Here’s a list of the festival’s films by country:

• Austria – 42 PLUS
• Belgium – MOSCOW, BELGIUM and ELDORADO
• Czech Republic – THE COUNTRY TEACHER
• Denmark – JUST ANOTHER LOVE STORY
• Estonia – I WAS HERE
• Finland – THE HOME OF DARK BUTTERFLIES
• France – I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG, A CHRISTMAS TALE, ON WAR, and ACTRESSES
• Germany TRIP TO ASIA: THE QUEST FOR HARMONY, THE BAADER and MEINHOF COMPLEX
• Greece EL GRECO and CORRECTION
• Hungary – DELTA
• Ireland – KISSES, EDEN and HOW ABOUT YOU
• Italy – GOMORRAH
• Latvia – DEFENDERS OF RIGA
• Lithuania – LOSS
• Luxembourg – ARABIAN NIGHTS
• Netherlands – DUNYA & DESIE
• Poland – KATYN
• Portugal – DOT.COM
• Romania – BOOGIE
• Slovakia -BATHORY
• Slovenia – ROOSTER’S BREAKFAST
• Spain – UNDER THE STARS, BIRDSONG
• Sweden – LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, WOLF
• United Kingdom – NIGHTWATCHING

Click here for a detailed program.

AFI European Union Film Showcase
AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center
8633 Colesville Road
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 (map it)

Dates and Times – November 6-25, 2008 10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Tickets – Are available online. Adults – $10.00, Seniors – $9.00, AFI Members – $8.50, kids under 13 – $6.00 and weekday matinees (before 6:00 p.m., holidays excluded) – $6.50.  Tickets are per film.

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Silber Spring – Red line, then a 2-block walk.

Parking – Use the Wayne Ave. garage, free on weekends and after 6:00 pm. weekdays.

Image – Flickr – seats _________________________________________________

Post from: The DC Traveler

The 102 short films presented at the 5^th annual DC Shorts Festival in Washington, DC run from just one minute to over 20 minutes, and include a wide ranges of genres – dramas and documentaries, comedies and science-fiction, animation and creative, and of course, a few experimental shorts. Six screenplays will also be performed live.

Besides the films, there will be two free seminars for budding filmmakers on Friday, September 12^th at Flashpoint (916 G Street, NW, Washington, DC). At 1:00 p.m., join the Making the Extremely Low Budget Feature workshop. Guerilla Marketing and Self Distribution will be held at 3:00 p.m.

There are also several FREE screening, many during the lunch hour, as well as a family night, and the Best of the Fest showcase on Thursday, Sept. 18^th at noon, 4:00, 7:00 and 9:30 p.m.

So check the schedule and pick the theme of shorts or night of screenings that you might enjoy.

Voting for your favorite is by text messaging done in the theater, after each screening, by text messaging your vote from your cell phone.

DC Shorts Festival 
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
555 11th Street, NW
Washington, DC  (map it)

Dates and Times – September 11-18, 2008. Screening times vary

Tickets – $12.00 per screening (plus $1.00 surcharge) and are available online or at the box office of each theater.

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Metro Center – Blue, Orange and Red lines, then a 1-block walk.

Parking – Metered street and reduced rate garage parking (with validation) is available adjacent to the theater, Monday-Friday after 6:00 p.m. and all day on weekends.

Image – Flickr ___________________________________________________

Post from: The DC Traveler

For two evenings in September, the NSO will perform music from some of the greatest films of all time. 

The first evening, Classical Hollywood, includes selections from movies that use classical music as parts of their score, including Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, The Godfather, and Raging Bull.

The second evening, entitled The Golden Age of Film Music, features musical scores written specifically for movies, including Lawrence of Arabia, Gone with the Wind, Spartacus, the Wizard of Oz, and The Magnificent Seven.

Here are two of my favorite soundtracks, the overture and now synonymous theme music from Lawrence of Arabia, and Richard Strauss’s Also sprach Zarathustra from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The National Symphony Orchestra
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Concert Hall
700 F Street, NW
Washington DC. 20566 (map it)

Date and Time – Thursday and Friday, September 11-12, 2008, 8:00 p.m. 

