The 12th annual Belfast Film Festival runs from May 31 – June 10, and sees a wide variety of films and events on offer for audiences of all ages and interests.

Last year’s festival, which takes place in the capital city of Northern Ireland, saw the premiere of Terry George’s Oscar-winning short film ‘The Shore’, and this year George is returning to the festival with his new film ‘Whole Lotta Sole’, which had its world premiere recently at the Tribeca Film Festival.

‘Sole’ brings together a diverse range of talent such as Brendan Fraser, Yaya DaCosta, Martin McCann, and Colm Meaney, and was shot at various locations all over Northern Ireland last Spring. The film will close the festival on June 10 at the Waterfront Hall, full details of which can be found here.

Opening the festival is the eagerly-awaited film ‘Good Vibrations’, which so far is set to have two screenings on May 31. The film brings together directors Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn, along with Northern Ireland author Glenn Patterson who co-wrote the screenplay with Colin Carberry. The film stars Jodie Whittaker and Dylan Moran, and the official description is listed as:

“Terri Hooley … a radical, rebel and music-lover in 1970s Belfast when the bloody conflict known as the Troubles shuts down his city. As all his friends take sides and take up arms, Terri opens a record shop on the most bombed half-mile in Europe and calls it Good Vibrations.

Through it he discovers a compelling voice of resistance in the city’s nascent underground punk scene. Galvanising the young musicians into action, he becomes the unlikely leader of a motley band of kids and punks who join him in his mission to create a new community, an alternative Ulster, to bring his city back to life.”

Other highlights of the festival include:

• Gala screenings of ‘Shadow Dancer’, ‘Jump’, and ‘Toothbrush’. ‘Shadow Dancer’ screens on Wednesday June 6, and the director, cast and crew will be in attendance. ‘Jump’ will have a similar turn-out for its screening on June 8, where the screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director (Kieron J. Walsh).
• Talks & Workshops with Terry George, James Marsh, Nick Emerson, and various people involved with ‘Good Vibrations’.
• A special screening of the 2002 film ‘Ghost Ship’ at The Lagan Boat on June 7.
• A ‘Zoolander’ night, bringing together fans of the 2001 film starring Ben Stiller.
• An Evening with James Ellis, the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

On top of all of these, the festival will feature short film competitions, screenings of documentaries and new cinema, a film quiz, and the 11th Belfast World Pong Championships.

The full festival program can be found here.

Image Courtesy of    Belfast Film Festival

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Some people have all the luck. At an early age, Milla Jovovich was acting, modelling, and writing and performing music. In each case, she received strong reviews. At any moment, she might be featured in film, fashion magazines and events, on the soundtrack to another film, and promoting a charitable cause.

Ms. Jovovich appeared as Milady de Winter in the adaptation of ‘The Three Musketeers,’ directed by her husband, Paul W.S. Anderson, as well as in four other films this year, and will return in at least two films scheduled for next year.

Ms. Jovovich rules the fashion world: she co-founded a fashion line, Jovovich-Hawk; she has appeared in hundreds of magazines, TV-commercials and other fashion and cosmetics promotions; she is a spokesmodel for L’Oréal, one of the highest profiles for models. She also sponsors a number of charities, such as cancer research, AIDS research, wildlife societies, UNICEF and UNESCO.

Her only music album, ‘The Divine Comedy,’ was released in 1994, when she was 16; she had written it the year before. She had a band for a short time, called Plastic Has Memory, which never made an album but made music and has a song on the benefit CD, ‘Hollywood Goes Wild.’ Ms. Jovovich continues to produce music for screen and for anyone via her web-site, www.millaj.com.

While the music was well received, it is not as widely known as her work in the fashion and film industries. Ms. Jovovich has a rare versatility in her styles: she can dramatically change her look and still keep a distinctive presence. This has served her well around the world. Her film work has extended around the globe as well, with this year’s ‘Lucky Trouble’ coming from Russia. Ms. Jovovich is multi-lingual.

Most of her fans know her from the film franchise, ‘Resident Evil.’ The four films, and a fifth next year, are based on a popular video-game and are directed by Mr. Anderson. He is not the first of her director-husbands: she was also married to Luc Besson, who directed her in her breakthrough, ‘The Fifth Element’ (1997), as the “perfect being,” and ‘The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc’ (1999).

