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Venice parallel section Giornate degli Autori (GdA), running alongside the main festival from August 30 to September 9, celebrates its 20th edition this year.

Partly modeled on Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, GdA (which is still often referred to by its initial name of Venice Days in English) was launched in 2004 as an alternative space for independent filmmakers to the star-studded, red-carpet focus of the main festival.

The compact 12-title inaugural edition featured Hubert Sauper’s feature-doc Darwin’s Nightmare, which was later nominated for an Oscar; This Is England director-writer Shaun Meadows’ fifth feature Dead Man’s Shoes and John Lvoff’s drama Now And Then, featuring Julie Depardieu in her first starring role.

Over the past 19 years, the event has expanded to include also special screenings, tributes and talks.

This year’s 10-title Competition line-up includes quirky Canadian teen vampire tale Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person; Moroccan road movie Backstage, Spanish adoption drama Foremost By Night,...

Joining Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival‘s online audience on Friday from his hotel room in Spain, Hubert Sauper – behind Oscar-nominated “Darwin’s Nightmare” – discussed his career and latest film “Epicentro,” also shown at the Czech event following its Sundance premiere. Born in the Austrian Tyrol in 1966, he also addressed his past.

“I was growing up in a place where the Third Reich wasn’t over, surrounded by old Nazis. Nobody was shouting ‘Heil Hitler!’ anymore, but these demons were still alive. I had to run away,” he said. “To think that all this had happened within this décor of “The Sound of Music”… Maybe that’s why I am always interested in strong contrasts? Now, I love going back. I was in Austria two days ago, at Viennale, and I just got a call that I have to come back for the closing night. I kind of know why,...

Congratulations to Wendy Lidell, whom we have known during her outstanding career spanning over 25 years, for being appointed as the Kino Lorber'snew Senior Vice President, Theatrical Distribution and Acquisitions.

As the head of Kino Lorber’s theatrical division, Ms. Lidell will oversee and manage all aspects of the company’s theatrical and non-theatrical slate, over 25 films per year, reporting directly to CEO Richard Lorber. Reporting to her are the company’s current team: Jonathan Hertzberg, Director of Theatrical Sales (who will continue to handle film bookings nationwide), Sylvia Savadjian, Director of Marketing, and Rodrigo Brandão, VP of Marketing and Publicity.

In addition to her new duties, Lidell will work directly with Richard Lorber to drive new business opportunities for the company, including identifying new content acquisitions and strategic growth areas.

She previously worked with Richard Lorber when he acquired International Film Circuit in 1998, to become the theatrical division of his company Fox Lorber. While at Fox Lorber, which later became Wellspring Media, Lidell released six to eight titles per year, including Alexander Sokurov’s "Russian Ark", François Ozon’s "Under the Sand", starring Charlotte Rampling, "Yi Yi“ by Edward Yang (named Best Film of the Year by the National Society of Film Critics), and "On the Ropes" (nominated for a documentary Academy Award).

After returning to International Film Circuit in 2004, Lidell released dozens of films, including "Don't Move," starring Penelope Cruz, "Darwin's Nightmare," which earned her a second documentary Academy Award nomination, and "Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, "which joined the elite group of documentaries that have grossed over $1 million theatrically. Other notable successes included "My Perestroika," "The Waiting Room," Nancy Spielberg’s "Above and Beyond" and "Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness."

“It’s a very happy opportunity for Kino Lorber and me, personally, to work with Wendy again,” said Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber. “She has distinguished herself as a brilliant forward thinking film executive and passionate entrepreneur in our challenging environment, regularly acquiring and bringing to screen films of exceptional quality and commercial promise. In all my earlier years working with her, she never disappointed me – while her eye for quality and intelligence of execution never failed her. We couldn’t be more pleased to have her lead our theatrical team into the future. “

“It will be an enormous pleasure to join the Kino Lorber team,” wrote Wendy Lidell. “There are few film companies that combine a passion for great cinema with the business acumen required to navigate the challenges of a rapidly changing distribution landscape. Together, I hope we can continue for many years to bring more great films to bigger and more diverse audiences.”

Current and upcoming released from Kino Lorber include Amos Gitai’s "Rabin, the Last Day, Jia Zhangke’s "Mountains May Depart," Jayro Bustamante's "Ixcanul," and "Sons My Brother Taught Me. "...

Read More: Watch: America is Anything But Friendly in Trailer for Sundance Winner 'We Come As Friends' Hubert Sauper, who garnered an Oscar nomination for 2005's "Darwin's Nightmare," discussed the making of his latest documentary "We Come as Friends" as part of the International Documentary Association's (Ida) screening series. The film, which won the Special Jury Prize for World Documentary at last year's Sundance Film Festival, was released earlier this year. The official synopsis for the powerful documentary reads: "'We Come as Friends' is a modern odyssey—a dizzying, almost science fiction-like journey into the heart of Africa. At the moment when Sudan, the continent's largest country, is being divided into two nations, an old "civilizing" ideology re-emerges—one of colonialism and a clash of empires—with new episodes of bloody (and holy) wars over land and resources. Acclaimed documentarian Hubert Sauper takes us on a voyage in.

Hubert Sauper, a Paris based filmmaker known for his searing eco-disaster exposé in Tanzania, Darwin's Nightmare (2005), continues to document the African continent in his new documentary, We Come As Friends. This time, he sheds light on the post-referendum era Sudan. And it is a damning indictment of new-old colonialism that casts shadows on every corners of the youngest country in the world - South Sudan. Sudan's decades long civil war claimed estimated 2.5 million lives and created the biggest humanitarian crisis since WWII. In the West, Sudan became synonymous with child soldiers, Lost Boys of Sudan and various Human Rights violations.After decades of the bloody conflict, South Sudan's Christian majority finally broke free from Khartoum's merciless Islamic government and voted resounding yes to the...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Read More: Reality Checks: Here's the Problem With Sundance's Documentary Programming After his mind-blowing 2005 documentary "Darwin's Nightmare," here comes another hard-hitting non-fiction feature by Hubert Sauper. The latest from the Oscar-nominated filmmaker, "We Come As Friends" explores the after-effects of South Sudan's independence, including an international interest in gaining the area's land and resources. Sauper traveled in a small, self-made aircraft throughout different locations to show the devastating results of the exploitation of Africa. He shows Chinese oil workers, Un peacekeepers, Sudanese warlords and American evangelists and their common interest in South Sudan. "We Come As Friends" won the Special Jury Prize in the World Documentary Category at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. The film will have its world premiere on August 14. Check out the trailer above.  Read More: The 12 Major Breakouts of the 2015 Sundance...

We Come as Friends premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Award for Cinematic Bravery. It won the Peace Film Prize at the Berlinale. The New York Times' Manohla Dargis called the documentary by Darwin's Nightmare creator Hubert Sauper a "surreal, moving, infuriating and persuasive argument that in South Sudan, there’s nothing post about colonialism." Truly, there is no nonfiction film quite like it, and even the word "nonfiction" doesn't do its personal, futuristic-essayistic ambitions justice. Given the emphasis on "newness" these days, it is already disappointingly off-the-radar until its eventual theatrical debut, but it will be worth the wait. It's a timeless piece that needs to be seen in full-screen format to be fully appreciated. In the meantime Fandor co-founder Jonathan Marlow spoke with filmmaker Hubert Sauper during the San Francisco International Film Festival last year.>> - Jonathan Marlow...

