By MCN Editor editor@moviecitynews.com

Darryl Macdonald to receive inaugural “Friend of International Cinema Award” from Cinema Without Borders

Posted Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 - Comments Off on Darryl Macdonald to receive inaugural “Friend of International Cinema Award” from Cinema Without Borders
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Burbank, California, May 3, 2012 – Today, Cinema Without Borders announced that Darryl Macdonald, Director of the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Short Film Festival & Film Market and Executive Director of the Palm Springs Film Society, will be the winner of the first Cinema Without Borders annual “Friend Of International Cinema Award”.

This new award goes to a person or an organization that helps promote international cinema in the  U.S.

“Darryl Macdonald, through years of working as a festival director, has been a true friend and ally of international cinema. Mr. Macdonald has introduced films from around the globe to many thousands of movie lovers. He has also created opportunities for both established and emerging international filmmakers to meet with audiences in order to connect and discuss their works. Through his many endeavors, Darryl has proved to be an invaluable champion of the finest in world cinema,” said Bijan Tehrani, Editor in Chief of Cinema Without Borders.

The award ceremony, made possible through collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute, will be held on May 10th at 7 PM at the Italian Cultural Institute, 1023 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles CA 90024.

“War,” an Italian short comedy film directed by Paolo Sassanelli, will be screened before the ceremony.  The film won Cinema Without Borders’ Best International Short Film Award at the 2010 Palm Springs International Short Film Festival & Film Market.

Following the screening, Iranian-American singer, Mamak Khadem will perform. The ceremony will conclude with speeches from guest speakers concerning Mr. Macdonald and the Award.

The event will include a reception featuring appetizers provided by Shaherzad Restaurant and Italian wine.

The following organizations have joined to support this event: Consulate General ofBelgium-Los Angeles, Consulate General of Finland-Los Angeles, Consulate General of Italy-Los Angeles, EGEDA U.S., Hollywood Brazilian Festival, Los Angeles Greek Film Festival, LA Irish Film Festival, Scandinavian Film Festival-LA, South East European Film Festival, LA & Ulmer Scale.

About Darryl Macdonald

Darryl Macdonald is the Director of the Palm Springs International Film Festival and the Palm Springs International ShortFest and Short Film Market. He is the co-founder of The Seattle International Film Festival, and was its Executive and Artistic Director from 1975 – 2003.

He served as the first Artistic Director of the Palm Springs Film Festival (1989 -1993) and the Hamptons Film Festival (1993 -1996) and was the Programming Director of the Vancouver International Film Festival (1988 -1992). He has also served as the Director of the Goodwill Games Film Festival, the Women in Cinema Festival and the Washington State Centennial Film Festival.

He has served on the Award Juries of several international film festivals and the Independent Spirit Awards. He has written articles on film and filmmaking for Variety Books, Reel News and the Hollywood Reporter, among other publications. He currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Documentary Channel, the International Film Festival Summit and is a Board member of the Seattle International Film Festival. Macdonald has been named a Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the Republic of France for his contributions to French Cinema, presented with a Distinguished Citizen Award by the Mayor of Seattle and Event Producer of the Year Award from the N.E.P.A.

About Cinema Without Borders:

Cinema Without Borders (CWB) is an online film magazine whose team of multi-national contributors highlights a broad selection of world cinema and emerging filmmakers. Drawing its strength from diverse communities of international filmmakers, film students, film festival organizers and film industry professionals, the Hollywood-based CWB offers a unique online platform for peer reviews and information about movies and film-related events.www.cinemawithoutborders.com

About the Italian Cultural Institute

The Italian Cultural Institute (IIC), Los Angeles, established in 1984 by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, houses in its premises an art gallery, a theater for screenings, lectures, conferences, and concerts, as well as a library that contains over 6000 volumes and is open to the public. The Institute organizes Italian language classes at different levels, taught by native speakers. Events are produced in collaboration with local institutions in order to present Italy in all its cultural complexity, in the fields of visual arts, architecture and design, music, cinema and theater, literature, science, fashion and gastronomy.

Our Sponsors:

ELMA (European Languages and Movies in America) is a Santa Monica based nonprofit organization dedicated to showcasing European movies. ELMA’s mission is to create new avenues for better cultural understanding between the people of Europe and the USA by celebrating alternative cinema.http://www.elma.org

The Annual Polish Film Festival Los Angeles is organized by the Polish American Film Society, a non- profit organization. The specific purpose of the Festival is to promote Polish cinema in Hollywood and educate and inform the American public about Poland and Polish culture and Polish history.  Every year the Festival presents feature and short films, documentaries and animations. The Festival was founded in 1999 by Vladek Juszkiewicz, who, until present, serves as its director.  www.polishfilmla.org

Shahrezad Restaurant features the very best and most authentic of Persian cuisine. Shaherzad food fits perfectly with today’s lightened eating style.  From a cultural point of view, Persian food has always been considered to be an art of providing enjoyment to body and mind.  Shahrzad Restaurant had been catering to numerous entertainment industries related events over the last decade.http://shaherzadrestaurant.com

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon