Sound and Cinema, Cinema with No Sound, and Chilling Screams!!! (April 2003) The 19th Festival of the Fantastic Film will take place in Amsterdam between April 10th and 16th at the Bellevue Cinerama (Filmmuseum), Calypso, and Melkweg Cinema. Scheduled among the bloody treats this year are a program of "Anime" (Japanese animation films), The (well-established) "Night of Terror" (with four premieres this time around), a Jesus "Vampyros Lesbos" Franco retrospective, a series of short films, one symposium, several talk shows, a children's version of the Fantastic Film Festival (corrupt 'em while they're young) and the "Rocket Cinema" (if you're spooky enough to like "live" music). "Rocket Cinema" will be screening the classic '77 Dario Argento film "Suspiria" this year. The "Night of Terror" will also take place in Groningen. All four films screened during this "Night of Terror" offer an encounter with the undead, so if you're not sheltering in the "safety" of the cinema, make sure you lock your doors at home before you go to sleep. Anime films scheduled include: "Akira", "Appleseed", "Cowboy Bebop", "Ghost in the Shell", "Metropolis", "Patlabor 1: the Movie", "Perfect Blue", "Princess Mononoke", "Roujin z", "Spirited Away", and "A Tree of Palme". The Jess Franco Retrospective includes: "The Awful Dr. Orloff", "The Bare Breasted Countess", "Blue Rita", "Bram Stoker's Count Dracula", "The Castle of Fu Manchu", "Downtown", "Greta, the Mad Butcher", "Incubus" (with Klaus Kinski), "Midnight Party", "Sadisterotica", "She Killed in Ecstasy", and "Venus in Furs". Carles Prat's and Manel Mayol's documentary "Call Him Jess" about director Franco will also be screened. And ,"Oyame! Oyame!", the Spanish contingent of dignitaries roaming around the festival halls (also taking part in this year's symposium) is large, including director Jess Franco, director Jaume Balaguer, director Denis Rovira Van Boekholt, producer Raul Daz, actress Lina Romay. Notable on the list of guests is director/producer Brian Yuzna who has begun a production program in Spain during the past few years. Other names? Director producer Lloyd Kaufman (from those creepy Troma moments) will naturally be supporting one of his very favorite festivals. And Miss T, star of Miss Ts Teaserama from Hollywood, USA, will also be bouncing her stuff around the Leidseplein. (Are you ready, boys?) Thomas Jane in Castle Rock Entertainment's and Village Roadshow Pictures' science fiction/horror film "Dreamcatcher", distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures © 2002 Warner Bros. Feature films this year include: "28 Days Later", "All the Love You Cannes", "Apocalypse Soon", "Beyond Re-animator", "Dark Water", "Dead or Alive: Final", "Deathwatch", "Equilibrium", "Eternal Blood", "The Evil Dead", "The Eye", "Fausto 5.0" (with the wonderful Fura del Baus boys). "The Gathering", "The Grudge", "House of 1000 Corpses", "The House of the Dead", "Intacto", "Killing Words", "May", "My Little Eye", "Second Name", "Ted Bundy", "They're Watching Us" and "Versus". The opening film will be Jaume Balaguer's "Darkness" and the closing film will be Lawrence Kasdan's filmed version of Stephen King's "Dreamcatcher". Following the closing film (at the Filmmuseum Cinerama) there will, naturally, be a party beginning at 23:00 and going on until the dead come home. The Youth Program includes the following features: Waldemar Dzikis's "De Jonge Magir", Staffan Gtestam's "Karlsson Duimpje", Alfonso Cuaron's "De Kleine Prinses", Peter Flinth's "Oog van de Adelaar", Rachel Olm's "Zaai" and Roberto Begnini's "Pinocchio" Also planned among the various children's festivities on Saturday afternoon April 12th, Sunday afternoon, April 13th, and Wednesday afternoon, April 16th, is a Medieval feast during which stories will be told by candlelight and children are allowed to mix their own demonic drinks as well as build houses of gingerbread. Watch out, Hansel and Gretel! There will also be supplies to make swords, crowns and magic wands. Among short films on display are "Chambre Jaune", "Roadkill", "7337", "Mystic Yoghurts", "Un Oiseau Dans le Plafond", "Dialing the Devil", "Duivels Licht", "Der Schlangemann", "Nachtbijter", "La flamme", "Dans la Nuit", "O Decimo Punhal", and "Whistle". DVD-presentations will be screened of the popular TV-series "Babylon 5" en "V" (the latter featuring Beastmaster star Marc Singer) as well as the feature films "Below" (David Twohy, VS 2002) and "Saint Sinner" (Joshua Butler, VS 2002). Tickets can also be reserved by telephone at Filmmuseum Cinerama: (020) 6237814 (from 17:00 tot 22.00 daily), the Melkweg Cinema: (020) 5318181 (from 9.30 tot 19.30 daily) or at the Pathé Groningen: (050) 5844050 (from 12:00 tot 22.00 daily). Want to know more? Check information at www.filmevents.nl. "Deaf in the Picture" is a brand new film and video festival that centers on historical as well as contemporary images formed of the deaf community. It takes place from April 10th till 13th at "Het Ketelhuis" cinema and "Kantine West" in Amsterdam as well as having a smaller event running at "Cinemec" in Ede, Holland. Such classic films as "The Miracle Worker" and "Children of a Lesser God" will be screened alongside newer productions as "Breaking the Silence", "Stille Liebe", "I Love You", and "Sur Mes Levres". Most interesting