festival said in an announcement.

iW posted a full story on the announcements this evening at indieWIRE.com.

The complete list of 2008 Tribeca All Access projects and participants was announced today by the The Tribeca Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Institute:

Some 113 feature films are set to screen at the 15th South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival in Austin, TX. Running, March 7 - 15, 2008, the event's showcases are the documentary and narrative feature competitions. The complete competition lineups are available now at indieWIRE.com.

Get the latest at indieWIRE.com.

The complete SXSW lineup is available below.

Actor/director Sean Penn has been named president of the jury for the 61st Festival de Cannes, taking place May 14 - 25, festival organizers announced early Thursday morning local time in France, where his acclaimed directorial effort "Into the Wild" will open on January 9, 2008.

Get the latest at indieWIRE.com.

European Film Market co-director Karen Arikian has been named the new Executive Director of the Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF). Arikian will join the festival, which is opening its 15th annual event on Wednesday, after the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival. The move comes as the Hamptons fest looks to the future after the recent departure of longtime executive director Denise Kassell and artistic director Rajendra Roy, who recently left to head the film department at MoMA. [Eugene Hernandez]

Get the latest at indieWIRE.com.

The Morelia International Film Festival concludes today in Mexico; awards were presented at the festival last night in the state capital of Michoacan. A list of winners follows:

The Woodtstock Film Festival was held this weekend in Upstate New York. A full list of winners follows.

Announced this morning in Toronto, the entire 349 film lineup for the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, available here in a complete 17 page PDF document.

349 films from 55 countries are set for the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, organizers are revealing this morning in Canada. "There is a lot of soul-searching and a lot of extremely gifted, overwhelmingly passionate cinema in the festival this year, TIFF co-director Noah Cowan told indieWIRE in a conversation yesterday. "These are filmmakers who are out to transform the way we see the world, they are out to make a difference"

The full story is available now at indieWIRE.com.

Twenty-eight films will be showcased at the 45th New York Film Festival, taking place September 28 - October 14. The Film Society of Lincoln Center, which organizes the annual event, announced Wednesday that Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's animated coming-of-age Cannes '07 jury prize-winner "Persepolis" will close the festival, joining previously announced opener "The Darjeeling Limited" by Wes Anderson and Centerpiece film "No Country for Old Men" by the Coen Brothers. Among the other films hailing from Cannes are Gus Van Sant's 60th anniversary prize-winner "Paranoid Park," Julian Schnabel's French-language "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," Palme d'Or winner "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" by Romanian director Cristian Mungiu as well as "Secret Sunshine" by Chang-dong Lee, which received the best actress prize in Cannes for Do-yeon Jeon. [Brian Brooks]

Read the full story at indieWIRE.com.

Thirteen titles have been announced for the Discovery section at the 32nd Toronto International Film Festival, running September 6 - 15, 2007, joining one previously announced Discovery film. The complete list of fourteen Discovery films is included at indieWIRE.com and a festival rep indicated that no additions to the section are expected. Last year, the section included some twenty films. [Eugene Hernandez]

Read the full story at indieWIRE.com.

Venice is the oldest film festival in the world and quite possibly the most eccentric. This year's edition, the 62nd, has been the usual Felliniesque mix of carnival and chaos. There have been parties in the Doge's palace, packed screenings, tight but haphazard security and stormy press conferences. As for the films, the consensus among critics is that the programme has been far stronger than in recent years. Even more surprising, everything has run pretty much on time. Geoffrey McNab reports in The Guardian.

The Venice Film Festival is the perfect launch pad for an Oscar bid. It gives directors and actors art-house kudos and is the ideal place to promote a movie outside the United States. No wonder Hollywood loves the Lido. Once again, some of cinema's biggest stars graced the red carpet in Venice, putting the lagoon city almost on a par with the world's premier cinema competition in Cannes in terms of glitz and glamour. Reuters reports.

Director John Turturro had the Venice Film Festival singing along on Tuesday with his blue collar musical "Romance & Cigarettes," the off-beat story of a man tempted by his mistress but still in love with his wife. Clara Ferreira-Marques reports for Reuters.

Critics at a screening booed one of Italy's big hopes to win the top prize at the Venice Film Festival Tuesday. Roberto Faenza's "The Days of Abandonment," about a woman who loses control of her life after she is left by her husband, drew boos as well as laughter in the wrong places, Italian news agencies reported. A.P. reports.

