Freedom Film Festival 2004
Encouraging dialogue: the Freedom Film Festival, founded in 1997, presents a window on the experience of those who have lived under tyranny, and challenges us to reflect upon its effects. In Los Angeles: highlights include "Spirit of Sarajevo," a sidebar of work from South Eastern Europe; documentaries about Russia by Marina Goldovskaya; and programs about the former East Germany, with the Goethe Institut-Los Angeles. In Berlin, the 2004 Andrzej Wajda Freedom Prize went to Polish director Marcel Lozinski, and the Friends of the German Cinematheque's Arsenal Cinema screened a series of his documentaries.

The American Cinema Foundation and the L.A. Press Club

present a live blog event

THE INSIDE STORY: HOLLYWOOD AND THE MEDIA DECONSTRUCTED

In Los Angeles and live on line, on Saturday, May 29, 2004 at 7pm PDT, the ACF and the L.A. Press Club co-present two panels about non-conformist ideas in media: one with unusual Hollywood figures and one on new media and politics. Please join us and experience a congenial common meeting place on the new public airwaves.

Participants can attend the discussions at the AFI campus, or can log on and read and respond in real time from around the world. "This will be a Hollywood public meeting that you can 'attend' from your easy
chair--kind of like listening to KFWB in the late 1920s," says ACF Executive Director Gary McVey.

Hosting the event is journalist Cathy Seipp (currently seen in City Beat/Valley Beat). Free WiFi access on site will be provided by Bluegill Technologies. The live web broadcast will be from 7 to 11pm PDT, at
http://cathyseipp.journalspace.com.

Panel 1, "The Real Tinsel: Hollywood Insiders Take On Hollywood" features four men whose individualistic visions paint a different picture about the lives of film executives--no cookie cutters for these guys. Panelists are Andrew Breitbart, co-author of "Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon, the Case Against Celebrity" and Matt Drudge's righthand man; Rob Long, TV producer and author of "Conversations With My Agent;" Allan Mayer, head of the entertainment division at crisis P.R. firm Sitrick And Company and founding editor of Buzz magazine; and Mike Sullivan, a member of Paulist Productions board (ABC's "Judas") and former UPN programming president.

Panel 2 "The Real Story: L.A. Bloggers Take On Politics and the Media" features some of the most interesting and lively Los Angeles-based political commentators of the new 'blog' (weblog) generation, with NPR's Mickey Kaus (The Kausfiles), Roger L. Simon--former Marxist-screenwriter/mystery-novelist turned anti-terror-megablogger; Matt Welch, who blogs at his own site as well as on Reason magazine's Hit &
Run, and co-founder of the late, lamented L.A. Examiner; and Moxie, self-styled Los Angeles cynical-romantic (if Raymond Chandler were alive today, she'd be one of his characters).

SCHEDULE

7:00pm PDT Panel 1: Hollywood Insiders Take On Hollywood

8:30-9:30 pm Reception (reported live)

9:30-11pm Panel 2: L.A. Bloggers Take On Politics and the Media



Ninth Annual Screenwriting Competition (2003)
For eight years this themed, juried competition provided a unique opportunity for new voices to enter the mainstream. It sought to elicit scripts suitable for theatrical or television production which told positive stories about specific fundamental values, and about their importance to society. Since 2002, the market for 'spec' scripts has changed to such a degree that it is no longer possible to make the desired impact at this level. So, with much regret, we have decided to suspend holding the competition until further notice. Email the ACF if you would like to be notified about future competitions. Please check our Resources section for other screenwriting competitions and tools.

Freedom Film Festival 2003
The ACF co-hosted the Los Angeles premiere of Russian director Alexander Sokurov's "The Russian Ark" at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In Berlin the Andrzej Wajda Freedom Prize goes to Sokurov, and a series of his films screens at the Arsenal Cinema the week before the Berlin Film Festival. Los Angeles festival highlights include a panel hosted by journalist Catherine Seipp, about web loggers, and one hosted by exiled Iranian filmmaker Parviz Sayyad.

Saturday, February 22, 2003

Web Logs: Technology and Freedom in the 21st Century

Blogs-internet web logs-have become one of the hottest new developments in media. Until now, the media have always had gatekeepers, but now print and live video can be self-published from the desktop. Getting rid of the gatekeepers has expanded the range of political and cultural opinion in America while making it harder to know which sources can be trusted. Have we produced a nation of digital Thomas Paines or navel-gazers? L.A. journalist Catherine Seipp, whose early 90s media columns in Buzz Magazine are widely considered to be a precursor to this revolution, will host a panel of the West Coast's most prominent bloggers. Invited authors include Mickey Kaus, Ken Layne, Matt Welch, Kevin Drum, Emmanuelle Richard, Eugene Volokh, RiShawn Biddle, Luke Ford, and Heather Havrilevsky.

Eighth Annual Screenwriting Competition (2002)
Winner: Justin Swingle "White Shadows, Black Dreams"

Freedom Film Festival 2002
In Los Angeles, we honor some Berliners who have helped open our eyes to the East: film curators Erika and Ulrich Gregor; film journalists Dorothea Moritz and Ron Holloway; and filmmakers Volker Koepp and Manfred Durniok. Presented in partnership with the Goethe-Institut. In Berlin, the Andrzej Wajda Freedom Prize went to young German director Andreas Dresen.

Seventh Annual Screenwriting Competition (2001)
Winner: Dean J. Augustin "Father Eight"

Freedom Film Festival 2001
The Freedom Film Festival goes on the road, co-presenting programs of films with the Moscow International Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in the Czech Republic, and Festival East-West in Baku, Azerbaijan. Honorary Oscar recipient Andrzej Wajda presented the Andrzej Wajda Freedom Prize to Jan Svankmajer (Czech Republic). Svankmajer's new film "Otesánek" premieres at the FFF in Berlin and Los Angeles. In L.A., the opening-night film is "Sky Hook" (Yugoslavia) and screenings include a series of films by producer Peter Rommel.