of all, perhaps, is a series of short films made by deaf filmmakers and included under the section of the festival titled "New Deaf Cinema". Through this series of screenings, viewers are made aware of the search for a potential alternative to established cinema and the relevance of film to, for, and by the deaf. A series of specially organized debates have also been arranged in connection with the festival. The opening evening will present the premiere of "Growth, a Film Poem in Sign Language", a 5-minute project which compares the development of man to the changes created by the seasons, has been composed by the deaf poet Wim Emmerik with two non-deaf filmmakers Leendert Pot and Anja Diddinga. Poet Emmerik reflects, "For many years I have written poems and performed them. Film offers an opportunity to add extra dimensions to poetic expression. By working with close-ups, different camera angles and playing with light, for example, the creation of a film-poem has enabled us to achieve new forms." This film will be screened at the opening (April 10th, 20:00) as well as on April 11th (17:45), 12th (20:00), and 13th (11:00). Further information can be found at www.ketelhuis.nl. The Netherlands Filmmuseum opens the first edition of their Biennial this month on April 23rd. Thematically, this initial year centers upon the silent film and its musical accompaniment using the title of "See the Sound, Hear the Image". Taking place at several locations (Filmmuseum, Filmuseum Cinerama, Concertgebouw, Paradiso, Tuschinski, and Institute for Media Art Montivideo), the series will include screenings of such rare items as "Zeemansvrouwen" (the first Dutch sound film) newly accompanied by the music of contemporary Dutch composer Henny Vrienten. The festival opening will be a performance in the Concertgebouw of Vsevolod Pudovkin's recently restored 1927 classic "Konets Sankt-Peterburga" ("The Last Days of St. Petersburg") with a score by Russian composer Alfred Schnittke performed by the ASKO ensemble and conducted by Stephen Asbury. Also scheduled is a performance of "Rhapsody Satanica" (1917) with music by the famed opera composer Pietro Mascagni in the Tuschinski cinema. You can check it out directly at www.filmmuseum.nl as well as www.filmmuseum.nl/biennale. The Biennial includes more than sixty screenings and continues through April 27th. Japan, it seems, loves Louis van Gasteren's latest film "In een Japanse Stroomversnelling" ("In Japanese Rapids - Dutch Men of the Water in Japan 1872-1903"). It was chosen at Kyoto last month during the World Water Forum to enjoy a tour this coming May throughout 14 Japanese cities (where Dutch engineers have been employed on water-works) as well as travelling various universities where hydraulic engineers are presently trained. The 85-minute film originally premiered on September 26th during last year's Dutch Film Festival in the presence of Her Royal Highness Princess Maxima of the Netherlands . Since that time, a Japanese version of the film has been rendered. 16-year-old Russian actress Oksana Akinshina (who played the lead in the Lukas Moodysson's "Lilja 4-ever") starts shooting in Amsterdam later this month for Martin Koolhoven's "Het Zuiden". Monic Hendrickx (of "Nynke" fame) and Frank Lammers also star in the new film. Scheduled for release in February of 2004. 30 year-old Chiel Aldershoff, who in 2000 completed his study of film directing and documentaries, at the "Academy for Fine Arts" in Utrecht, has won the "Taskforce Work for the Elderly" scenario contest with his script "The Race Against Time". This means that, with the 160,000 Euro prize awarded, the director can begin work on his project immediately (which, once finished, will be broadcast on the "Dokument" program of NCRV television channel in Holland). In the meantime, he can keep checking his own time schedule on the alarm clock that Dr. Henriëtte Maasen of the "Taskforce" group presented him with for his achievement. His script involves two insurance employees who need to maintain a quota in order to keep their jobs. The visits made by these financial advisors gives an indication of how younger people tend to deal with impending futures of the aging. The jury praised the way in which his script manages to illustrate the ever-growing anxiety that exists among the elderly. Week of the Spanish Cinema, which includes a series of new Spanish films, will begin on the first of May and run for two weeks (guess the name of the festival fooled you, huh?) Check out May's TGH Buzz for further information or run yourself over to either www.melkweg.nl or www.cervantes.es for further information. The 8th annual Space Expo will take place in Noordwijk, Holland on Sunday, April 13th from 10 AM till 5 PM. Loads of companies, organizations, and societies will offer information as well as giving presentations and demonstrations for all those who feel an affinity with infinity, space travel, astrology, science fiction, outer space and everything associated. Special item this year is the exhibition of photographs by Rene Nuijens under the title "In The Footsteps of Gagarin" with texts by Steve Korver. Further information about as well as all events at the Expo are available at www.space-expo.nl as well as www.esa.int and www.estec.esa.nl Happy trails to you! © 1994-2006 The Green Hartnett