Toronto - 2005
I'm back from the 30th Toronto International Film Festival, where there were more stars this year than in heaven or Hollywood. I know, because I saw their glam photos--Gwyneth and Johnny and Jake--every day in Canadian newspapers. I know, because I'd check them out each night--Kirsten and Orlando and Joaquin--on a cable station devoted to Fest coverage. more

Cannes - 2005
"What they do they do better than anyone else in the world," a critic pal noted cryptically, as we walked away after the 2005 Cannes Film Festival world premiere of what would emerge, days later, as winner of the 2005 Palm D’Or, Cannes’ luminous, prestigious jury first prize: the Dardennes brothers, L’Enfant/The Baby. more

Bangkok - 2005
Would it be obscene to hold the Bangkok International Film Festival weeks after the Thai coast below the country’s capitol had been done in by the tsunami? A decision was made: the show would roll on, January 13-24. more

Karlovy Vary
Goethe went to Karlovy Vary, not Casablance, for the curative waters, and so did Karl Marx, where he penned bits of Das Kapital by the Europe-renowned spas. Every 19th century composer worth his salt-Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Dvorak-took some time out at Karlovy Vary (also called Baden Baden). more

Cannes - 2003
Eyes roll back home in Boston when I plead my case: that being a journalist in France at the Cannes Film Festival each May isn't a lark, but grueling, stressful work." more

Cannes, 2001
 "Life is short, Cannes is long," quipped an exhausted American critic friend in the midst of the seemingly endless 59th Cannes Film Festival. more

Taos Talking Picture Festival, 2001
Two Boston indies are hits at the Taos Talking Picture Festival. more

Cannes, 2000
They have an unqualified love for Jerry Lewis, Mickey Rourke, and American "B" cult directors. But why, LA moguls growl, are the French so hostile to mainstream, market-driven Hollywood? more

Montreal World Film Festival, 2001
So you thought that Heather Donahue, hyperventilating babe in the woods of The Blair Witch Project, was a one-trick pony? Not on your life. Donahue is at the top of her acting game, and the headliner talent, as a brash, promiscuous, fashion writer in Seven and a Match, the best American independent film I saw at August's Montreal World Film Festival. more

Montreal World Film Festival, 2000
Hail Michaela Odone! I doubt that Chinese filmmaker, Sun Zhou, has heard of her; but that’s whom I thought about when, at the 24th Montreal World Film Festival in September, Sun spoke admiringly of the heroine of his movie, Breaking the Silence, and said he made the film "to show my respect for all women like her." more