Notícias

Leave it to Kelly Reichardt to make a ‘70s movie that looks and feels like a lost ‘70s movie, from its scruffy visual aesthetic to its muted colors, its patient character observation and unhurried pacing to its unstinting investment in an underdog protagonist whose careful planning results in a coup that soon goes south. Josh O’Connor’s rumpled appeal makes him an ideal fit for the title role in The Mastermind, a minor-key heist caper that spends as much or more time on the aftermath of the crime, when it morphs gracefully into another of the director’s singular character studies of struggling Americans.

The film is set in Massachusetts circa 1970, two decades before the infamous art theft at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, whose walls still conserve the empty spaces where stolen paintings by artists including Vermeer, Rembrandt, Manet and Degas once hung. It seems like quintessential Reichardt...

Kelly Reichardt returns to the Cannes Film Festival with The Mastermind, a 1970s-set anti-heist film that’s less about the robbery and more about its emotional and social fallout.

The latest feature from the First Cow and Showing Up director is another exploration in quiet rebellion and the tension between individual freedom and collective responsibility. Premiering Friday night, it’s the last competition film to screen on the Croisette, and among the most anticipated. Art house distributor and streamer Mubi will release The Mastermind in North and Latin America and in select territories, including the U.K. and Germany, with The Match Factory handling international sales.

The Mastermind stars Josh O’Connor as James Blaine “J.B.” Mooney, an art-school dropout and unemployed carpenter who plans that one big job that will change his life: A daytime heist from a scarcely-guarded local museum. The plot was inspired by several actual snatch-and-grab jobs from the era,...

Qatar’s Doha Film Institute (Dfi) kicks off the 10th edition of its Qumra project and talent incubator event meeting this Friday.

Running from March 1 to 6 in downtown Doha and the lofty surroundings of the city’s I. M. Pei-designed Museum of Islamic Art, the event will welcome the filmmakers and producers of 40 projects across all formats for six days of masterclasses, workshops and one-on-one mentoring sessions.

Participants include UK director Ana Naomi de Sousa with Naseem, Fight With Grace about boxing star Naseem Hamed; Moroccan filmmaker Alaa Eddine Aljem with Eldorado, The Taste of the South, his second feature after Cannes Critics’ Week title The Unknown Saint; Tunisian director Mehdi Barsaoui with Aïcha, which follows 2019 drama A Son for which Sami Bouajila won Best Actor in the Venice’s Horizons sidebar, and Palestinian director Saleh Saadi with TV series Dyouf, about a young man who returns to his...

"How accidental our existences are, how full of influence by circumstance." Abramorama has revealed the new 2022 official trailer for My Architect, a documentary film from 2003 that is getting a re-release this year. The film was nominated for an Academy Award in 2004, after premiering at film festivals in 2003. My Architect is getting a restoration re-release this year, 19 years later, just one year shy of its 20th anniversary. Director Nathaniel Kahn searches to understand the complexities of his father, the renowned architect Louis Kahn, who died bankrupt and alone in 1974. The film has interviews with many architects including B.V. Doshi, Philip Johnson, Frank Gehry, Shamsul Wares, I.M. Pei, Moshe Safdie, and Anne Tyng. In the film, Kahn visits all of his father's buildings including The Yale Center for British Art, The Salk Institute, Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban, and the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. This looks like a fascinating story that is about...

I.M. Pei -- the famed Chinese American architect best known for his work at one of the most famous landmarks in Paris -- has died. Pei died Wednesday night, according to architecture critic and writer Paul Goldberger, who says he got the news from Pei's son. Pei -- who launched his career with a New York real estate developer in 1948 after graduating from Harvard -- is best known for designing the glass and steel Louvre...

(l-r) John Cho and Haley Lu Richardson on the steps of Columbus City Hall, in Columbus. Photo credit: Elisha Christian. Courtesy of Superlative Film and Depth of Field ©

Columbus is not a film about the Italian explorer but about an American city named for him. No, not Columbus, Ohio, but the lesser-known Columbus, Indiana. This small Midwestern city is home to a surprising number of buildings designed by big names in mid-century Modern architecture, such as Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, Deborah Burke, Harry Weese and others.

St. Louisans might recognize Eero Saarinen as the designer of the Gateway Arch but architecture buffs will know those names are some of the biggest of the Modern style of architecture. If you are a fan of mid-twentieth century architecture, or of Columbus, Indiana, then Columbus is the film for you. But even if not a fan of either, viewers might give this thoughtful,...