Tickets - $20.00 – $65.00 and are available online. 

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Foggy Bottom/George Washington University station (23rd and I St.) – Blue and Orange lines, then a 3-block walk.

The free Kennedy Center shuttle also runs every 15 minutes form the Metro (Mon.-Fri., 9:45 a.m.- Midnight, Sat. 10:00 a.m.-Midnight, and Sun. Noon-Midnight.

Parking - Limited parking is available at the Kennedy Center for $16.00.

Image – NSO and Oz

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Post from: The DC Traveler

Catch a few free baseball movies every Wednesday night, at Riverfront Reel outdoor movie series near the Washington Nationals stadium.

Films are presented on a 28-foot screen, featuring a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround sound.  There’s also music, games, Wii baseball and other activities for adults and kids to participate in as well.

Here’s the schedule for the rest of the season:

• July 16 – Eight Men Out – the story of the Chicago Black Sox
• July 23 – The Pride of the Yankees – Gary Cooper plays the famed baseball player, Lou Gehrig
• July 30 * – Rookie of the Year – after an accident, a 12 year old’s pitching arm lands him on the Chicago Cub’s mound.
• August 6 – The Sandlot – the adventures a neighborhood playing summer baseball, and the dog that torments them.
• August 13 * – The Natural – Robert Redford stars as a middle-aged baseball player who, in the 1930s, leads his team to victory and the pennant.

* Denotes a Washington National’s home game that night.

Riverfront Reel Outdoor Movie Series
Department of Transportation Headquarters
2nd Street between Tingey and M Street , SE
Washington, DC  (map it)

Dates and Times – Wednesdays, activities and concessions start at 6:30 p.m., Wii baseball at 7:30, films start at 8:50.

Tickets – FREE

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Navy Yard (ballpark exit) line, then a 2-block walk.

Parking – Parking will be tough during Nats games.

Image – baseball

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Post from: The DC Traveler

Over the summer, the National Theatre in Washington, DC is screening some of her more famous films in their free Summer Cinema 2008 series.

Films in the series include:

July 7 – Jezebel
Davis plays a Southern Belle who enjoys publicly breaking social rules of “proper” behavior and thus loses her banker fiancé.  She then goes on a mission to win him back.

July 14 – Dark Victory
The carefree and hedonistic New York socialite, Judith Traherne, after learning she has an inoperable brain tumor, must face her dark and frightening future.

July 21 – The Letter
Set in Singapore, the wife of a plantation administrator shoots a man to death, claiming self-defense.  But was it?

July 28 – All About Eve 
Davis plays Broadway star, Margo Channing, who is starting to show her age. Approached by an seemingly adoring fan and aspiring actress named Eve Harrington, the scheming woman plots to steal Margo’s career, fame friends and even her lover.  In the Best Picture Oscar winner, Davis delivers her famous line, “Fasten your seatbelts; it’s going to be a bumpy night.”

August 4 - Mr. Skeffington
Marring a man she doesn’t love in order to save her brother from a financial scandal, Davis plays a manipulative New York beauty who stings along multiple lovers and has countless affairs.  But after contracting a disease that ruins her looks, she must face the reality of finding love without after losing the only asset she had.

August 11 – Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
This cult classic pairs two of Hollywood’s best actresses, one as the evil sister Jane (Bette Davis), and the other, the innocent but wheelchair bound sister Blanch (Joan Crawford).  Acting as caretaker for her sister, Blanch terrorizes, controls and goes on a rein of psychological horror against her sister, as they live as recluses in an old mansion.

National Theatre Summer Cinema 2008
National Theatre
1321 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington, DC  (map it)

202-783-3372

Dates and Times – Mondays July 7 through August 11, 2008, at 6:30 p.m.   Click here for a printable schedule.

Tickets – FREE, but tickets are required.  Tickets are distributed ½  hour before show time.

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Metro Center – Blue, Orange or Red lines, or Federal Triangle – Blue and Orange lines, then a 3-block walk.

Parking – Paid garage and limited metered street parking is available.

