Festival fan?

The semester is almost over and it seems that I will not be adding posts anymore... If you are interested in festivals, as much as I am, the best side to go to is probably www.festivals.com... There you can choose from festivals of all kinds all around the states!
I wish you good luck and have fun :)

Happy Double Ninth Festival, October 26, 2009

"The Double Ninth Festival is based on the theory of Yin and Yang, the two opposing principles in nature by which the ancient Chinese believed that every natural phenomenon could be explained. According to the I Ching, nine is the biggest Yang number. The Double Ninth Festival, the ninth day of the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar, is a date when the biggest Yang number is doubled. That is why it is also called Chongyang Festival, which means double Yang.

This year, the festival falls on October 26th and has brought throngs of people to Badachu Park. Climbing a high mountain during the Double Ninth Festival is supposed to protect individuals against danger and preserve longevity. Although it may not have the highest peaks around, the steep path up Badachu rewards visitors with a great view of the changing colors of the surrounding Lushi Hills.

Besides providing a good reason to go out and hike, the festival inspired many of China’s elderly to seek a longer life. Drinking chrysanthemum wine and wearing a zhuyu plant is said to have cleansing and protective qualities.

However, for those that don’t like wine or prefer not to lengthen their life span by climbing a mountain, there’s a sweet solution. The Chinese word for “cake,” gao, sounds the same as “high.” So if you don’t feel like exercising your legs but want to work your mouth, Chongyang Cake is the perfect solution."

Sources: www.chinaculture.org

11th Annual San Francisco Hip Hop DanceFest 2009

Last week, from November 20th to 22nd people were "krumping, clowning, strobing, turfing, breaking, locking" in San Francisco... Don´t worry if you don´t understand these words..I did not either... It is vocab of "Hip-Hop dancers" which not many people understand... Nevertheless this festival seems to be very interesting. People could see Hip-hop dancers from all around America."The San Francisco Hip Hop DanceFest remains unique for its dedication to presenting the highest quality professional Hip Hop dance companies and for its forward-thinking curatorial focus. This legendary event offers professional Hip Hop dance companies the level of production, exposure, and acknowledgement that they urgently deserve, nurturing emerging artists and consistently contributing to the evolution of both Hip Hop and dance. With a record of ten years of sold-out performances, the DanceFest has developed a reputation for both quality and innovation."

Sources: www.sfhiphopdancefest.com

International Festival of Outdoor Films

"The festival is one of the biggest touring festivals in the Czech Republic (Europe). This year we assume that the festival will take place in 25 towns of the Czech Republic in the term from 16th
October to 5th December 2009.
We try to improve this festival all the time and we are glad that IFOF has gained favor of large audience. The number of spectators increases every year which is certainly interesting fact for you. We expect at least 25 000 spectators this year.
Film categories of the festival:
A. Adventurous any extreme sport film - outdoor sports (exept mountain climbing), skiing, extreme skiing, mountain bikes, paragliding, etc.
B. mountainclimbing and mountain films – mountain climbing sports, expedition climbing, arctic expeditions, mountain scenery, man & mountains
C. Adventurous water sport films – rafting, watercraft sports, yachting, canoeing, diving, surfing, long distance swimming, etc.
D. Travel film – (films of travel character which are not selected into categories A,B,C)"
Sources: www.mfof.cz

Festival of Mass Animal Sacrifice Begins in Nepal

Recently I have read shocking article about this festival in Nepal... It makes me wonder why don´t "the animal protectors" do anything about it?
The thing is that a big part of this festival is worshiping the Hindu god of power Gadhimai... Although that doesn´t sound as bad as it actually is... To worship this god properly Hinduists have to kill about 200, 000 buffaloes, goats, chickens and pigeons! This festival takes place every five years...
''I am here with my mother who had promised the goddess she would sacrifice a goat. It was her wish and promise and I am glad we were able to fulfill it,'' said Pramod Das, a farmer from the nearby village of Sarlahi. ''I believe now my mother's wishes will come true.''

