The Circuit

by Timothy M. Gray
You gotta love any fest that schedules "The Baader Meinhof Complex,"  "High School Musical 3,"  and Michael Cimino lecturing about dance sequences in movies.

The Rome Film Fest, running Oct 22-31, is spread throughout the city and one of the centers is the Auditorium,  at the site of the Olympic Village built for the 1960 Games. On a Sunday morning the place was buzzing, filled with something you don't see at every festival: "real" people. The fest takes care of the industry folk nicely, but one of its goals is to bring cinema to the locals. So you see families (there was a morning screening of the French-language "Magique" as part of the fest's sidebars of kids films), young couples, and adults of all ages mixing it up with industry types. A film festival for audiences: what a concept!

As I said, it's really smoothly run, which is especially impressive this year. The fest was begun two years ago by the former mayor, and Rome's newly elected mayor vowed to cancel this year's edition. The fest folk weren't sure until late summer if this event was a go. It's hard to pull a fest together in a 12 months so this gang gets high marks for doing it in a fraction of the time.

Rome itself is unique. You walk down any street and pass a leather shop, women's fashion store, 2,000-year-old ruin, restaurant ... You can see office workers sitting in excavated ruins, eating their lunch. It's pretty amazing for someone from Los Angeles, where a building from the 1920s is considered a historic landmark.

In the Olympic Village area are makeshift restaurants. There's also a fest shop where you can buy umbrellas, caps, sweatshirts and typical fest souvenirs. But this shop also offers something that should be mandatory at all fests: Red Bull.

One of the highlights of Rome these days is "Chromosomes," a project by David Cronenberg (pictured) at the city's prestigious Palazzo delle Esposizioni. Italian company Volumnia worked with the filmmaker for two years on the project which is presented in association with the fest. In a huge space, there are 60 blown-up frames from his films, printed on canvas. It's impossible to identify the film in most cases, which is the point. It's not intended to remind you of the movies but to create a cinematic experience in a new format. So there are shots of hands, feet, interiors, decay, fire, destruction... all of his obsessions. Every picture tells a story, as they say, and two small monitors show fragments of the films, while electronic music and Puccini play almost inaudibly. This is a totally original work and should find a home at other museums around the world.

On Oct 25, Scott Kirsner (gentleman, scholar and occasional contributor to Variety) presented "Innovation and the Cinema," a witty and fun look at the tech changes (and resistance to them) in the past 100-plus years. He used slides, posters, clips and quotes and included everything from Thomas Edison through YouTube, including Bing Crosby, William Castle, Walter Murch, Jack Valenti and the gang from "Monsters, Inc." Scott has a new book out, "Inventing the Movies," and the session made me want to read it. Shameless plug, I know, but his hour presentation was really fun.


Exterior photos by Timothy M. Gray, Cronenberg photo by Elisabetta Villa/Wireimage.com.

Nick Vivarelli has news from Rome that not only will David Cronenberg and Michael Cimino attend, but that Jon Avnet's "Righteous Kill" - starring Pacino and De Niro - is expected to unspool in Rome, not Venice.

...sources say "Righteous Kill," which had been tipped for the Lido, is now Rome-bound to best boost its October Italo launch via local distrib 01 Distribuzione. Talent for the thriller is, of course, expected, though at this stage it’s premature to say whether it will be De Niro, Pacino, or both. De Niro has previously been a Rome guest.

Cronenberg will be in town for an art show called "Cromosomes" comprised of his pic stills.

You may have missed this among the holidays, but Nick Vivarelli has a report on Rome moving their dates closer to Venice. 

Rome is abandoning its customary mid-October start in favor of a Oct. 2 kickoff for its 2008 edition, in a move expected to re-ignite tensions between Italy’s two high-profile events.

And since that could put it within a month of Venice, the fest is pissed. 

New Venice Biennale topper Paolo Baratta has reportedly fired off a peeved missive to Rome fest officials asking for clarifications.

The drama between these two fests keeps building.  And with all the ego, money, and tradition involved, expect it to get worse.

In an article for Variety's weekly, I tackle the glut of film festivals:

At the fourth annual Intl. Film Festival Summit in Las Vegas last week, fest honchos huddled together in panel sessions with names like "Creating a Sustainable Festival," showing a sense of camaraderie, friendliness and mutual support.