Images – public domain

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Post from: The DC Traveler

Providing a forum for international filmmakers with access to American audiences.  Various awards are presented during the festival as well as a 5-day International Documentary Conference and the Guggenheim’s symposium award for artistic excellence.

The range of topics is wide as the list of films from ballet to war, nature to AIDS. 

Some of the more interesting documentaries are:

• Corridor 8 – a road trip documentary down the Balkan equivalent of America’s Route 66.
• Dust – It’s everywhere, and it impact daily life and health.
• Generation 68 – The peace and love generation, from a European perspective.
• Gonzo – The Life and Times of Hunter S. Thompson – profile of the gonzo anti-hero journalist.
• Mechanical Love – the relationship between people and therapeutic robots.

But check the full list for features and shorts you might enjoy or download the pdf program here.  

And if you are a Hollywood film junkie, check out the latest movie news at Film Gecko.

Silverdocs Film Festival

Various locations, including:

• AFI Silver Theatre
  8633 Colesville Road
  Silver Spring, MD 20910  (map it)
• Discovery Communications Headquarters
  One Discovery Place – Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road
  Silver Spring, MD 20910  (map it)

Dates and Times – Monday, June 16 through Monday, June 23, 2008.  Films screened at various times.

Tickets – $10.00 and are available in advance online, by phone (1-877-DOCS-TIX) or at the box office.

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Silver Spring – Red line. AFI Silver Theater is a 2-block walk, Discovery HQ is adjacent tot he Metro station.

Parking – AFI Silver Theater – use the Wayne Ave. garage – FREE after 6:00 p.m. weekdays and all day on weekends.  Discovery HQ – metered street or paid parking at the Dixon Ave. garage across from the front door.

Images – all courtesy of Silverdocs. ________________________________________________

Post from: The DC Traveler

With Oscar-winning music by Elton John and Tim Rice, the birds, giraffes, gazelles and lions from the original movie are brought to life on stage by more than 40 actors. 

The Lion King tells the story of the Lion King on the Savannah of Africa.  The young lion cub, Prince Simba, is convinced by his wicked uncle,  that the young cub accidentally killed his father.

Simba leaves the kingdom in shame, unaware that his evil uncle was secretly attempting to takeover the throne and the kingdom.  Years later, Simba is asked to return returns to overthrow his uncle and take his rightful place of power, thus completing the Circle of Life.

The Loin King
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts – Opera House
2700 F Street, NW
Washington DC. 20566 (map it)

Date and Time – Nightly (except Mondays) at 7:30 p.m., June 26th – August 24th, 2008, with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays

Tickets - $36.00 – $95.00 and are available online or by phone at 202-467-4600.

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Foggy Bottom/George Washington University station (23rd and I St.) – Blue and Orange lines, then a 3-block walk.

There is also a free Kennedy Center shuttle that runs every 15 minutes Monday – Friday from 9:45 a.m.- Midnight, Saturdays 10:00 a.m.- Midnight, and from Noon – Midnight on Sundays.

Parking - limited parking is available at the Kennedy Center for $15.00.

Images – Flickr – on Broadway, at Disney 
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Post from: The DC Traveler

Afghanistan’s cultural and historical treasures

The works belong to the National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul. Their collection of over 100,000 items was once one of the finest in Central Asia, and housed antiquities from over 4,000 years of Afghan history, including the periods of Alexandria, Greek, Buddhist, and Muslim periods, among others. 

What made so much of the collection unique was that Afghanistan was located on the Silk Road, which stretched from China to the Mediterranean, and resulted in multi-cultural trading.

Under the Taliban’s control in 1996, the Taliban ransacked what was left in the museum after the Soviet occupation. Many items in the collection were sold on the black market and smuggled out of the country or simply destroyed. 

The Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul exhibit opening on Saturday at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC includes over 200 pieces that date from 2200 BC to 200 AD and highlights four archaeological sites across the country. The works includes over 100 gold pieces and ornaments, sculptures, bronzes, ivories and glassware, some local pieces, while others were bartered by traders that traveled the Silk Road.

This exhibit is a rare chance to see some amazing artifacts from the region.

In addition to the exhibit, a 28-minute documentary film Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul will feature footage of the 2004 recovery of some of the artifacts.

The National Gallery of Art will also offer a diverse selection of exhibit-related lectures, docent-led gallery talks, musical concerts, films and learning activities for the entire family.

After touring the exhibit, enjoy some Silk Road-inspired cuisine at the National Gallery of Art’s Garden Café. The café will feature both buffet and à la carte menus featuring signature dishes from local chefs, including Tim Elliott from Mie N Yu in Georgetown, Chef Lala from Bamian Afghan Cusin in suburban Falls and, Church among other.

I recently had the opportunity to sample many of the special Silk Road dishes that were created especially for the exhibit at an event at the Embassy of Afghanistan. And trust me, this is one time you should seriously consider dining at a museum café.

Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul
National Gallery of Art – East Building, Upper Level
4th and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20565 (map it)

Dates and Times  – Daily, May 25 – Sept. 7, 2008  Hours – Monday – Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Tickets – Museum, exhibit, concerts, tours and movie admission is FREE.

Nearest Metro Subway Station – Archives – Yellow and Green lines, then a 2 block walk.

Parking – Metered street parking is available in the area.

Images – all National Museum of Afghanistan, ©Thierry Ollivier / Musée Guimet. 1) Male or female head (Aï Khanum, Temple with niches, Courtyard), 2nd century BC, unfired clay, 3) Pair of bracelets in the form of antelopes (Tillya Tepe, Tomb II), 1st century BC-1st century AD, gold, turquoise, and carnelian, 4) Pair of pendants depicting the “Dragon Master” (Tillya Tepe, Tomb II), 1st century BC-1st century AD, gold, turquoise, garnet, lapis lazuli, carnelian, and pearl, 6) Goblet depicting figures harvesting dates (Begram, Room 10), 1st-2nd centuries AD, glass and paint, Jug in the form of a kinnari (Begram, Room 13), 1st-2nd centuries AD, ceramic 

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Post from: The DC Traveler

For 12 days, starting April 24th, this year’s festival will highlights the cinema of Latin America and, perfect for our upcoming presidential election, politics on film.

The fest also includes several free events, including Filmfest DC for Kids and Cinema for Seniors.

Here’s the list of films and locations. Unfortunately, the fest’s website is a bit frustrating this year, requiring user to click on each film link, one by one to read the synopses.

Filmfest DC – Washington, DC International Film Festival 

Venues – (all in Washington, DC)

• Opening – Lincoln Theatre – 1215 U Street, NW,
• Regal Cinemas Gallery Place – 701 7th Street, NW,
• Landmark Cinema’s E Street – 555 11th Street, NW
• Avalon Theatre – 5612 Connecticut Avenue, NW
• Closing - Regal Cinemas Gallery Place, 701 7th Street, NW

Dates and Times – April 24 – May 4, 2008. Screening times vary by film and theater. 

Tickets – Most films are $9.00, and tickets are available online.

Additional Info - Call 202-628-FILM.

Images – Flickr – projector – hans s, posters – BEAT NIK

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Post from: The DC Traveler

Scheduled to be released in April of next year, “State of Play” becomes one more film in a long list of movies that have been filmed in and around Washington, DC. 

As recently as yesterday, the cast and crew were shooting scenes at various locations around the district, including on U Street in Northwest, at the Library of Congress and on the Waterfront at Maine Avenue Fish Market.

Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck star in the thriller, based on the BBC mini-series (possible spoiler link). Affleck plays an up and coming congressman with an eye on the White House, caught in a sex scandal after the suspicious death of his mistress. The scandal could end his political career. (WHAT? A politician involved in a sex scandal? Only in Hollywood.) 

Crowe plays the congressman’s former friend, campaign manager and investigative reporter and starts working with police to help crack the case.  To keep things interesting, Crowe gets involved with the cheating congressman’s estranged wife and Jason Bateman portrays a bisexual fetish club promoter.

Here’s a clip from the BBC series.

I’ve heard nothing about a call for local talent, but if you see filming going on around town, you might be asked to be an extra.

Images – Crowe  – Flickr, all others from personal collection – © 2008 – Jon Rochetti

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Post from: The DC Traveler