Can't blame the coolest and most important film festival in the world for wanting to launch with a crackle and a bang. The festival in question is Cannes (but of course) and the so-called bang will be emanating from the George Miller-directed MAD MAX, FURY ROAD, which opens fest out of competition, as per the local protocol. Film was shot in Namibia and stars Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron and Nicholas Hoult.

The major league of film schools isn't a brick-and-mortar institution. It's an online platform where the best in student-made short filmmaking is put to the test and everyone is invited to watch, comment and share. About three years ago San Francisco-based public TV & radio station KQED came into some money and got into the student-made short film racket, with an aim to connect student filmmakers with festivals

The Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira died Thursday at the age of 106, as was announced by the producer Luis Urbano. Manoel de Oliveira was the world's oldest still-working filmmaker. Since the release of his first film in 1931 during the silent film era he shot more than fifty feature films and documentaries. His last three films were released between 2009 and 2012, “O Estranho Caso de Angélica,” (the strange

This year's Cannes Festival selection will be revealed during a press conference given in Paris on April 16th. At this time about a third of the contending films have been identified, according to the festival's general delegate (and programmer) Thierry Frémaux. A whopping 1,800 films have been submitted this year. "Everything happens in the next two weeks," Frémaux told the French National Assembly's Committee on Cultural Affairs on Wednesday here in Paris.

It's been a few days now since Sam Weisberg published his article about the rivalry between two men (a director, Abel Ferrara, and a distributor, Vincent Maraval) and the former's claims to artistic prerogative surrounding the production and subsequent U.S. release of the movie "Welcome to New York." I sent a link of Sam's article to Abel Ferrara, who had also received financing from Paris-based Wild Bunch

Ever since the “Twilight” franchise the label “vampire film” seems to invite derision or at the very least weariness, from viewers who believe that stories of vampires have long outstayed their welcome. And yet, regardless of the ambivalence towards vampire films there's no shortage of filmmakers willing to take a stab at them. The results run the gamut from the painfully mediocre to the prodigiously inventive.

Damian Chazelle’s opening is simple, economical, bursting with information. In short: powerful. Andrew, the story’s teenaged hero, is practicing alone at night at the world’s top music school. Enter Fletcher, the sole decision-maker on who gets to be a great jazz musician (a goal that is clearly and painfully central to our hero’s life). From the first scene, we know who our hero is, what his goal is, what he must do to get it