But then, most attendees there were new to the game. Among veteran fest programmers and execs, it's more a case of strong rivalries, poaching and a secret desire that their compatriots would disappear in a puff of smoke.

Competition among film fests has always been sharp, but it's become cutthroat as fests proliferate, with literally thousands of them vying for world premieres, stars and, crucially, sponsors. If the films are good, it's almost a bonus.

The piece also touches on a growing controversy amoung fest execs - rising distributor and sales agents fees. 

Full piece here.

by Addie Morfoot
Jason Reitman's "Juno" took home the second annual Rome Film Festival's top prize on Saturday. Teen pregnancy comedy was a favorite among audiences at both the Telluride and Toronto film fests this past September but Rome's kudo marks the films' inaugural best pic award. Last week "Juno" scribe Diablo Cody (pictured in Telluride) took home Hollywood Film Festival's breakthrough screenwriter of the year kudo while pic's thesp Ellen Page received the breakthrough actress nod.

The public jury, made up of moviegoers from Italy and elsewhere in Europe and presided over by helmer Danis Tanovic ("No Man's Land"), judged fest's in-competition films. They presented a Special Jury prize to Abolfaz Jalili's "Hafez" while thesp nods went to Chinese actress Jiang Wenli for "Li Chun" ("And the Spring Comes") and Croatian actor Rade Serbedzija for  "Fugitive Pieces."

The red carpet oriented festival also honored non-competition films including Sean Penn's "Into the Wild," which received the top nod in the fest's Premiere section category while Silvio Soldini's "Giorni E Nuvole" ("Days and Clouds") garnered a special mention. Giuseppe Battiston ("La Giusta Distanza") received the best Italian performer kudo while Anna Broinowski's "Forbidden Lie$" and Sean Fine and Andrea Nix-Fine's "War/Dance" took home documentary prizes.

by Joe Leydon
Veteran character actor Robert Davi ("The Goonies," "Licence to Kill") thought the hard part was behind him when he wrapped shooting on "The Dukes," his debut effort as a feature director. He didn't fully appreciate how many hurdles he'd have to clear until he was just another indie filmmaker jockeying for position on the festival circuit.

Davi now admits he was "naïve" about the whole process of submission, expectation and rejection before he started shipping out DVDs of "The Dukes," his feel-good ensemble dramedy about former members of a '50s doo-wop group (including Davi and co-star Chazz Palminteri) who turn to crime to fund their comeback.

"The movie wasn't completely finished in time for Sundance," Davi says, "so I understood them passing on it. But some of these other festivals... Oh, man. I mean, I really believe they look at these DVDs for about 30 seconds, and then fast-forward to somewhere else on the disc, for the whole course of the thing. And then they reject it."

He was especially stung by the turndown he received from Austin's SXSW festival: "They were very curt. I mean, let me put it this way: There was no simpatico for the filmmaker." Rejections by other festivals, including Toronto and Nashville, were less scarcely less disappointing.

"What I find with a lot of the larger festivals is, the fix is really in," Davi says. "I mean, I don't know if that's true or not, but that seems to be my experience.

"And what I learned is that it's not about the film, really. It's about the sales rep or the agency that's involved with the film from the beginning, that positions that film in those major festivals. Or, there's a studio involved. So that the truly independent film will - even it's terrific - get one of the most difficult... Well, it isn't on merit alone."

"'The Dukes' is a totally independent film. And the fact that we got into Rome without having any of that other stuff, that kind of shows you how good it is."

After showcasing at festivals in Houston, Newport Beach and Palm Beach, "The Duke" was screened this week at the Rome Film Festival -- "Right alongside the movies by Coppola and Redford," Davi proudly notes (pictured with Peter Bogdanovich).

"The people running the Rome Festival, they absolutely responded to the picture. The right person, or the right people, saw it. Piera Detassis, who's the editor of Ciak, the major film magazine in Italy, saw the film and became a champion of it. And that's what it takes sometimes." 

Don't misunderstand: Davi isn't bitter. (Well, OK: That's his story, and he's sticking to it.) He thinks he may be close to landing a theatrical distributor for "The Dukes." He claims he'll put his festival-circuit experiences to good use on his next project, a feature he's currently scripting.

And, no kidding, he actually has sympathy for the festival gatekeepers who labor to separate wheat from chaff.

"Some of these festivals, I'm sure, are getting around 5,000 submissions every year. Their guys probably bring home a couple dozen films in a paper bag, and then watch them over a weekend.