For more information go to: www.nytimes.com

Queenscliff Music Festival

The Queenscliff Music Festival is a family friendly event for music lovers of all ages. Held in the seaside town of Queenscliff on the shores of Swan Bay, only 90 minutes from Melbourne. It will last from November 27th - 29th. The 2009 Festival will feature artists playing across a variety of stages including marquees, intimate church spaces, grand ballrooms, community buildings and even a stream train!
For more information please visit: www.qmf.net.au

24th Festival International de Louisiane

Festival International de Louisiane is a community-based, non-profit arts organization formed in 1986 to produce an annual visual and performing arts festival celebrating the French cultural heritage of southern Louisiana – primarily a combination of French, African, Caribbean and Hispanic influences.
Good thing is that the festival is FREE :) you can enjoy over 100 musical performances for free. So the only thing you have to do is to buy a ticket to Louisiana. You wil hear several kinds of music. From rock to folk, jazz, blues to funk, reggae,...There is something for everyone! The annual 5-day festival is held during the last full week of April.(April 21-25, 2010) Historic downtown Lafayette, Louisiana, is transformed into an entertainment mecca featuring six music stages, food court areas, street musicians and animators, arts and crafts boutiques, art galleries, beverage stands, cultural workshops, international cooking demonstrations and a world music store.
For more information keep track on: www.festivalinternational.com

12th French Film Festival

You have probably seen many billboards and posters around Prague with this colorful popcorn box. I was wondering what they are and had to find out more about this festival. This 12th French Film Festival will start tomorrow and will last until November 25th. The tickets will cost 89 czech crowns and you can buy them mostly in every cinema. Movies will be shown in four main cinemas : Lucerna, Světozor, Slovanský dům and Kino 35. The tickets will be also available in Palace Cinemas.
If you are not from Prague you have other seven cities to choose from : Brno, České Budějovice, Hradec Králové, Olomouc, Ostrava, Pardubice and Plzeň.
Enjoy :)
www.festivalff.cz

33rd Cairo International Film Festival 2009

The Head of the Supreme Council for the CIFF said about the festival: "Once again Cairo is ready to celebrate the fine art of Cinema during its annual Cairo International Film Festival.It is imperative that we re-emphasize international communication and understanding between nations.Ours is the oldest festival in the Middle East and has beenan inspiration to several other budding festivals of which we are proud. We extend a hand of friendship and co-operation to them and to all festivals, hoping that the exchange of ideas and concepts will be beneficial to all.
This is the positive direction to achieve our dreams and develop and enhance the Egyptian, Arab and African film industry. Hard work & devotion are necessary to allow us to project in a comprehensive manner the reality of our culture & tradition.
We dream of bringing the four corners of the globe together at this time of violence, conflicts, wars, the mesmerizing art of Cinema is the most effective approach to narrow the gap between the various viewpoints."
This year´s festival started yesterday- November 11th and will last until November 20th 2009.


For more information visit the official website: www.cairofilmfest.org

World Architecture Festival

I know, it is very different from my previous festivals, but I find this one very interesting. It is a festival which was held in Barcelona, Spain from November 4th to November 6th. It is the only international festival which focuses on architecture. Every year they choose "the building of a year." It is a festival for poeple who are interested in architecture. They could meet many famous architects out there. What I especially like about this festival is that they also appreciate work of students from architectural schools. This way they have a chance to present their own works and be known worldwide.
This year´s World Building (which you can see on the picture) became "Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre" in South Africa done by Peter Rich Architects.

New York Butoh Festival

From October 23 to November 25, 2009, CAVE will present its fourth biennial Butoh Festival. Events will be presented at Dixon Place in Soho, Dance New Amsterdam in Tribeca and CAVE in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Butoh-kan offers rigorous physical training and enriches students with first person contact with international masters. It is an integrative opportunity for the dancers, actors and interdisciplinary performers. This year’s festival presents a striking roster of master teachers and performers. With performances, artist talks, workshops and participatory opportunities for scholars, it offers a unique platform for the development of local dancers and encourages active dialogue on Butoh’s origins, evolution and global status.

