The 5th Annual Toronto After Dark Film Festival takes place from August 13-20. Think of it as the appetizer for Midnight Madness, the nightly screenings which are the genre fans’ main course at the Toronto International Film Festival come September. All TADFF screenings are held at the Bloor Cinema.
“Toronto After Dark Film Festival is one of the world’s leading showcases of new horror, sci-fi, action and cult films,” the Festival said in a statement.
Several film festivals top the list in terms of exposure and prestige, especially for indies. In North America, Toronto takes the prize. Overseas, Berlin and Venice are generally considered the cream of the crop. The Berlin Film Festival happened earlier this year.
The 67th Venice International Film Festival will be taking place from September 1-11, just prior to (and slightly overlapping) the Toronto International Film Festival (which opens on September 9).
Actor Michael Welch has wowed audiences around the world as the hapless human Mike Newton in all three films in The Twilight Saga — Twilight and The Twilight Saga: New Moon, two of the most successful motion pictures of all time, and now in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
That film is currently on track to surpass both of its blockbuster predecessors, having taken in over $600 million globally after only 28 days.
It’s always nice when one of my favorite festival films is picked up for distribution. It’s not just a validation of my choice — it means that a movie I’ve been championing will be seen by a wider audience than those lucky enough to catch it on the festival circuit. All too often they languish on the shelf after that and enter the indie ether, never to be seen or heard from again.
I attended the World Premiere of Accidents Happen at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival and selected it as one of my Top Picks (see my review and pictures from the Q&A). It also made my year-end 10 Best list.
The 2010 Toronto International Film Festival begins exactly six weeks from Thursday. I’ve attended 47 film festivals since the start of 2006, but none as prestigious or breathtaking in scope as this one. I saw over 105 movies there from 2006-2009, and many of my Top Picks from all festivals over the past few years came out of TIFF.
This year’s event runs from September 9-19 and, in my book, it’s the top festival in the Western Hemisphere, second in the world only to Cannes.
It was over two years ago that I attended the World Premiere of Let the Right One In at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival in New York. I wondered at the time if anyone else would ever get to see this sweet little gem from Sweden (where it was titled Låt den rätte komma in).
I was at the very first press screening, which was relatively empty. My review went up long before there was any buzz about the film.
The 2010 Deauville American Film Festival will run from September 3-12. Most of the competition titles have now been announced, and they include five fantastic films I saw at festivals over the past year.
The complete lineup will include over 100 films. Screenings will take place at the Deauville International Centre (C.I.D), Casino’s cinema, and Cinema Le Morny in Deauville, on the beautiful French coast.
I had a spectacularly spooky time last fall at the Vampire Film Festival in beautiful New Orleans. We experienced the bizarre, grotesque, mysterious, and supernatural. There were fantastic films, too. Topics included ghosts, werewolves, zombies, and, of course, vampires.
Entries came from around the world, including Japan, Spain, France, Italy, Norway, Austria, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. In addition to its juicy international slate of over 50 films the four day event included panels, fabulous costume parties, fashion shows, and performance artists.
We are a mere two months away from Fantastic Fest 2010, September 23-30 in rockin’ Austin, Texas. This is also the location of the prestigious SXSW Film Festival, and readers of this blog know that my annual coverage of SXSW gushes with accolades for the venues there — arguably the best in America — the very same ones used for screenings at this festival.
I’ve described Fantastic Fest as more of a convention — a Comic-Con, if you will — as opposed to a conventional “film festival.”
In June 2009 I was pleased to announce that rising star Michael Welch (Mike Newton in The Twilight Saga) would be starring in Unrequited, the first feature from Jason Epperson, runner-up on the Steven Spielberg-produced Fox reality series On The Lot.
After coming in second among hundreds of would-be directors, Epperson searched for a script he could wrap his head around for his first film. He found it in Jeffrey Day and Tom Lockridge’s Unrequited, a psychological thriller about an 18-year-old (Welch) who snaps after a series of setbacks. Sarah Habel and David Keith co-star.
The 2010 Toronto International Film Festival begins exactly eight weeks from tomorrow. I’ve attended 47 film festivals since the start of 2006, but none as prestigious or breathtaking in scope as this one.
I saw over 105 films there from 2006-2009, and many of my Top Picks from all festivals over the past few years came from the Toronto lineup. This year’s festival runs from September 9-19 and is considered the top film festival in the Western Hemisphere, second in the world only to Cannes.
The World Premiere of The Runaways took place in January at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. I loved the film (see my review) and selected it as one of my Top 5 Picks.
The Runaways next played the SXSW Film Festival, followed by a brief limited run in North America (written about extensively on this blog). Now the film is set to be released in several overseas markets. Here is the official UK trailer from E1 Entertainment.
It’s always quite satisfying when one of my film festival Top Picks is acquired for distribution. It’s even nicer when a theatrical release date is actually set — not always a certainty even though a deal has been made.
And it’s especially rewarding when the film actually opens — also not necessarily guaranteed even after a release date has been announced. Trust me, I’ve been there. But the ultimate satisfaction comes from seeing that movie open not only to rave reviews but also to boffo box office.
Last week I posted my review and an exclusive clip from the Australian thriller Road Kill (formerly Road Train). This was actor Xavier Samuel’s final motion picture prior to becoming a household name after being cast as newborn vampire Riley in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.
Since last fall I’ve been reporting on the progress of the film’s road to distribution and the unique deal that distributor Lightning Media has with Fangoria Frightfest to release the film on DVD, Video On Demand (VOD), and as a digital download.
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