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BERLINALE (2009) Festival PoliticsAsked whether the Berlinale has fostered an image as a "political" film festival, Christoph Schlingensief, the German jury member at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival (5-15 February 2009), blurted out: "A competition entry here scarcely stands a chance otherwise." Schlingensief, a highly motivated political filmmaker in his own right, hit the nail right on the head. You only have to look back at the past Golden Bear winners. In 2007, the Grand Prix went to Wang Quan'an's fiction-documentary Tu ya de hun shi (Tuya's Marriage, China). Set in rural Mongolia, Tuya's Marriage mirrored the plight of nomadic shepherds whose way of life is threatened by the government's misguided plans to move them to urban shelters. In 2008, it was awarded to José Padilha's Tropa de elite (The Elite Squad, Brazil). Set in 1997, when the Pope announced his visit to Brazil, that news triggered.

4th EURASIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ALMATY The Saga of Chingiz AitmatovWhen Chingiz Aitmatov went onstage in the spacious Palace of the Republic in Almaty (former Alma-Ata) at the closing gala of the Fourth Eurasia International Film Festival (23-29 September 2007) to receive an honorary award from the Kazakh government, he was greeted with a standing ovation. Indeed, the applause was well deserved. For the 78-year-old Kirghiz writer-diplomat is revered throughout Central Asia not only as a gifted storyteller, whose heart-rending novella Jamila (published in 1958) was praised by Louis Aragon as "the world's most beautiful love story," but also as the first Kirghiz Ambassador to Luxembourg and the European Union in Brussels. Moreover, during the high-water mark of the Khrushchev "thaw" (1956-65), when Chingiz Aitmatov was appointed head of the Kirghizfilm Studio in Frunze (today Bishkek), he fostered there a path-breaking "director's cinema" that helped to revolutionize Soviet.

CINEFAN NEW DELHI FESTIVAL2006 When I asked an informed critic for an opinion as to which was the most important film festival in India today, he named Osian's Cinefan in a close tie with the Trivandrum International Film Festival - with the caveat, of course, that Cinefan in New Delhi primarily presents Asian cinema, while Trivandrum (aka Triruvananthapuram, to use the official name) in Kerala opens its doors wide to international film fare. As for the long-running International Film Festival in India (IFFI), a government-sponsored affair based in Goa for the past couple of years, I was told that it ranked third at best, although a larger attendance was recorded last year. In other words, Goa, a resort city populated mostly by tourists from home and abroad, has had to work hard to attract a movie-mad Indian public from across the country. Two other festivals were also thrown into.

SOFIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2005 Film festivals in Central and Eastern Europe - "CentEast" in EU parlance - don't get much better than the 10th Sofia International Film Festival (9-19 March 2006) under its charismatic director Stefan "Kita" Kitanov. One glance at the 160-page SIFF catalogue tells most of the story - prominently displayed are circa 80 sponsors and partners. Moreover, these sponsors are said to contribute the lion's share of this year's 250,000 Euro budget, in contrast to reported city and government funding at a meagre 25,000 Euros. Altogether, 160 films (100 features, 30 documentaries, 30 shorts) from circa 40 countries were booked for viewing by an estimated audience of 70,000, that figure apparently including attendance at follow-up events in Plovdiv and Burgas that stretch the SIFF out for another full week. According to an SIFF bulletin, this year's 250 applications for entry in the competition doubled the.

LEIPZIG INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL FOR DOCUMENTARY AND ANIMATION FILMS 2005 Counting the years since its founding in 1955, the Leipzig DOK festival should be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. But since two "DOK Weeks" were skipped in the 1950s by GDR festival officials for one reason or another, the big celebration is yet to come in 2007. No matter - it's the continuity that counts. Indeed, over the years, DOK Leipzig has been the best festival barometer on the calendar for charting the shifting changes in the relationship between East and West, between Eastern and Western Europe, between the German Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany. This year, for the 48th Leipzig International Festival for Documentary and Animation Films (3-9 October 2005), the second under the aegis of Claas Danielsen, it was no different. "Traditionally we have focused on the East," he penned in the forward of.

THE FOLLOWING portraits of Miloš Forman and Saul Zaentz celebrate from a personal perspective the extraordinary film accomplishments by this masterful director-producer team on the occasion of Lifetime Achievement Awards given by Film By the Sea Festival in the Dutch seaside resort cities of Vlissingen and Scheveningen. Miloš Forman and Saul Zaentz, invited by festival director Leo Hannewijk and international co-director Steve Klain, were honoured as well by leading personalities of the Netherlands and the European Union. Indeed, this single event scored as one of the festival highlights of the year. Miloš Forman - Auditions and Adaptations My first meeting with Miloš Forman took place in April 1968 - a couple hours after I had been thrown out of the Variety office on 43rd Street for daring to "sign myself on" as a future correspondent. To get rid of me, Bob Landry, the benevolent desk editor, sent me over.