"The New York Butoh Festival allowed connoisseurs and novices alike to steep themselves in this enigmatic dance… You couldn’t explain it, perhaps, but the raw experience was undeniable.”
– The New York Times

Sources:
www.nytimes.com

Europalia Arts Festival

This International Arts Festival started on October 8th, 2009 and will last until February 14th, 2010 in Belgium and its neighbouring regions. Europalia is a major international arts festival held every two years to celebrate one invited country. This year it will be China. Its name is a combination of two words: “Europe” and “Opalia,” an ancient Roman harvest festival held in mid-December in honour of Ops, earth-goddess and fertility deity. Her name lies at the root of the Latin word “Opus”, that denotes a work of art. Since 1969, Europalia has organised some twenty-one festivals. People will be able to experience the music, fine arts, photography, cinema, theatre, dance and literature of China.It has brought new insight into the many different countries that form Europe including Italy, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Greece, Spain, Austria, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria, as well as into more distant lands: Mexico, Japan and Russia. Sources: www.europalia.eu www.chinaculture.org

Back to Mezipatra Queer Festival

Today at 10 pm you can watch "The Minutes from Mezipatra!" It will be shown on ČT 2... It will probably be in Czech language, but at least you will see what does it look like on the festival...
So don´t forget! :)

Mezipatra Queer Film Festival 2009

I have just got back from one of the movies shown on this years Mezipatra Queer Film Festival. It took place in Brno from October 23rd to October 31st, next day it moved to Prague where it will last until November 8th. To explain the use of the word queer I will use an explanation I have found on the official websites of the festival. It says that: Queer is a liberation from the traditional understanding of sexual and tender identities based on fixed categories male / female, gay / straight.
The movie I saw is called Pedro and talks about young HIV positive gay activist who participated in the 90´s reality-show "The Real World", named Pedro Zamora. The movie focuses on Pedro´s life from his childhood, how he got inficated, the relationship with his husband. It was very interesting movie and made me kind of change my opinion on homosexuals and HIV positive people. I highly recommend to go to see at least one of the movies shown on this festival. Most of them are in English with Czech subtitles.

For more information go to: www.mezipatra.cz

By Julie H.

Holland Animation FIlm Festival

If you did not make it to the Viennale you can visit Utrecht, Holland. Especially if you love animation and comics. Today is the opening day of thirtteenth edition of the Holland Animation Film Festival. It will last until November 8th. During these five days the festival takes place at locations in the historical heart of the city Utrecht. The festival devotes special attention to autonomous art films and the latest developments, but also commercials, educational films, music videos and student films from the Netherlands and Belgium will be screened. There are expositions, lectures, workshops and talkshows, thematic programmes, sfx/vfx and feature films.
The opening movie is the Japanese Russian co-production, First Squad: The Moment of Truth by Yoshiharu Ashino, Aljoscha Klimov and Misha Shprits. "The film is combination of fiction and documentary.The film is a combination of fiction and documentary, adapted from the Russian comic stripPioneer Heroes, from the 1980s. During the winter of 1942, the Red Army valiantly resists the Nazi invasion. Nadya, a Russian adolescent, has the ability to foresee the moment of truth, the crucial point where all powers converge. This ability becomes indispensable to the ultra-secret 6th Division of Russian Military Intelligence that is waging war against an occult order within the SS." (Haff Magazine)

Sources: www.youtube.com
www.haff.awn.com
www.nytimes.com

by Julie H.

The Viennale is almost over!

Most of us has heard about Biennale which was held in Prague on May 2009 and showed artworks of several artist coming from all over the world. Nevertheless Viennale is a movie festival held in Vienna. It lasted from October 22nd until today, November 4th.