She has appeared in the weighty ‘Chaplin’ (1992) and the fashion-comedy ‘Zoolander’ (2001). But it is her action roles that have made the biggest mark. Her Alice in ‘Resident Evil’ (2002) helped garner a following, and four sequels have followed so far. She does many of her own stunts.

Milla Jovovich is beautiful; she can act; she can sing and write songs; she plays the guitar; she speaks several languages; she works for charities. She presents herself well in interviews, and has a fun and accessible demeanour. She is also a mother. She is more the saviour than damsel in distress, though she can exude vulnerability, and always femininity. Her daughter will be another to watch.

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For his upcoming movie Tower Heist, Eddie Murphy believed that it was time to return to familiar comic ground. “The theme of the film, with the workers being taken advantage of by the rich folks and then turning the tables, is timeless. One of my earliest movies, Trading Places, was like that. Those themes work forever. It was fun for me to work on because I hadn’t done a role like that in a while.

I’ve done a lot of family movies, and I’ve done a lot of projects in which the characters were not ‘street-y’ guys. There was a freshness to this.” Ben Stiller, the star of such box-office hits as Zoolander and Tropic Thunder (both of which he directed) and the three films of the Meet the Parents franchise, came aboard as Josh Kovaks, the workaholic manager of the tony building who has given up on his personal life to satiate the endless wants of his pampered residents.

Whether immersing himself in the minutiae of fine wines and the newest restaurants or keeping track of the birthday and anniversary of every affluent occupant, Josh may always be counted upon. With a decade of experience working in the building, he runs a tight ship and expects nothing but perfection from his staff.

The actor admits that he was intrigued by director Brett Ratner’s passionate take on the material, and the chance to join both the director and Murphy proved to be an attractive proposition. Stiller remarks: “I’ve known Brett for almost 15 years, and this is the first time that we’ve worked together.

He has incredible enthusiasm and an amazing sense of film history. He loves the filmmaking process, and he loves filmmakers. Brett works viscerally. He does his prep, but when he gets on the set is when it all comes alive for him.” Ratner returns the compliment to Stiller: “I’ve been a friend and fan of Ben’s for more than 15 years.

He is one of my favorite directors and actors. There is no actor with as much passion, commitment and hard work toward a performance than Ben. From our first meeting about Tower Heist, we were on the same page and completely agreed on the tone of the film that we all wanted to make.”

Problem solver that he is, Josh looks to con man Slide when it comes to criminal advice. The relationship between the two dates back to their time in preschool in Astoria, Queens, but the interaction that they currently have is the daily harassment that Slide gives Josh on Josh’s way to work.

Although both still live in the borough, the men are polar opposites who have taken separate paths. Josh works in the rarified world of vast wealth in Manhattan while Slide is pulling low-level crime gigs. But a criminal mind is a criminal mind, and Josh has limited options and time to get the pension funds back.  Josh knows he’s taking a chance to ask Slide to join in their con, but he takes the risk.

When it came to working with Murphy, Stiller led the cast in enthusiasm. As Murphy has been a fixture of the comedy landscape for decades, Stiller was excited to see him slip into a role that harkened back to memorable characters he portrayed in Beverly Hills Cop and 48 Hrs.

“Eddie Murphy is iconic, especially for my generation,” says Stiller. “He defines a lot of what comedy is over the last 25 years, so it was very cool to work with him. I sometimes felt like an audience member as I watched him do his thing. I would think ‘Wow, that’s good. That’s going to be in the movie.’”

Shooting script locked and filmmaking team in place, Grazer reflected upon the project that began with the grain of an idea several years prior. He notes: “It’s difficult to imagine that a casual conversation six years ago has grown into such a fully realized film that is so grand in scope.

Plus, who could have known that, in this period of time, the global financial markets would teeter on the verge of collapse and the villain in our story would pale in comparison to some very real ones on Wall Street? Truth remains stranger than fiction.”

Image Courtesy of   http://www.facebook.com/towerheist

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