COTTBUS FESTIVAL OF EAST EUROPEAN FILMS 2004 No other European festival is better positioned than Cottbus to measure the depth and range of the current film revival in Central and Eastern Europe. Abetted by the smart programming skill of festival director Roland Rust, the 14th Filmfestival Cottbus (2-6 November 2004) - aka the 14th Festival of East European Cinema - was again a must-visit event for critics, cineastes, and directors interested in keeping apace with the hundred or more important productions released annually in filmlands stretching from the former German Democratic Republic to Kazakhstan in Central Asia. This year, with its generous budget of circa 500,000 Euros from Land Brandenburg and the City of Cottbus, the festival staff made absolutely sure that its double competition for features and shorts under separate juries had selected the best entries from a bumper crop of quality productions in a dozen rejuvenated filmlands.

KARLOVY VARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2004 For the Czech media the 39th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (2-10 July 2004) was something of a sensation. Václav Havel, the country's ex-president and most popular political figure, was on hand for the official opening to receive a moving standing ovation. Later, Václav Klaus, the current Czech president, also showed for the closing ceremonies. To add to the festivities, Miroslav Ondříček, Miloš Forman's ace cameraman (Oscar Nominations for Amadeus and Ragtime) was honoured with an Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema (together with Harvey Keitel and Roman Polański). The Prize of the Karlovy Vary Region was given for the first time to Jiří Bartoška, the festival codirector. And the Ecumenical Jury honoured Eva Zaoralová, the festival's artistic director, an Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. For the second time in a row, the Crystal Globe,.

The 46th Leipzig International Festival for Documentary and Animation Films (14-19 October 2003) - the tenth under retiring festival director Fred Gehler - went down in the books as one of the best so far as politically relevant programming was concerned. Rithy Panh's S21 - La machine de mort Khmère Rouge (S21 - The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, France) was awarded both the Golden Dove for Best Long Doc­umentary by the International Jury and the FIPRESCI Prize by the Inter­national Critics. First seen at Cannes in the Official Program as a Special Screening, S21 is currently making the rounds of key international film festivals - after Leipzig it was booked for the Viennale and the London Film Festival. Running at 100 minutes, its plodding pace demands the complete attention of the viewer and makes for a quite horrifying experience as the story unfolds. S21 refers to the site of the.

ST. PETERSBURG FESTIVAL OF FESTIVALS For much too long, the St. Petersburg Festival of Festivals has lingered in the shadows of the all-mighty Moscow International Film Festival. This year, however, everything has changed for the better. Since 2003 marks the 300th anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg by Peter the Great, the year has been one long celebration of events and festivals on the Neva. According to some reports, the 11th St. Petersburg Festival of Festivals (23-29 June) under director Alexander Mamontov received as much government funding as did the Moscow International Film Festival (21-30 June) under president Nikita Mikhalkov. Still, it's hard to figure out just why, in this year of national celebration, the calendar dates of the two film festivals should unfortunately overlap each other. But this is Russia. The same arm-wrestling for calendar position forced the Sochi International and Open Russian Film Festivals (1-14 June).

INTERNATIONALES LEIPZIGER FESTIVAL FUER DOKUMENTAR- UND ANIMATIONSFILM 2003 The timing could not have been better. Shortly after the 45th Leipzig International Festival for Documentary and Animation Films (15-20 October 2002) opened with the hit documentary of the year, Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine (USA), the German edition of Moore's bestselling "Stupid White Men" hit the book stands. The biting, acerbic, stinging Bowling for Columbine had been invited to compete at Cannes and was awarded there an especially created "Unique Prize of the 55th Anniversary Festival." And "Stupid White Men," a riotous political satire penned in the journalistic vein of H.L. Mencken and Mike Royko, rode the best-seller list in the New York Times for nearly a year. How did this hard-nose statement on gun-related deaths in the United States and the ongoing battle with the gun lobby in Congress get made in the first place? Armed with a disarming.

MOSCOW INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2001 Politics notwithstanding, the 23rd Moscow International Film Festival (21-30 June 2001) was by far the best, programme-wise, in post-perestroika times. The festival catalogue, with a replica of the St. George Statuette Award on the cover, stretched over 235 pages. Moving Pictures was brought in to publish four festival issues in English and Russian on films and events, a move that in turn inspired Russian critics to print a daily bulletin -- titled "Manezh" -- in esoteric Russian and enigmatic English on the competition entries. The city's best venues, including two brand new multiplexes, were booked for festival screenings, most of which started on time and with the very film that was listed in the What When Where Film Guide. Young computer wizards, many with multiple language abilities, replaced a fading phalanx of old-timers at the registration desks. Cafes and restaurants now encircle the Red.

35th KARLOVY VARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL The Brazilian film revival received another festival boost when Andrucha Waddington's Eu Tu Eles (Me You Them) scored a hardly unexpected Crystal Globe victory at the 35th Karlovy Vary festival (5-15 July 2000). Since 1995, when the new government (after the impeachment of the president) introduced friendly film laws to encourage investment in productions, a Golden Bear has been awarded at the Berlinale to Walter Salles's Central Station -- followed by an even more important commercial box-office hit: Carlos Diegues's Orfeu, a remake of Vinicius de Morales's play Orfeu de Carnival, the same source used by Marcel Camus for his Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus), the Golden Palm winner at the 1959 Cannes festival. In June, a month before Karlovy Vary, Orfeu was the key film in the 24-film retrospective programmed at the Troia festival in Portugal to celebrate the discovery of Brazil 500.