Facts about Viennale:
- it took place for the first time in 1960
- takes place for 47th time this year
- it is the biggest international film festival in Austria
- it shows over 300 feature films, documentaries and short films
- it has more than 90, 000 visitors
- it has approximately 700 accredited guests from film, the film industry and the press
- it devotes smaller-scale shows of works, the so-called TRIBUTES, to prominent filmmakers, directors, actors and producers from all over the world
- it presents selected examples from the history of film and rediscovered films in restored versions
- it organizes public interviews and audience discussions with film-makers and other festival guests, as well as bokk presentation, exhibitions, concerts and other events

"I give the Viennale credit for being much more genuinely interested in independent work than most festivals are now. Each time I’ve been here, I’ve seen work, that I probably wouldn’t have seen very easily anywhere else."
(Jem Cohen, filmmaker)

(source: www.viennale.at)

by Julie H.

Tokyo Film Festival 2009

The 22nd Tokyo Film Festival started on October 17th and will last until this Sunday, October 23rd. So you still have time to go!
The festival was opened very interesting way. It was introduced by Hollywood actress Sigourney Weaver by strolling a carpet made of recycled plastic bottles. The theme of this nine-day festival is ecology. And more than 100 movies will be shown. One of them is also very famous "The Cove" which has won many awards all over the world. Althought the tickets for this movie are already sold out. New York Times says about this movie that: "The movie has provoked outrage over the dolphin hunt in the seaside town of Taiji in southwestern Japan, where 2,000 dolphins are killed every year, mostly for meat.The film shows fishermen banging on poles to frighten the dolphins into a cove, where they are killed with spears. The cove is closed off by barbed wire, and the movie crew had to film most footage covertly.Japanese police say the film's American director, Louie Psihoyos, and other members of his crew violated trespassing laws."
This festival is recognized as one of the four major film festivals in the world- as well as Cannes, Berlin and Venice film festivals.

Sources: nytimes.com

by Julie Hlaváčová

The 11th Asia Arts Festival

The nine-day festival started on August 18th in Ordos, InnerMongolia. It is organized by the Chinese Ministry of Clture and the government of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The festival features a series of cultural activities exhibiting the diversity if Asian cultures and cementing cultural links in the region.
It is the first time when The Art Festival is held in the minority nationality regions in China. More than 150 artistic troupes coming from 25 Asian nations will attend the annual gala. They will show the best of culture of their country. The performances are also held on streets.
A highlight of the festival will be a conference involving more than 20 culture ministers and high-ranking officials in Asia. They will discuss opporunities, challenges and methodsfor cultural development amid the ongoing financial crisis.

Sci-FI Festival in London

A two-day film festival will take place on October 23rd and 24th. The festival will include film hort, features and documentaries, as well s series of talksa debates on genre literature, film and TV, stand-up comedy and a planetarium show.
It will all start on Friday at 8 p.m. with panel discussion about whether science-fiction authors should be writing about climate change, global pandemics and population growth instead of wasting their time writing about inerplanetary travel and space colonization. A planetarium show will start at 8 p.m. at the Royal Observatory Greenwich. On Saturday visitors will be able to see a sci-fi stand up comedy performance at 8 p.m. From 11 p.m. until 11 a.m. they will see three all-nighter films. All Saturday events will take place at London´s Piccadily Circus.
So those of you who are sci-fi fans should not miss this festival!


Sourc: www.nytimes.com

The New York Musical Theatre Festival is almost over!

All of you who are interested to visit this festival should hurry up, you have only 4 more days. For those of you who don´t know about this great festivals - there is a lot to see! In just five years the NYMF presented over 175 new musical theatre produtions and hundreds of readings, workshops, concerts, parties, special events, seminars and master classes. You will be able to see new musicals from all around the world and they won´t be those kinds of musicals you are used to. There are various types of music and styles, such as hip hop, emo-pop, rock, punk, ska, country, or opera.

So all of you who want to see Encore, Andy Warhol Was Right, Academy, All Fall Down, The Cure, The Last Smoker In America, or Whatever Man should buy a ticket to New York and be there before the festival is over.

If you are interested visit: http://www.nymg.org/