News

Angela Christlieb’s film captures the anarchic spirit of the musical collective based in the mad scientist’s lair of electronic equipment known as Janka Industries

With the fuzzy whirring of electrical machines in its underground cocoon, Janka Industries recording studio is a universe away from the hustle and bustle of Vienna. Sound equipment, retro monitors and miscellaneous gadgets sprawl into every nook, and the space resembles some mad genius’s cave in a 1950s sci-fi film. And yet there is magic in the chaos, as a steady flow of artists and musicians come to this otherworldly haven to record, or simply bask in its collaborative atmosphere.

Established in the 1980s by Chris and Ali Janka, the collective now based there has had many temporary homes, from a rat-infested air raid shelter to its current basement; the rodent threat now replaced by a soon-to-be expired lease. In an era when...

Coming on the heels of some exceptionally strong Lgbt docs at both Sundance (Marta Cunningham's "Valentine Road" and Roger Ross Williams' "God Loves Uganda")  and Berlin (Sébastien Lifshitz's "Bambi" and Angela Christlieb's "Naked Opera"), SXSW continued what is clearly shaping up to become a banner year. In its previous two editions, SXSW was the theatrical birthplace of both Andrew Haigh's romantic drama "Weekend" and Jonathan Lisecki's gay man/straight girl romantic comedy "Gayby," establishing the festival as just as reliable a place to find quality queer narrative films as its two aforementioned predecessors.  But this year was all about non-fiction. Three documentaries -- Malcolm Ingram's "Continental," Jeffrey Schwarz's "I Am Divine" and Pj Raval's "Before You Know It" -- each premiered at the fest, and each will deservedly be a highlight at the scores of doc and Lgbt-focused festivals they'll surely...

The 63rd Berlinale is coming to a close, and the awards have been announced!

In Competition

Golden Bear - Child's Pose, directed by Călin Peter Netzer

Jury Grand Prix - An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, directed by Danis Tanović

Silver Bear for Best Director - Prince Avalanche, directed by David Gordon Green

Best Actor - Nazif Mujić, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker

Best Actress - Paulina Garcia, Gloria

Best Screenplay - Closed Curtain, written by Jafar Panahi

Alfred Bauer Prize - Vic+Flo Saw a Bear, directed by Denis Côté

Outstanding Artistic Contribution - Cinematographer Aziz Zhambakiyev, for Harmony Lessons

Special Mentions - Promised Land, directed by Gus Van Sant & Layla Fourie, directed by Pia Marais

Best First Feature Award

Best First Feature - The Rocket, directed by Kim Mordaunt

Special Mention - The Battle of Tabatô, directed by João Viana

Teddy...

More of the trade came in Thursday night including Rainer Kölmel who sold Kinowelt to Pathe just before the latest market crash and who has produced The Two Lives of Daniel Shore, playing here. Daniel Gluckau is still acquiring films for Kinowelt and has just had a son born. Former Kinowelt sales man Stlios Ziannis has created his own international sales agency Aktis Film whose film 13 Semester is premiering here and was produced by 20th Century Fox Germany signaling their possibly renewed interest in German production. This film, depicting life in college is a new subject for German film. Aktis also intends to enter coproductions as well. Also attending are Rudy Tjio of Universum Ufa who will also be attending Afm, Antonio Exacoustos of Arri Media Worldsales, Wigbert Moschall of mdc int., Prokino's Ira von Gienanth, Mfa's Christian Meinke

Women in film are receiving some press these days, from an...

By Matt Singer

In honor of the new documentary "We Are Wizards," about people who take Harry Potter way beyond simply reading the books or watching the movies, we take a look this week at obsessive fan culture and the documentaries that chronicle their fandom. Fanaticism in these films takes on many different forms. Some fans only want to take what their idols give them; others want to give back by creating derivative works of their own, like fan fiction or fan songs. Some become unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality. Some -- like a dentist who turned his office into a "Star Trek" tchotchke paradise called "Starfleet Dental" -- willfully reject the distinction altogether. Some love to become lost in escapism; others obsess about it until they are trapped by it. On this list, we'll look at what makes these fans tick and find the exact point when...

NEW YORK -- Writer-director Vanessa Parise's Kiss the Bride got a big wet smack from the Golden Starfish when the Hamptons International Film Festival named it best feature at an awards ceremony in East Hampton during the weekend. Filmmaker and festival board member Bob Balaban emceed the event. Bride -- for which won Parise more than $180,000 in goods and services to be used toward her next feature -- centers on four sisters coming together to celebrate a wedding who must reconcile their pasts before their family falls apart. Alyssa Milano, Sean Patrick Flanery, Talia Shire and Burt Young star. In the documentary category, Angela Christlieb and Stephen Kijak's Cinemania took top honors, while Andrew Mudge's The Perfect Gooseys won the Golden Starfish for best short.