News

By Sean O’Connell

HollywoodNews.com’s interview feature, “Hollywood In Ten,” showcases the creative individuals responsible for the movies we love, and corners them for 10 quality minutes.

The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, N.C., gets underway Thursday with a handful of screenings throughout the morning and afternoon. Music lovers might want to check out “Thunder Soul,” a SXSW hit about the renowned Kashmere Stage Band, arguably the nation’s best high-school jazz and funk band. “Diary of a Times Square Thief,” by Klaas Bense, sounds intriguing as it recreates life in Manhattan’s famed intersection during the pre-clean-up days of debauchery.

But the fest truly launches Thursday evening when patrons file into the spacious Fletcher Hall for D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus’ “Kings of Pastry,” selected to be this year’s Opening Night film. “Kings” follows three chefs who have put their lives on hold to...

While I've yet to see the doc myself (I reference Claire Denis' White Material when I think of what the film might hold narratively), when the Cinema Eye Honor Noms were released I was surprised to see that, despite the positive buzz, Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson's Mugabe and the White African only manage to grab one nomination. Clearly the film is a favorite for the 2009 edition of the Ida Awards - it picked up three nominations in the Feature Documentary, ABCNews VideoSource Award an the Pare Lorentz Award categories. - While I've yet to see the doc myself (I reference Claire Denis' White Material when I think of what the film might hold narratively), when the Cinema Eye Honor Noms were released I was surprised to see that, despite the positive buzz, Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson's Mugabe and the White African only manage to grab one nomination.

[Our thanks to Matthew Grinshpun for the following review.]

First time director Klaas Bense begins his documentary, Diary of a Times Square Thief, with a brief history of his romance with eBay. It is through this love affair that the Dutch filmmaker happens

upon the titular diary, a chronicle of the life of John, an aspiring writer whose defeated ambitions and spiral into small-time thievery form the backdrop of Bense’s journey to a Manhattan of times past.

The critically and publicly acclaimed second edition of the Documentaries From The Edge series proved last year that it holds a distinguished place at Fantasia. This section returns this summer with five debut films taking on curious and disturbing social phenomena. A debate over a video game, a modern out-law family, a site dedicated to fetishism, a passion for a lemon, and a mysterious notebook are all subjects that have fascinated the directors and touched them intimately. These captivating documentaries demand that the audience take a stand on what is presented to them on screen. This year, the line-up will feature five docs that impart the unique and unequivocal points of view of filmmakers on some disturbing social phenomena that will leave no one indifferent and promises to spark a few fascinating and contradictory debates. Although the premises vary drastically on the surface, from a portrait of a modern day...

Fantasia Festival is North America [1]’s premiere (and largest) genre [2] film [3] festival [4]. It is also my favorite film festival and so I could not wait to share the highlights of this years line up. Below is just some of the films we will be reviewing on our upcoming podcasts. Best Worst Movie - Montreal premiere, hosted by director Michael Paul Stephenson and the actor George Hardy Unbeknownst to him, a dentist living in a small town in Alabama has an army of fans who worship him. The reason behind his clandestine popularity? He was a one-time actor who played a lead role in a movie that is now widely regarded as being amongst the worst films of all time: Troll 2. When he hears that the film was being shown at a rep cinema, he attends the screening. This decision leads him on a truly surprising and life-changing journey. Funny and moving,...