OSCAR®-NOMINATED "NO END IN SIGHT" TO BE SHOWCASED ON YOUTUBE™ DURING HEIGHT OF THE 2008 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

DIRECTOR CHARLES FERGUSON TO MAKE HIS AWARD-WINNING DOCUMENTARY ACCESSIBLE AD-FREE AND UNINTERRUPTED ONLINE FROM SEPTEMBER 1 TO NOVEMBER 5
 
No End in Sight, Academy Award® nominee for Best Documentary Feature and winner of the Documentary Special Jury Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, the first film of its kind to examine the American policies that sent Iraq spiraling into a civil war, will also be the first widely released feature film to screen in its entirety on YouTube™, starting on September 1 and continuing through the 2008 presidential election on Tuesday, November 4. The film will be featured on its own YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/noendinsight) and available to anyone with a computer and high-speed Internet connection, as well as via the YouTube service on broadband-connected TiVo® Series3™ or TiVo HD DVRs, which enables subscribers to watch the myriad content of YouTube on their televisions. No End in Sight is being made available free to the public to reveal the facts about the Bush Administration's invasion and occupation of Iraq to voters concerned with the issues of national security and the adverse economic impact of the war when making decisions in this crucial election.
 
No End in Sight condenses and clarifies the murky decisions made before and after the invasion and is invaluable to the public’s understanding of what went wrong. The film is both an analysis of an ill-conceived war and a plea to consider the impact of future military actions. According to the film's director, Charles Ferguson, he underwrote the exhibition of the film on YouTube because "I wanted to make the film, and the facts about the occupation of Iraq, accessible to a larger group of people. My hope is that this will contribute to the process of making better foreign policy decisions moving forward, in Iraq and elsewhere. During this election year, it’s important to examine the leadership mentality and policies that caused Iraq to descend into such a horrific state that after 4,000 American deaths, at least a quarter million Iraqis killed, 4 million refugees, and over $2 trillion spent, Iraq remains in a state of near collapse."
 
Produced by Representational Pictures and released theatrically by Magnolia Pictures in 2007 and currently available on DVD, No End in Sight is a jaw-dropping, insider’s tale of the ignorance, incompetence and blind ambition that ensnared the U.S. in a war without a post-invasion plan. In the film, high ranking officials tasked with rebuilding Iraq, such as former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage; Ambassador Barbara Bodine; Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, who served as Chief of Staff for Secretary of State Colin Powell; and General Jay Garner, who was in charge of the occupation in early 2003, recount principal errors in U.S. policy that opened the door to the insurgency and chaos that engulf Iraq today. From insufficient troop numbers to secure the country to alienating the Iraqi people, No End in Sight details how a swift military victory descended into a quagmire. 
 
A noted author and foreign policy expert turned first-time filmmaker, Ferguson was prompted to make No End in Sight after discussing the worsening situation in Iraq with some of his foreign affairs colleagues. A month in Baghdad, dozens of interviews and one five-hour rough cut later, the film world-premiered to critical praise at Sundance and was awarded the Special Documentary Jury Prize "in recognition of the film as timely work that clearly illuminates the misguided policy decisions that have led to the catastrophic quagmire of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.” Ferguson is a former technology entrepreneur who sold his company, Vermeer Technologies, to Microsoft in 1996. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. A visiting scholar at MIT and University of California, Berkeley, Ferguson is the author of four books: High Stakes, No Prisoners: A Winner's Tale of Greed and Glory in the Internet Wars; Computer Wars: The Post-IBM World; The Broadband Problem: Anatomy of a Market Failure and a Policy Dilemma and most recently No End In Sight: Iraq's Descent into Chaos, the full investigative record behind the award-winning film, published in early 2008 by PublicAffairs Books.

WOW!

A member of the Moving Pictures family is hitting the boards in Los Angeles this weekend!

Marshall McClean (Sordid Lives, Prayers for Bobby and those hi-larious Home Depot commercials) is "work-shopping" a play this weekend — August 1-3. That's right, it starts TONIGHT. I hope you can make it!

The play is Cindy Lou Johnson's Brilliant Traces. And... it's FREE.

LOCATION: 8801 Cashio St., Los Angeles, California 90035
(Here's the location via map.)