Japanese cult director Takeshi Kitano baffled and enthralled Venice on Friday with the premiere of "Takeshis,"' a surreal send-up of his eclectic career which weaves together the lives of a TV celebrity and his lookalike. The surprise addition to a list of 19 films vying for the Venice Film Festival's top Golden Lion prize is a bewildering jaunt from smoky mah-jong parlors and noodle bars to showdowns between gun-slinging yakuza gangsters. Clara Ferreira-Marques reports for Reuters.

George Clooney brought political controversy to Venice on Thursday with "Good Night. And, Good Luck," a black-and-white tale of broadcasting courage during the McCarthy-era witch hunts of the 1950s. Clooney, who acts in and directs the film, is the first of several A-list Hollywood stars due to walk the red carpet at the sun-soaked Lido, host to days of waterfront parties. Clara Ferreira-Marques reports in Reuters.

The Venice Film Festival was set to open on Wednesday with Hong Kong martial-arts spectacular "Seven Swords," underlining the prominence given Asian cinema at this year's event. The line-up at the world's oldest cinema competition was slimmed down to just 56 films after organizers came under fire for overloading the 2004 edition of the festival. Clara Ferreira-Marques reports in Reuters.

Venice's Lido is a favorite venue for stars from Hollywood but as the red carpet is rolled out for this year's festival, the flavour is distinctly Asian, from a martial arts-themed opening to Japanese cartoons. And after a blunder-prone, overloaded 2004, organisers of the world's oldest cinema competition say they have a sleeker line-up which will appeal to art house film buffs and star-watchers alike. Clara Ferreira-Marques reports for Reuters.

From September 1-5, BAM Rose Cinemas in Brooklyn will present "Caribbean Diaspora Film Festival," a celebration of contemporary films about the Caribbean experience. BAM hosts the series in conjunction with the West Indian Day Parade, held annually on Labor Day at Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza/Prospect Park (September 5). This year the film series focuses on the music of the islands, along with two days of films from the Haitian Film Festival. The series will kick off with recent Haitian films such as Jonathan Demme's "The Agronomist." Other film highlights include Alex Wolfe's "Santo Domingo Blues;" Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's "Young Rebels;" Rick Elgood and Don Letts' "One Love;" and Geoffrey Dunn and Michael Horne's "Calypso Dreams."

[Photo by Brian Brooks/indieWIRE]

The Hamptons International Film Festival's Summer Series concluded over the weekend, with a special screening of director John Madden's "Proof," starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, Gwyneth Paltrow, Hope Davis and Jake Gyllenhaal. Madden, pictured here with Hamptons' director of programming, Rajendra Roy following the screening, fielded questions from the audience, which was, not surprisingly, quite a who's who one might expect to see in the Hamptons. Barry Diller and Calvin Klein were there (although Nicky Hilton ended up being a no-show) as well as Fred Schneider from the B-52s and his boyfriend, famed Argentine polo player, Nacho Figueras, Elle Magazine’s Carol Smith & John Rollins (Elle's new magazine Elle Accessories sponsored the screening), as well as Hachette Filipacchi President & CEO Jack Kliger. The team from Hart Sharp Entertainment, Jeffrey Sharp and John Hart also joined in for the screening and party held at Chow in East Hampton afterward. The 13th Hamptons International Film Festival will take place October 19 - 23 on Long Island's East End.

Today Aspen Filmfest announced that more than the annual pageant of fall color will draw film lovers to this mountain resort in late September. Rob Reiner, Bob Rafelson, Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy are among the confirmed guest appearances at Aspen Filmfest's 27th edition. These film luminaries will participate in special presentations ranging from an evening tribute to a master class to the screening of a new feature. Aspen Filmfest unspools September 28 - October 2 at the Wheeler Opera House (Aspen), Crystal Theatre (Carbondale), and Spring Theatre (Glenwood Springs). The complete festival line-up will be available September 9. For more information, visit their website.

