Palm Springs 2007

"Pan's Labyrinth", Mads Mikkelsen and Blanca Lewin
Honored by FIPRESCI

For thousands of years, the Coachella Valley was the home of the Agua Caliente Indian tribe. The first non-Indian settlers arrived in 1884 and Palm Springs, situated 170 km East of Los Angeles, soon became a favourite location for Hollywood stars and studios. Its desert provided a fine location, and its calm and placid microclimate made it a perfect residence. Once the home of more than one Hollywood celebrity (Frank Sinatra, who had a superb house there, has now a very own drive named after him, just like Bob Hope or Ginger Rogers), Palm Springs is also the host of a film festival which celebrated its 18th edition in 2007.

The theaters are filled with film lovers who can discover the best of the past year's international production. And for the glamour, the impressive Gala fills the city with Hollywood stars during the opening weekend: Sydney Pollack, Todd Field, Kate Winslet and the entire cast of Babel were among those who received honorary award this year.

The festival also offers a unique chance to see almost all the national submissions to the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film (55 of the 61 submissions were screened this year). It is from these nominees that FIPRESCI elects its first special award of the year: the Best Official Foreign Language Film. Since last year, our jury also awards a prize to the best actor and the best actress in the whole selection of these Oscar runners.

18th Palm Springs International Film Festival: January 4-15, 2007
Details of the FIPRESCI Prizes
The festival's website: www.psfilmfest.org

Reviews

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Norman Wilner reviews Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth — "a movie for grown-ups who remember what it was like to be a child".
All Things to Everyone. Dave Kehr encounters Lars von Trier's The Boss of It All — "There's a lot going on here for a movie that announces itself as a bagatelle".
Opposites Attract. Howard Feinstein considers the unlikely doppelgangers in Susanne Bier's After the Wedding — "one of the best films of last year".
Night Moves. Norman Wilner spends a little time "In Bed" and finds it "an eloquent and moving argument for elegant simplicity of a talking picture. With sex."
The Labyrinthine Road to the Oscars. Grégory Valens offers an overview of Palm Springs' "Awards Buzz" program, and its window into international Oscar campaigns.
The Verhoeven Case: Fascinating Fascism or Fascinating Fascia? Laszlo Kriston asks in his essay what do Leni Riefenstahl and Paul Verhoeven have in common ("Much more than you might think or what this article's title would suggest.") He comments the debate about whether Verhoeven himself is a Nazi in terms of values and ethics, and examines Verhoevens esthetics.

top