Enter the theater via the double doors behind the building.  You'll find there is ample parking there.

Each performance will start at 8 p.m., doors opening at 7:30.  The play runs about 1 hour, 30 minutes.

So… You've already seen Dark Knight, and The Mummy franchise doesn't take your fancy, so head out for some FREE theater.

If you're still making up your mind, the quick logic is that Cindy Lou Johnson received special thanks on Pulp Fiction — so it must be good! It's so simple, it's genius.

Finally, it seems that Washington has been listening to calls from the masses for an apology to slavery and the Jim Crow laws that bound the U.S. to a history of barbarism.

Screen legend Kirk Douglas wrote for Moving Pictures magazine's Summer issue (“A Matter of Respect”) to add his voice to those calling for an official apology and a monument of remembrance, and the movement seems to have now gained momentum. CNN reported today that "the House of Representatives was poised Tuesday to pass a resolution apologizing to African-Americans for slavery and the era of Jim Crow." The first time that the federal government has ever apologized for slavery.

Slowly but surely... slowly but surely. Here's to more done more quickly. Here's to governments taking responsibility for their human rights records. Here's to reinstituting the faith a people have for its nation's identity as a dreamweaver, a place of opportunity for all.

They asked me to come down to Reelzchannel to chat about the transformation of the Joker over the years. Check out the clip they put together – click HERE.

I cannot remember this much excitement for a movie from so many different types of movie fans - I'm checking it out on IMAX tonight and have been attempting to ignore the trailers so that every experience on the super-huge screen will be a first. There's no doubt this will be a knight to remember (sorry, couldn't resist!).

Biggest weekend ever???

G.J. Echternkamp's documentary Frank & Cindy screened at Seattle's True Independent Film Festival the other night. Reminiscent of Albert Maysles's Grey Gardens for its culturally poignant but incredibly strange subject personalities (the unlikely combination of Echternkamp's mother and former ’80s OXO band-member step-father), the personal relationship of the filmmaker to those before the lens also gives the film its personal-yet-tragic and particular insight. In that regard, Frank & Cindy provides some of the uncomfortable viewing experience borne from the intimate relationship being shared with the audience, and ultimately provides a cinematic experience similar to Jarecki's masterpiece, Capturing the Friedmans. This is a family exposing its secrets to those in the seats. That there is love in their peculiar family unit is unquestionable, but there are also many lies. And we, as the audience, looking through the eyes of the person most often lied to, are privileged to feel the pain/laughter. On a cultural level, that Echternkamp sought to film the chaos inherent in his world is also alarming, and entirely on par with the process of today's filmmaker provocateurs.

You can still catch the film at the Seattle's True Independent Film Festival: 

Wednesday, June 11th at 7pm
Capitol Hill Arts Center.
Seattle.

There's more information about the film at www.frankandcindy.com

The official Jury of this 61st Fesival de Cannes, presided over by Sean Penn, revealed the Prize winners during the closing Ceremony, and Édouard Baer hosted Robert de Niro on the stage of the Grand Théâtre Lumière to award the Palme d’Or to the best film among the 22 in Competition. The festival closed with the screening of Barry Levinson’s What Just Happened?, with Robert De Niro, Sean Penn and Bruce Willis.

ALL THE 2008 AWARDS
In Competition – Feature Films
Palme d'Or: Entre le murs (The Class) by Laurent Cantet

Grand Prix: Gomorrah (Gomorra) by Matteo Garrone (see MPM’s film review) 

Prize of the 61st Festival de Cannes ex-aequo:
Catherine Deneuve for Un conte de Noel (A Christmas Tale) by Arnaud Desplechin (see MPM’s film review) 
Clint Eastwood for L’Échange (The Exchange)

Award for the Best Director: Üç maymun (Three Monkeys) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (see MPM’s film review) 

Jury Prize: Il Divo by Paolo Sorrentino

Best Performance for an Actor: Benicio Del Toro for Che by Steven Soderbergh (see MPM’s film review) 

Best Performance for an Actress: Sandra Corveloni for Linha de passe by Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas

Award for the Best Screenplay: Le silence de Lorna (Lorna’s Silence) by Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne (see MPM’s film review) 

In Competition – Short Films
Palme d'Or: Megatron by Marian Crisan

Jury Prize: Jerrycan by Julius Avery

Caméra d’Or
Hunger by Steve McQueen (Un Certain Regard)

Mention Spéciale Caméra d'Or
Vse umrut a ja ostanus (They All Die Except Me) by Valeria Gaï Guermanika (Semaine Internationale de la Critique)

Un Certain Regard
Un Certain Regard Prize: Tulpan by Sergey Dvortsevoy

Jury Prize: Tokyo Sonata by Kurosawa Kiyoshi

Heart Throb Jury Prize: Wolke 9 by Andreas Drese

The Knockout of Un Certain Regard: Tyson by James Toback

Prize of Hope: Johnny Mad Dog by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire

Cinefondation
First Cinéfondation Prize: Himnon (Hymne) by Elad Keidan (The Sam Spiegel Film and TV School, Israël)

Second Cinéfondation Prize: Forbach by Claire Burger (La fémis, France)

Third Cinéfondation Prize:
Stop by Park Jae-ok (The Korean Academy of Film Arts, Corée du Sud)
Kestomerkitsijät (Road Signs) by Juho Kuosmanen (University of Art and Design Helsinki, Finlande)

I’m grabbing a few more minutes online before leaving Cannes for home. It’s been exhilarating and exhausting, and excitement still soars…

…We just found out that the FIPRESCI (Federation Internationale de la Presse Cinematographique) jury awarded their "Prix De La Critique Internationale Festival de Cannes 2008" to the following films:
- in the official competition - Delta (dir. Kornel Mundruczo) (MPM’s Ron Holloway called it a “frontrunner” in his review) (Click HERE to see all his other insightful reviews.)
- in the Un Certain Regard section - Hunger (dir. Steve McQueen) (mentioned in my two previous Cannes blogs)
- in the Directors' Fortnight section - Eldorado (dir. Bouli Lanners)

The business of Cannes is alive and well. Recent announcements of the last 48 hours include:

HARVEY WEINSTEIN
Harvey held a press conference at the Majestic Beach to announce The Weinstein Co's acquisition of Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist.

Said Paulo Coelho: "I am very happy that my book will be filmed in the way I intended it to be and I hope the spirit and simplicity of my work will be preserved.  I am excited my friend Laurence Fishburne and Harvey Weinstein will be working together."

Talk about a long time coming - Coelho's book rights were bought by Warner Bros. about a decade ago and the project has been the subject of many rumors ahead of this long-gestating, long-awaited announcement.

STEVE MCQUEEN
Steve McQueen's first film about the 1981 hunger strike at the Maze prison in Ireland,  Hunger, has played to acclaim here as the opening night selection of the Un Certain Regard section of the Festival.

Earlier in the month, Icon Entertainment International (i.e. Mel Gibson & Bruce Davey) announced they would be bringing the film to Cannes, and the early sale of the film to several territories has Pathé snapping up the major UK/Ireland distribution.

EMILIO FERRARI
Emilio Ferrari (Baby on Board, Luckytown) has signed on to produce the drama WACO under his production company A Plus Productions. WACO tells the story of the 1993 U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives attempted arrest of Branch Davidian leader David Koresh and the subsequent 51-day FBI siege near Waco, Texas, in which 4 ATF agents, Koresh and 76 of his followers, including 21 children, died. Joining with Ferrari as producers will be Rupert Wainwright and Lee Nelson’s Breathless Films.
 
WACO, budgeted at $30 million dollars, will be directed by Wainwright (Stigmata, The Fog). Wainwright also serves as one of the film’s writers, along with James Hibberd. Mike McNulty, who produced the 1997 documentary, Waco: The Rules of Engagement, will co-produce. Ferrari’s Entertainment 7 has acquired worldwide rights to the film. Shooting is set to begin in October. Casting is currently underway through Cathy Sandrich (August Rush, The Kingdom, The Fugitive, Patriot Games). Ferrari’s next film project is the $15 million drama For Love Alone, which begins shooting in August.

A couple of days in (with lost luggage now found). Things are shaping up quite interestingly for the Cannes festival-goers. Unlike years past, when I hopped from screening to pr