The 6th Annual Woodstock Film Festival (September 28th through October 2nd), announced today that its inaugural Trailblazer Award will be presented to groundbreaking entertainment attorney/executive producer John Sloss. John Sloss is the principal in Sloss Law Office and a founder of Cinetic
Media, a consulting firm specializing in the entertainment and media
industries. He is also a partner in Independent Digital Entertainment
(InDigEnt), a production company dedicated to making digital
features in collaboration with established filmmakers and actors. For more information, visit the Woodstock Film Festival's website.

The third annual D.C. Underground Film Festival will take place from September 30 through October 1 at the Goethe-Institute in Washington, D.C. The festival will screen more than 45 films selected from 400 submissions. Originally organized in 2001 by Allyson Kapin and members of the District of Ladies collective, the festival has evolved into a major East Coast showcase for independent, low-budget filmmakers.

"The worst thing in the Balkans is to be a gay," says Kenan Dizdar, a character in Bosnian war film "Go West" which has sparked angry debate about one of the great taboos of Bosnian society. Hatred of gays will persist even after Serbs, Muslims and Croats stop fighting, he says: "They will lay down their weapons, but they will continue to hate homosexuals." Reuters reports.

NewFest: The New York LGBT Film Festival presents "The Best of NewFest"
series as part of BAMcinematek at the BAM Rose Cinemas August 26-28,
re-presenting 12 popular and award-winning works from the annual June
festival, including "The Aggressives," "little man," "Strange Fruit," "Both," "Left
Lane," "The D Word," "Good Boys," and more. For more information, call the
BAMcinématek hotline at (718) 636-4100 or visit their website.

European cinema will be in focus when the Copenhagen International Film Festival kicks off for the third year Thursday, organizers said. More than 100 films and documentaries will be screened during the 11-day festival, 10 of which will compete for the Golden Swan award which will be awarded on Aug. 27 in six different categories. Most festival movies will be from Europe, although the lineup also includes offerings from the Middle East and Asia. Jacob Neiiendam, the festival's chief of programming, said European filmmakers are normally not given much room on the Danish market, where Danish and American movies dominate. A.P. reports.

he annual Sarajevo Film Festival opens its doors Friday evening for the 11th time. What began as an act of defiance during the 1992-95 Bosnian war has turned into the most important festival in the Balkans. Movie-goers queued up days ago to get their tickets and to be among the expected 100,000 to watch 170 movies from around 40 countries. The Associated Press reports.

Actor Richard E. Grant was walking up the red carpet for the first time as a director Wednesday, the opening night of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Grant, whose semi-autobiographical feature "Wah-Wah" is receiving its world premiere at the festival, said he was feeling "probably as you would imagine — slightly constipated, terrified, exuberant, exhilarated." The Associated Press reports.

True West Cinema Festival brings the intimate film fest experience back to Boise August 25-28 with a second year filled with top independent films from across the West. The Festival gets underway August 25th with the Idaho premiere of "Me and You and Everyone We Know," the break-out 2005 Sundance pick from Northwest filmmaker Miranda July. The feature and short film lineup includes a mix of narrative, documentary, animation, and experimental films including "5th World" from Navaho filmmaker Blackhorse Lowe, “After Innocence” a documentary by Jessica Sanders that won a Special Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival. For more information, visit their website.

The distaff ensemble drama "Nine Lives," the sole American movie in competition at the Locarno International Film Festival, was the big winner at the Swiss event Saturday, nabbing the prizes for best film and best actress, which was collectively awarded to the cast. Peter Kiefer reports on the Locarno Film Festival winners in the Hollywood Reporter.

One might thinkg that these are the best of times for lovers of Asian cinema. Surging interest in films from China, Korea, Japan and, lately, India and Thailand has led to an age of near-universal access; what was once buried deep in the pop-culture underground can now be found at multiplexes and mall video chains. To all this, the graybeards of Asian film fandom shake their heads and sigh. Jeff Yang reports in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Calls by a venue director for the Edinburgh Festival to unite with the Festival Fringe have been dismissed. Mr Gudgin also dismissed the idea, adding that umbrella Festival - made up of the EIF, the Fringe, the jazz, book and film festivals, the Military Tattoo and the Mela - offered "a healthy mix of competition and collaboration." BBC reports.

Bowing to pressure from anxious sponsors, the Montreal World Film Festival on Wednesday pulled a controversial Hollywood movie about an infamous Canadian schoolgirl killer from its upcoming lineup. "Karla," starring Laura Prepon ("That '70s Show") as Karla Homolka, Canada's most notorious serial killer, was scheduled to receive a special screening during the Aug. 26-Sept. 5 event. Norma Reveler and Etan Vlessing report in Reuters.