"But, you know, who the hell can watch all that?"


Read Joe Leydon's Variety review of "The Dukes" here.

by Addie Morfoot
In its second year, Rome Film Festival has maintained its reputation for seat-of-the-pants organizing and operating style.  While locating the press credential office took about a half hour and obtaining the pass only took two minutes, determining whether or not a ticket was needed for press screenings and conferences was a major ordeal. Neither the fest information desk, the press office staff or the security guards seemed to have any answers in English or Italian.

Finally a member of the foreign press informed a crowd of confused journalists that tickets were only needed for press screenings, not press conferences, which led to an hour and a half wait for the few screening vouchers that remained. (By Saturday, a total of 42,000 tickets had been distributed for various screenings and events.)

Once that wait was over and jet lag had fully set in it, I used my credentials to get a discount at a nearby tasty Italian restaurant and to secure a seat at Friday's press conference for the Premiere section opener, "Elizabeth The Golden Age," featuring Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, helmer Shekhar Kapur and producer Tim Bevan.

While waiting in the Petrassi auditorium I heard the tail end of  "24" creator-producer Joel Surnow's press Q&A. Although not at the fest with a film, Surnow did reveal that "the plan is to make the (Fox) show into a movie after the series ends."

Seats began to fill towards the end of Surnow's chat and just before Blanchett, Rush, Kapur and Bevan took the stage.

Initially the crowd asked the "Elizabeth" cast a slew of questions concerning the making of the film, including how Rush and Kapur convinced Blanchett to do the role,  "I knew Geoffey was interested and Shekhar kept talking about it," Blanchett said. "So I said what's the story about? And once I began to see this fantastic story come to life, I was in."

After the filmmaking questions ended, the cringe-worthy ones began. 

When Blanchett was asked if as a famous actress felt the same confinement Elizabeth felt as a queen and if she expected an Oscar for the part, Blanchett wisely put an end to the inquiry with a quick "No and no."

Shortly after when asked who she would like to portray in the current Royal English family, the actress again rapidly put an end to the inane query by answering, "Harry. Although I think I might have missed my opportunity."

On Sunday, during the press conference for "Rendition" with Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, director Gavin Hood and writer Kelley Sane, Gyllenhaal actually confronted a member of the audience about a question regarding the director's decision to hire the ever-pleasant Meryl Streep in a ruthless role. Before Hood could respond, Gyllenhaal used his mic to inform the man that "that may be the stupidest question that I have ever heard." Hood quickly interjected with a gracious, drawn out explanation on his decision to cast Streep. Witherspoon, who looked jet lagged and not in the mood for yet another press Q&A, seemed happy when the 45-minute session was finally over.

Blanchett, Witherspoon and Gyllenhaal have not been the only marquee talent seen during the fest's first four days.  On Saturday night Francis Ford Coppola made a big splash when his first helming project in 10 years, "Youth Without Youth" preemed. Helmer posed on the red carpet outside the fest's main auditorium with daughter Sofia Coppola and cast members including Tim Roth and Alexandra Maria Lara. The night before, Sophia Loren also hit the carpet on fest's Opening Ceremony Concert and Tribute To Loren.

Despite the initial confusion and lack of screening tickets, there is little to complain when it comes to Rome fest.  After all the festival is in the Eternal City. So no matter how frustrated one may get, some of the best food and wine is just down the street.

by Addie Morfoot
After Saturday’s mixed reaction to Rome Film Festival press screening of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Youth Without Youth,” the helmer’s first film in a decade, the acclaimed director publicly asked the press and general audiences, prior to the pic’s world premiere later that day, to restrain from having any definitive conclusions about the film until they saw it more than once.

The highly anticipated Coppola project is his first film since 1997’s “The Rainmaker.”

Pic stars Tim Roth (pictured with Coppola) is a story about a 70-year-old Romanian professor of linguistics who miraculously becomes younger after being struck by lightning.

Helmer stated at a press conference just hours before the world premiere that "I don't think artists can make films worried about what the immediate reaction is; they can only hope that perhaps the audience will find them interesting. I think we should be tolerant of artists who want to break new ground, and not require them to make gangster films all their lives," he went on to add, drawing a burst of applause.

Editor's note:  Read Variety's review of "Youth Without Youth" here, by Jay Weissberg.