We Come as Friends premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Award for Cinematic Bravery. It won the Peace Film Prize at the Berlinale. The New York Times' Manohla Dargis called the documentary by Darwin's Nightmare creator Hubert Sauper a "surreal, moving, infuriating and persuasive argument that in South Sudan, there’s nothing post about colonialism." Truly, there is no nonfiction film quite like it, and even the word "nonfiction" doesn't do its personal, futuristic-essayistic ambitions justice. Given the emphasis on "newness" these days, it is already disappointingly off-the-radar until its eventual theatrical debut, but it will be worth the wait. It's a timeless piece that needs to be seen in full-screen format to be fully appreciated. In the meantime Fandor co-founder Jonathan Marlow spoke with filmmaker Hubert Sauper during the San Francisco International Film Festival last year.>> - Jonathan Marlow...

The phone rings with an invite to a special dinner at Chez Panisse tonight.  I'm on deadline, at home, hoping to finish a piece before I drive over to the first full day of the 57th Annual San Francisco Film Festival. I'm determined to make it in by the 3 p.m. screening of "We Come as Friends," by Hubert Sauper.   Alice Waters, it seems, met Sauper at the Berlin Film Festival in February, loved "We Come as Friends," and is hosting a dinner in his honor. "Yes, of course, thank you so much, I'll see you there."  I was entertained, engaged, and horrified by his witty, ironic, and moving "Darwin's Nightmare," Oscar-nominated for Best Documentary Feature in 2006, and winner of the 2006 Cesar for Best First Film, nominally about the voracious Nile perch, which took over Lake Victoria in central Africa, but actually about the pernicious effects of globalization.  "We Come as Friends...

From International Film Circuit, the distributor of the The Waiting Room, Emmy-winner Where Soldiers Come From, Peabody-winner My Perestroika, The Devil Came on Horseback and the Academy Award-nominated film Darwin's Nightmare, comes a new documentary release titled Sweet Dreams, a film by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Lisa Fruchtman and Rob Fruchtman. Sweet Dreams follows a remarkable group of Rwandan women, post the 1994 genocide, who collect to form the country’s first all-female drumming troupe and open the country's first ice cream parlor. Ingoma Nshya is Rwanda’s first and only all women’s drumming troupe. Made up of women from both sides of the 1994 Rwandan...

From International Film Circuit, the distributor of the The Waiting Room, Emmy-winner Where Soldiers Come From, Peabody-winner My Perestroika, The Devil Came on Horseback and the Academy Award-nominated film Darwin's Nightmare, comes a new documentary release titled Sweet Dreams, a film by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Lisa Fruchtman and Rob Fruchtman. Sweet Dreams follows a remarkable group of Rwandan women, post the 1994 genocide, who collect to form the country’s first all-female drumming troupe and open the country's first ice cream parlor. Ingoma Nshya is Rwanda’s first and only all women’s drumming troupe. Made up of women from both sides of the 1994 Rwandan...

It made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year, competing in the World Cinema Documentary category, and it now has an official USA theatrical release date, courtesy of International Film Circuit (the distributor of other topical, socially-relevant docs like The Waiting Room, Emmy-winner Where Soldiers Come From, Peabody-winner My Perestroika, The Devil Came on Horseback and the Academy Award-nominated film Darwin's Nightmare).  The feature documentary is titled Fire In The Blood, from director Dylan Mohan Gray, and is described as an intricate tale of "medicine, monopoly and malice," which follows an improbable...

It made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year, competing in the World Cinema Documentary category, and it now has an official USA theatrical release date, courtesy of International Film Circuit (the distributor of other topical, socially-relevant docs like The Waiting Room, Emmy-winner Where Soldiers Come From, Peabody-winner My Perestroika, The Devil Came on Horseback and the Academy Award-nominated film Darwin's Nightmare).  The feature documentary is titled Fire In The Blood, from director Dylan Mohan Gray, and is described as an intricate tale of "medicine, monopoly and malice," which follows an improbable...

It made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year, competing in the World Cinema Documentary category, and it now has an official USA theatrical release date, courtesy of International Film Circuit (the distributor of other topical, socially-relevant docs like The Waiting Room, Emmy-winner Where Soldiers Come From, Peabody-winner My Perestroika, The Devil Came on Horseback and the Academy Award-nominated film Darwin's Nightmare).  The feature documentary is titled Fire In The Blood, from director Dylan Mohan Gray, and is described as an intricate tale of "medicine, monopoly and malice," which follows an improbable...