Nicole Guillemet, Director of the Miami International Film Festival (MIFF), announced recently that Dwight Brown, a nationally syndicated film critic and former HBO executive, has been brought on board as the festival’s new Programming Director. In his capacity as Programming Director, Brown will scout, screen and recommend films for MIFF in all categories including Dramas, Documentaries, World Cinema, Ibero-American, and others. He will oversee staff and consultant programmers. He will actively seek out new directors, writers and actors. Part of his mission will be to develop special presentations for MIFF events and to nurture the festival’s outreach programs. For more information, visit the festival's website.

With Hollywood action films dominating screens all over the world each summer, most fans of art-house cinema would be happy to have an alternative to blockbusters. Last week, South Korea had two art film festivals running during the same 10-day period, but thanks to a collision of art and politics, this didn't make anyone happy. Mark Russell reports in the New York Times (free subscription required to view).

It may not rival Sundance or Cannes, but Michael Moore says the film festival he conceived with other movie lovers in this Lake Michigan town was a bigger hit than expected and has a bright future. "By all accounts it was an overwhelming success," Moore said Monday. "It was a movie junkie's paradise." John Flesher reports in A.P.

The video revolution is here and has been for some time. George Lucas, among other once and future filmmakers, is rapidly changing our viewing habits, and along the way, making questions of format increasingly irrelevant. Manohla Dargis reports on the festival in the New York Times (free subscription required to view).

The term "box office bomb" has taken on new meaning at the Venice Film Festival this year. Fearing terrorist attacks or other security breaches, Marco Muller who runs the festival told the AP that "the number of films that can be projected daily in the main movie theater had been cut to allow time for security personnel to thoroughly check the space between screenings." (54 films are being screened this year compared to 71 in 2004.) In the meantime, celebrities and the paparrazzi alike fret over what these new concerns will mean to the near-sacred red carpet ritual.

A movie based on Canada's most notorious female serial killer will receive its world premiere next month at the Montreal World Film Festival. Laura Prepon ("That '70s Show") stars in "Karla" as Karla Homolka, who teamed up in 1993 with her husband, Paul Bernardo, to torture and murder two schoolgirls in a case that gathered international attention because the attacks were recorded on video, which was shown in court. Homolka also helped Bernardo rape and murder her own sister. Misha Collins ("24") will play Bernardo. Joel Bender will direct. Etan Vlessing reports in Reuters.

Scheduled for October 18-23, 2005, CineKink NYC, the self-described “really alternative” film festival, will feature a program of films and videos that explore and celebrate a wide diversity of alternative sexuality. In addition to screenings, plans for the film festival also include a short film competition, audience choice awards, presentations and a gala kick-off party. Film topics will include S/M, leather and fetish, roleplay, swinging, polyamory and non-monogamy, and gender bending. Offerings will range from documentary to drama, camp comedy to hot porn and everything in between. The festival program line-up for 2005 will be announced in September.

As a special presentation of the New York International Latino Film Festival, the Valladolid International Film Festival is bringing its 50th anniversary celebrations to New York City, by presenting a special series of five recent award-winning films including “Las Horas Del Dia” (The Hours of the Day) and “La Caja 507” (Box 507). All screenings are part of New York International Latino Film Festival and will be shown at Tribeca Cinemas, which is located at 54 Varick St. (at Laight St.).

RESFEST will hot the world premiere of "Infamy," the new feature-length documentary shot and directed by Doug Pray. The film will debut at this year’s RESFEST launch in New York City September 15th-18th.

Seattle International Film Festival Group executive director Helen Loveridge is leaving the festival she took over from co-founder Daryl Macdonald less than two years ago. The festival said in a statement Tuesday that Loveridge is leaving to return home to England. (Macdonald moved on to run the Palm Springs International Festival).

Past board member Deborah Person, a former SIFF staff member and now a member of the Board Emeritus for SIFF, has been named interim director of the organization, beginning immediately. She will be responsible for carrying out the day-to-day management responsibilities of SIFF, including fundraising, community relations, staff and program oversight, and working to find a replacement for Loveridge.