Sydney Levine

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SydneysBuzz

Sydney Levine focuses on international film industry developments and analysis of the international film market related to buyers, sales agents, filmmakers, film festivals and distribution.

Monthly Archives

Women to Watch: Janet Grillo

By Sydney Levine
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February 22, 2012

Filmmaker Toolkit

By Sydney Levine
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February 21, 2012

News

This Berlin flew by! My own activities flowed from our two main focal points: education and consulting. What follows are my impressions of various Berlin events as they passed by -- ever so quickly -- but still with enough eye-catching power to capture my attention in the first place.

By Sydney Levine
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February 21, 2012

News

To continue with the fast paced array of news and incidents that sparked the Berlinale for us this year, we had our habitual meeting with Barcelona based Anna Soler-Pont, the woman behind Pontas Literary and Film Agency whose blog of her Berlinale experiences is also enlightening and inspires great interest in films based on novels.

By Sydney Levine
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February 17, 2012

This Berlinale I was quick to visit Farabi Cinema Foundation, the Iranian government's consistent source of films at Berlin and Cannes. I asked for news of the industry's friend Katayoon Shabi of Sheherazad Media International whose arrest in September last year with five other filmmakers was reported in N.Y. Times. Payvand Iran News reports on what the Iranian deputy culture minister for cinematic affairs has to say about "Nader and Simin, a Separation" as a possible Oscar nominee in the Best Foreign Language Films category and what it would say about U.S. Iranian politics.

By Sydney Levine
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February 15, 2012

Filmmaker Toolkit

I moderated a Women in Film and Television International panel on new methods and old for financing features with:

By Peter Belsito
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February 13, 2012

News

Deutsche Welle represents Germany in the international media landscape. It acts as a sort of Voice of America for Germany.

By SydneyLevine
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February 11, 2012

News

Successfully launched in New York last year, the Dialogue of Cultures Festival is very proud to announce its $40,000 grant program for the production of a 30-minute documentary that best captures the festival’s theme in a creative and vibrant way.

By Sydney Levine
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February 11, 2012

News

As we roll into Berlin where War Witch (aka Rebelle) (ISA: Films Distribution) by Kim Nguyen is in Competition. While it’s Kim’s 4th feature, this is the first of his films to have a world premiere at an international festival. This is exceptional as well because the last time the Canadians had a Canadian director in Competition at the Berlinale was in 1999 with Emporte-Moi ! Guy Madden’s Keyhole holds a Berlinale Special slot. Guy is Canada’s cultural ambassador in Berlin and a regular at the Festival and sat on the Berlinale’s Official Jury last year – with Isabella Rossellini.

By SydneyLevine
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February 10, 2012

News

A year ago in Sundance we interviewed Telefilm Canada’s Carolle Brabant who had taken the reins of Telefilm the previous March. While often the Canadian films are waiting to premiere at Cannes or Toronto. This year the number of upcoming greats which might make it to Cannes include Xavier Dolan’s latest Laurence Anyways (ISA: MK2), and Deepa Mehta’s Midnight's Children, based on a 1981 book by Salman Rushdie that deals with India's transition from British colonialism to independence and the partition of India. It won both the Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1981 and was awarded the "Booker of Bookers" Prize and the best all-time prize winners in 1993 and 2008 to celebrate the Booker Prize 25th and 40th anniversary. It was also added to the list of Great Books of the 20th Century, published by Penguin Books.

By Sydney Levine
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February 8, 2012

News

It is not fostering films that teach but films that integrate science into the drama that makes for good stories. This program brings public understanding of science and technology which is about bridging the gap between the two cultures and fostering a keener appreciation of the increasingly scientific and technological world in which we live. Also humanizing the face of science—and of the men and women engaged in scientific and technological pursuit.