It made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this year, competing in the World Cinema Documentary category, and it now has an official USA theatrical release date, courtesy of International Film Circuit (the distributor of other topical, socially-relevant docs like The Waiting Room, Emmy-winner Where Soldiers Come From, Peabody-winner My Perestroika, The Devil Came on Horseback and the Academy Award-nominated film Darwin's Nightmare).  The feature documentary is titled Fire In The Blood, from director Dylan Mohan Gray, and is described as an intricate tale of "medicine, monopoly and malice," which follows an improbable...

Hubert Sauper's Darwin's Nightmare Head-on, Javier Bardem, Imelda Staunton: European Film Awards 2004 European Film Academy Documentary – Prix Arte Aileen: Life And Death Of A Serial Killer by Nick Broomfield & Joan Churchill / UK * Darwin's Nightmare by Hubert Sauper / Austria / France / Belgium Die SPIELWÜTIGEN (Addicted to Acting) by Andres Veiel / Germany La Pelota Vasca, La Piel Contra La Piedra (Basque Ball, Skin Against Stone) by Julio Medem / Spain Le Monde Selon Bush (The World According to Bush) by William Karel / France Mahssomim (Checkpoint) by Yoav Shamir / Israel The Last Victory by John Appel / The Netherlands Touch The Sound by Thomas Riedelsheimer / Germany / UK / Finland European Film Academy Short Film – Prix Uip * Prix Uip Ghent: J'attendrai le suivant… by Philippe Orreindy / France Prix Uip Valladolid: Les Baisers des Autres by Carine Tardieu / France Prix Uip Angers: Poveste La Scara "C" by Cristian Nemescu / Romania Prix Uip Berlin: Un Cartus De Kent Si Un Pachet De Cafea...

Part 2: From Andrew Sachs to Harry Potter

Andrew Sachs Sent the Beeb into cautious compliance meltdown

If Manuel had bothered to pick up his phone, Ross and Brand wouldn't have been tempted to leave their naughty messages, the Daily Mail wouldn't have been able to work itself up into a hypocritical moralistic lather, thousands of people who'd never heard the original show wouldn't have rung in to complain, Russell Brand would still have his Radio 2 show instead of Alan bleedin' Carr, and the BBC wouldn't get all jumpy every time Frankie Boyle made jokes about the Queen's fanny. See Also The Satanic Slut

Steve Jobs Killed the album with his zero-attention-span 'apps'

It was supposed to be so easy. Get your CDs, rip them in to iTunes, put them on your iPod. Then, whenever a latent desire to listen to Reo Speedwagon arose you could sate it right away.

Sometimes superlatives need to be slung, such as when speaking of the richest, most ambitious and exciting decade yet for nonfiction film -- and, really, what other variety could back up that boast? To nail down a single doc as the preeminent work that typifies these years is no easy task, especially since the best of the bunch attacked specific subjects with laser-like precision and idiosyncratic techniques. (Sit tight, the lede is about to be buried.)

The '00s legitimized the allure of the "pop doc," a trend that shoehorns potentially lackluster material into glossy narratives. Spelling bees were transformed into suspense thrillers ("Spellbound"), quadriplegic rugby players did their own stunts ("Murderball"), tangoing kids got their dance-off ("Mad Hot Ballroom"), a reckless but beautiful feat of derring-do was reenacted like a heist procedural ("Man on Wire"), and a PBS-style nature film became a blockbuster saga of familial survival ("March of the Penguins"). Who'd have thought,...

Film-makers, musicians and more look back on their achievements and favourite works from the noughties

Kevin Macdonald, film director

Personally, it's been a fascinating decade. In the late 90s, I was struggling to make TV documentaries but work was drying up. I was a purist, with no interest in working with actors. I hated the idea of dramatic reconstructions because they look so cheesy. Then I worked with actors on Touching the Void and this led to dramatic features, though documentaries remain my first love.

