The Global Film Village

Last Station Opens Palm Springs Film Festival 2010 Interviews

// January 8th, 2010 // Comments Off // Film Festivals

by Marla Lewin

Left to Right: Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren Photo taken by Stephan Rabold, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

I am at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and got to spend opening night interviewing the creative team responsible for this year’s opening night film. I had already seen The Last Station back in November in Los Angeles for the Tribute to Christopher Plummer so this was a wonderful opportunity to meet with these talented people. My first interview was with Bonnie Arnold the producer who secured the book that launched the project originally and assembled the team.

Marla: You may remember we met at the AFI screening in Los Angeles after the tribute to Christopher Plummer. We wrote about the film at that time and said that Helen would get a nomination for her performance. That was before the Golden Globes and now both she and Christopher Plummer were  nominated. (more…)

Marion Cotillard and Quentin Tarantino to be honored at Palm Springs Film Festival Gala

// December 29th, 2009 // Comments Off // Film Festivals

by Marla Lewin

The 21st Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Academy Award winners Marion Cotillard with the Desert Palm Achievement Actress Award and Quentin Tarantino with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award, named after the Festival’s founder. The Awards Gala will kick off the 2010 awards season on Tuesday, January 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Hosted by “Entertainment Tonight’s” Mary Hart, the Awards Gala will also honor Jeff Bridges, T Bone Burnett, Mariah Carey, Morgan Freeman, Anna Kendrick, Helen Mirren, Jason Reitman and Jeremy Renner.

Quentin Tarantino made a bold debut with Reservoir Dogs, a cops and robbers tale that Tarantino wrote, directed and produced on a shoe-string budget. Following the film’s success, the screenplays that Tarantino wrote during his tenure as a video store clerk became hot properties including True Romance and From Dusk Till Dawn. Tarantino co-wrote, directed and starred in Pulp Fiction, which won the Palme D’Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival, numerous critics’ awards and a Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. Pulp Fiction was nominated for seven Academy Awards® including Best Picture and Best Director, and Tarantino received an Academy Award® for Best Screenplay. Tarantino also wrote and directed Jackie Brown, Kill Bill Vol. 1and Kill Bill Vol 2. Tarantino will receive the Sonny Bono Visionary Award. His most recent film is Inglourious Basterds. (more…)

Last Station opens Palm Springs Film Festival

// December 17th, 2009 // Comments Off // Film Festivals

by Marla Lewin

Helen Mirren and James McAvoy Photo taken by Stephan Rabold, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

This year marks the 21st year of the 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF). Today Festival Director Darryl Macdonald said, “Our film line-up this year is a strong reflection of the current zeitgeist in world cinema. Sixty-seven first-time feature film directors will screen this year, representing a surge of new filmmaking talent on the world stage. In addition, we’ll showcase a vintage crop of new works by established masters, providing ample evidence of their storytelling prowess that has come of age over the last 20 years. The yin and yang of contemporary filmmaking are fully represented in this year’s edition of PSIFF.”

The Festival launches on Thursday, January 7 with Sony Pictures Classics’ The Last Station and wraps on Sunday, January 17 with independent comedy The Lightkeepers from New Films International. There are Galas, Premieres, a Modern Masters section and Special Presentation Programs with a total of 189 films from 70 countries will unspool at the Festival, running from January 7-18 in Palm Springs, California. (more…)

AWARD WINNERS LIST at 21st ANNUAL PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS GALA GROWS

// December 2nd, 2009 // Comments Off // Industry Event

by Marla Lewin

Helen Mirren Photo taken by Stephan Rabold, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

The 21st Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Academy Award winner Helen Mirren with the Career Achievement Award. Presented by Cartier, the Awards Gala will kick off the 2010 awards season on Tuesday, January 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center and will be hosted by “Entertainment Tonight’s” Mary Hart. The Festival runs January 5-18, 2010.

Mirren will join previously announced honorees Morgan Freeman, Mariah Carey and Anna Kendrick at the event. Morgan Freeman will be presented with the Career Achievement Award for Acting as well.

Mirren stars in the Sony Pictures Classic release The Last Station, (more…)

Canadian born and one of the world’s great actors, Christopher Plummer

// November 5th, 2009 // Comments Off // People

by Marla Lewin

Christopher Plummer as Doctor Parnassus Photo taken by Liam Daniel, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Christopher Plummer not only stars as a mystic who sells his soul to the devil in Terry GIlliam’s Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, but he plays Leo Tolstoy in the Last Station by Michael Hoffman.  He has also just finished his memoirs called “In Spite of Himself”.

Scott Foundas from the LA weekly, had just read the book, and was prepared to question the actor for the tribute. Plummer quiped the book was longer than Tolstoy’s War and Peace. The first question was what else could he have been, other than an actor?  Plummer replied, “A classical or jazz pianist. But to be successful in those professions. He decided one would have to like to work very hard, and that is a very lonely life, traveling all the time. He had a cousin who did that and it turned out to be a very lonely experience.” (more…)