Post by dawyked on Jan 12, 2006 2:15:35 GMT 1
he 2006 Miami International Film Festival boasts 117 films in all, three $25,000 awards and slates for local filmmakers and filmmakers abroad.
BY RENE RODRIGUEZ
rrodriguez@MiamiHerald.com
A love story set against the turbulence of 1950s Havana, a documentary surveying the history of Puerto Ricans in the United States, a celebration of legendary singer Bob Marley and a tribute to a veteran German filmmaker are among the highlights of the 23rd Miami International Film Festival, to be held March 3-12.
Festival organizers on Tuesday unveiled this year's lineup, consisting of 92 feature-length and 25 short films, including 10 world premieres, such as the opening night selection Heartlift (Lifting de corazon), a comedy about a plastic surgeon's mid-life crisis from Argentine director Eliseo Subiela, a longtime festival favorite.
Friends With Money, the closing night attraction, is the latest comedy from writer-director Nicole Holofcener about longtime friends (Jennifer Aniston, Frances McDormand, Joan Cusack and Catherine Keener) whose lives are thrown off balance.
Other entries from familiar festival names include Iberia, the latest performance film from Spain's Carlos Saura, this one focusing on Andalusian gypsy culture; Viva Cuba, about the misadventures of two lovestruck 10-year-olds from Cuban director Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti; L'Enfant, co-directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's Palme d'Or-winning story of two young adults confronting parenthood; and The Gronholm Method (El metodo Gronholm), a drama about the ruthlessness of the corporate world from Argentine filmmaker Marcelo Piñeyro.
Celebrated director Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas, Wings of Desire) will be in town to accept this year's Career Achievement Tribute, as well as present his latest film, Don't Come Knocking, about a Western movie star looking for his past, starring Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange.
Actress Rosie Perez also takes a turn in the director's chair with the documentary Yo soy Boricua, pa' que tu lo sepas! (I'm Boricua, Just So You Know!), about the Puerto Rican experience in America.
Wyclef Jean, Peter Tosh, Lauryn Hill and other well-known singers pay tribute to one of their biggest inspirations in Bob Marley & Friends, directed by Saul Swimmer. Another musical documentary, Pick Up the Mic, takes a look at the growing number of gay, lesbian and transgender hip-hop artists.
Also announced Tuesday was a $250,000 donation from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, to be used over three years to support the festival's marketing and provide a $25,000 cash prize to the three juried awards given to films in international, Ibero-American and documentary competitions.
''The donation raises the visibility of the festival and helps us continue to attract good filmmakers,'' said festival director Nicole Guillemet.
Other additions to the festival include two new programming slates: Touching Florida, featuring Florida filmmakers whose works have themes dealing with the state, and MIFF Abroad, which hopes to establish a cultural exchange by focusing on the filmmaking of one Latin American country each year. The inaugural program will center on Chile.
Festival screenings will be held at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami; the Regal South Beach Cinema and Colony Theater in Miami Beach; the Tower Theater in Little Havana; the Sunrise Intracoastal Cinema in North Miami Beach; and the Bill Cosford Cinema in Coral Gables.
Tickets go on sale Feb. 3 for Miami Film Society members and Feb. 17 for nonmembers. For more information, visit miamifilmfestival.com or call 305-237-3456.
Miami Herald staff writer Daniel Chang contributed to this report.
BY RENE RODRIGUEZ
rrodriguez@MiamiHerald.com
A love story set against the turbulence of 1950s Havana, a documentary surveying the history of Puerto Ricans in the United States, a celebration of legendary singer Bob Marley and a tribute to a veteran German filmmaker are among the highlights of the 23rd Miami International Film Festival, to be held March 3-12.
Festival organizers on Tuesday unveiled this year's lineup, consisting of 92 feature-length and 25 short films, including 10 world premieres, such as the opening night selection Heartlift (Lifting de corazon), a comedy about a plastic surgeon's mid-life crisis from Argentine director Eliseo Subiela, a longtime festival favorite.
Friends With Money, the closing night attraction, is the latest comedy from writer-director Nicole Holofcener about longtime friends (Jennifer Aniston, Frances McDormand, Joan Cusack and Catherine Keener) whose lives are thrown off balance.
Other entries from familiar festival names include Iberia, the latest performance film from Spain's Carlos Saura, this one focusing on Andalusian gypsy culture; Viva Cuba, about the misadventures of two lovestruck 10-year-olds from Cuban director Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti; L'Enfant, co-directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's Palme d'Or-winning story of two young adults confronting parenthood; and The Gronholm Method (El metodo Gronholm), a drama about the ruthlessness of the corporate world from Argentine filmmaker Marcelo Piñeyro.
Celebrated director Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas, Wings of Desire) will be in town to accept this year's Career Achievement Tribute, as well as present his latest film, Don't Come Knocking, about a Western movie star looking for his past, starring Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange.
Actress Rosie Perez also takes a turn in the director's chair with the documentary Yo soy Boricua, pa' que tu lo sepas! (I'm Boricua, Just So You Know!), about the Puerto Rican experience in America.
Wyclef Jean, Peter Tosh, Lauryn Hill and other well-known singers pay tribute to one of their biggest inspirations in Bob Marley & Friends, directed by Saul Swimmer. Another musical documentary, Pick Up the Mic, takes a look at the growing number of gay, lesbian and transgender hip-hop artists.
Also announced Tuesday was a $250,000 donation from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, to be used over three years to support the festival's marketing and provide a $25,000 cash prize to the three juried awards given to films in international, Ibero-American and documentary competitions.
''The donation raises the visibility of the festival and helps us continue to attract good filmmakers,'' said festival director Nicole Guillemet.
Other additions to the festival include two new programming slates: Touching Florida, featuring Florida filmmakers whose works have themes dealing with the state, and MIFF Abroad, which hopes to establish a cultural exchange by focusing on the filmmaking of one Latin American country each year. The inaugural program will center on Chile.
Festival screenings will be held at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Miami; the Regal South Beach Cinema and Colony Theater in Miami Beach; the Tower Theater in Little Havana; the Sunrise Intracoastal Cinema in North Miami Beach; and the Bill Cosford Cinema in Coral Gables.
Tickets go on sale Feb. 3 for Miami Film Society members and Feb. 17 for nonmembers. For more information, visit miamifilmfestival.com or call 305-237-3456.
Miami Herald staff writer Daniel Chang contributed to this report.
PETER TOSH IS NOT DEAD!