The British film industry has always been about boom and bust. We start out with unrealistic optimism: "We're going to compete with Hollywood!" Then we have the collapse and the correction. We saw it with Alexander Korda in the 1930s, with Rank after the war, and with Gandhi in the 1980s. This decade it happened again.

The collapse of Film4 back in 2002 was part of this problem.

• Quick Links  Letters From Iwo Jima  The Queen  Children of Men The Los Angeles Critics Association picked their winners for 2006, and like the previously announced picks by the National Board of Review, it appears that this yearâ€.s clear fav is Letters From Iwo Jima. Also amongst the populist vote was The Queen â€. it picked up a no brainer best actress win for Helen Mirren, but also gave best supporting actor to Michael Sheen who did a great job at playing Tony Blair and a best screenplay for Peter Morgan â€. who manages to captivate the audiencesâ€. attention from first act to last fade out. Some other worthy mentions that may not be the consensus with other associations are the nods to the production value for the upcoming Children of Men and a big cred goes to L.A Critics for having the balls to pick Sacha Baron Cohen

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The indie blockbuster March of the Penguins is among the 15 documentaries that have made the cut for consideration for the best feature documentary Oscar at the 78th annual Academy Awards. The short-listed candidates -- drawn from 82 films that were eligible -- include After Innocence, The Boys of Baraka, Darwin's Nightmare, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Favela Rising, Mad Hot Ballroom, March of the Penguins, Murderball, Occupation: Dreamland, On Native Soil: The Documentary of the 9/11 Commission Report, Rize, Street Fight, 39 Pounds of Love and Unknown White Male, the Academy said Tuesday. Eligible documentaries were screened by the documentary branch screening committee, made up of members of the branch who serve on a volunteer basis. The above films were chosen after a preliminary round of screenings. The nominated films will be announced along with nominations in 24 other categories on Jan. 31. The Academy Awards will be presented March 5 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland, televised live by ABC.

The indie blockbuster March of the Penguins is among the 15 documentaries that have made the cut for consideration for the best feature documentary Oscar at the 78th annual Academy Awards. The short-listed candidates -- drawn from 82 films that were eligible -- include After Innocence, The Boys of Baraka, Darwin's Nightmare, The Devil and Daniel Johnston, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Favela Rising, Mad Hot Ballroom, March of the Penguins, Murderball, Occupation: Dreamland, On Native Soil: The Documentary of the 9/11 Commission Report, Rize, Street Fight, 39 Pounds of Love and Unknown White Male, the Academy said Tuesday. Eligible documentaries were screened by the documentary branch screening committee, made up of members of the branch who serve on a volunteer basis. The above films were chosen after a preliminary round of screenings. The nominated films will be announced along with nominations in 24 other categories on Jan. 31. The Academy Awards will be presented March 5 at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland, televised live by ABC.

• The Sydney Film Festival drew to a close on Saturday, capping it all off with the Australian premiere of the eagerly anticipated Howl's Moving Castle. Not only that but Saturday night marked the first time the festival awarded films based on audience votes in the Sydney Film Festival Urban Cinefile Awards. This is the first time such prizes have been awarded, and will hopefully boost the Sydney Film Festival's international standing. The winners were:In World CinemaBest Feature: Brothers (Directed by Susanne Bier) Best Short: Ryan (Directed by Chris Landreth) Best Documentary: Mad Hot Ballroom (Directed by Marilyn Agrelo) Side Bar Program: Best Feature: Blacktown (Directed by Kriv Stenders) (Australian) Best Short: Journey To Mars (Directed by Juan Palbo Zaramella) Best Documentary: Mad Hot Ballroom While the Sydney Film Festival is the place to find world cinema that quite often doesn't get distribution down here, it also provides itself as

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