IT’S that time of the year when you wake up early in the morning, tiptoe into the common room and switch on your television to follow one of the grandest movie event of the year. No, it’s not the re-run of the Titanic, it’s the Oscars, the globally televised spectacle that’ll be hitting our screen pretty soon. But as many of you may not know, the Oscars aren’t the only movie celebration in the world. There are others as well, like the Cannes Film Festival http://www.festival-cannes.fr/
This is the official site of what is probably the largest and the most covered film festival in the world. Predictably available both in French and in English, this year’s Cannes Film Festival will be held from May 11 to May 22 and that is when the site will be at its busiest. The links here include the Jury, the Awards and of course the Archives. There is the FAQ as well as a newsletter that you can sign up for and be in touch with the latest happening in this picturesque town for the rich and famous.
But it’s not Cannes that we are here to talk about today. It’s the Oscars, the most watched (at least here in Pakistan they definitely are) movie awards. Well, it’s mainly thanks to its year after year, live coverage and in part to its official website, http://www.oscar.com/. History, news and trivia have always been and still are part of the Oscar web site. There’s a countdown clock as well that lets you know the exact hours after which the Oscars will begin tomorrow early in the morning. A must click segment is the Favourite Acceptance Speech link and the Predict the Winners click. Enjoy the stay here as the suspense mounts for the Oscar bash in less than 24 hours.
Apart from the above two festivals, the Sundance Film Festival http://festival.sundance.org/2005/ too holds its place in the elite movie events of the year, every year. A platform for the independent film makers to exhibit their ware to the world. Information on the site is mostly for these would be fame-seekers (or artistes as these folks like to consider themselves). Other links also include, press, industry and box office, and a link called Soff. This is actually the 5th Annual Sundance Online Film Festival that showcases the same short films as its namesake event, as well as exclusive Behind the Scenes filmmaker interviews and the special Frontier section — a dedicated programme of the most explosive new work in experimental media being created just for the web.
By they way, for those of you who don’t know, this year’s Sundance took place in January, so, you’ll have to wait for 2006 to enjoy the ride again.
Of course then there’s our very own KaraFilm Festival http://www.karafilmfest.com. Though just into its fourth year and nowhere near the heights of Oscar or Cannes, this little festival still holds its own, going into the fifth year and has definitely carved a niche for itself in the subcontinental and Asian circles of cinematic art. Details of the fourth KaraFilm Festival can be found here, the winners as well as links Films, Award Citation, Jury and the Jurors Statements are all here for the record. The Gallery link takes one on a journey of movie posters as the Links take you to the three sites that these guys think are really neat. And they’re right. However, the Merchandise click isn’t up and operational at all. And I wanted a Kara t-shirt!
Germany’s own cinematic experience is the Berlin Film Festival http://www.berlinale.de/. After popping into the English section, you’re greeted by links such are Film Market, The Festival, Programme and the press, stuff that gives every movie fanatic a high for the days to come. But you know something, not all the festivals are there to celebrated the greatness of movie making.
There are also those that celebrate the all time lows of the cinema garbage dump. And the best and greatest of these sites are the Rasberry Awards http://www.razzies.com/. Celebrating the worst that the silver screen has to offer us, this site isn’t exactly only for the (in)famous awards. There is the official Razzie guide and a whole host of links that get you the worst of the worst that filmdom has to offer. But you know something, the stuff here makes you laugh more than it makes you cry and wonder why! Ignore King Kong’s not so decent welcome on the site and enjoy lists after lists of ... well, just click here and enjoy.
Apart from these sites, there is also the web guide of sites; the Filmfestivals.com website is the stay that every festival following buff is looking for. Dates of major film festivals worldwide with daily news, movie info, columns and city guides, you can find here all that you want about the next big movie event near your town. However, sadly, our KaraFilm Festival is not listed here. How about you informing these folks about our very own movie festival, eh?
IT’S that time of the year when you wake up early in the morning, tiptoe into the common room and switch on your television to follow one of the grandest movie event of the year. No, it’s not the re-run of the Titanic, it’s the Oscars, the globally televised spectacle that’ll be hitting our screen pretty soon. But as many of you may not know, the Oscars aren’t the only movie celebration in the world. There are others as well, like the Cannes Film Festival http://www.festival-cannes.fr/
