Ferrara to summer in Sarajevo

Finally! After years of dragging pussies like Mike Leigh and Alexander Payne and Stephen Frears onstage to revisit their underwhelming oeurves of poo, the Sarajevo Film Festival announced it is going to dedicate its 2006 career retrospective to the Madman of the Bronx (and I mean that in only the kindest way), Abel Ferrara.

Word has it that Ferrara has returned from a decade of oblivion with his well-received Mary, the Juliette Binoche-Matthew Modine film about which the latter star allegedly rambled on about to Cindy Adams a few months back. Mary also claimed a special jury prize in Venice, while American distribution seems to have eluded it thus far. The enigmatic Ferrara will actually attend, introduce and discuss his screenings next August, which has to be the most exciting thing to happen to the region since NATO bombed the hell out of it. We do not even get him to do that for screenings here! In his hometown!

Anyway, no festival dates are set yet, but consider yourself advised: My 30th birthday is August 7. And I have my passport by the door, right next to my suitcase.