There was never any question that when lauded video essayist Kogonada finally turned his attention to a full-length feature, the finished product would be visually stunning and impeccably framed. The real surprise — and a satisfying one at that — is how the newly-minted filmmaker has used his debut effort “Columbus” to layer visual flair with deep emotional nuance, delivered care of two of the year’s best performances.

Set in the small city of Columbus, Indiana, an American mini-metropolis that’s home to a number of Modernist structures from such giants of architecture as Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, and Richard Meier, “Columbus” is a feast for the eyes, but its more lasting impression is on the heart.

Ostensibly a romantic drama in the vein of Richard Linklater’s “Before” trilogy and Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation,” “Columbus” joins together a pair of seemingly different people — both with troubles to spare — and delights in them,...

The second edition of Qumra, March 4 - 9, organized by the Doha Film Institute has wrapped. Through a series of one-on-one meetings, consultations and tutorials, delegates at Qumra - the producers and directors associated with the 33 projects from 19 countries selected for the industry program - are provided with deep insights on how their films can find their voice in the global film market.

Only 100+ people, all working hard and all meeting every day is especially appealing. Seen in light of mega-events as Berlin, Cannes, Tiff and Sundance, the intimacy of everyone sharing meals, attending the same party, staying at the same hotels within the famed souk and in walking distance to the incredibly beautiful Museum of Islamic Art, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect I.M. Pei where morning events, classes and screenings take place makes this event forever memorable.

Mentoring is a natural result of the rich mix of people from all levels of the industry sharing themselves along with their expertise.

In my closing conversation with Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi, Qumra Deputy Director Hanaa Issa and Artistic Advisor for the Doha Film Institute, filmmaker Elia Suleiman, I had quite pointed questions to ask but in fact, they were too pointed because as Elia said, “While the Qatar film industry is still in its infancy, we are all discovering and learning about the region and Qatar, the power of the filmmakers’ voices. We have no target to hit, because that would be too confining.”

What is the objective of all the activity of Dfi?

Fatma : Qumra marks the beginning of new collaborations, new creative partnerships and new friendships. At its heart, the mission of this event is to support emerging filmmakers. The program has been designed with the constant goal of creating a supportive and productive space for projects by emerging filmmakers to be nurtured and to provide maximum opportunities for our filmmakers to benefit from the wisdom of the most experienced industry experts in the world.

“Last year, we launched Qumra and embarked on an ambitious journey to provide emerging talent with an industry platform to help them build their skills and foster meaningful industry connections. In its second edition, we are excited to see it define its own niche with experts from across the world taking part in the discussions and asserting their commitment to supporting young filmmakers. We thank them for being here in Qatar and sharing their experience with the spirit of generosity that has come to embody this event.”

The objective of supporting Arab voices is being met faster than expected as shown by the success of ‘ Theeb’.

Editor: “Theeb” has won numerous awards in festivals including its debut in Venice where director-writer Naji Abu Nowar won for Best Director, winning the U.K.’s top BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer by Naji Abu Nowar and Rupert Lloyd and reaching the level of nominee for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

This coproduction between Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and U.K. was funded by Doha Film Institute, Visions Sud Est and Anad of Abu Dhabi and it has been sold by top international sales agent Fortissimo to Australia (Jiff Distribution), Belgium (ABC), Middle East (Mad Solutions), Netherlands (ABC – Cinemien), Norway (As Fidalgo), Switzerland (trigon-film) U.K. (New Wave) and U.S. (Film Movement).

Hanaa Issa : “In many ways, Qumra is the culmination of the work we have been doing at the Doha Film Institute over the past five years. It builds on the existing support we give to filmmakers through our education and development programs, our funding programs, and our screenings and film appreciation initiatives. Our first edition showed us that the format worked and provided meaningful results to all those who participated, and we are confident that the second edition has contributed to extending further support to our talents.

I notice how many young filmmakers are here, and how shorts seem to be a strong suit right now for them. How does this objective apply specifically to Qatar?

Hanaa : The Dfi is making Qatar voices heard by traveling, bringing a package of films and selected participants to Berlin, Cannes, Dubai and Clermont-Ferrand, the world’s first and still most prestigious short film festival.

Elia: Qumra is for the young filmmakers and to inspire them, especially at a time when fences and borders are being built all around, and new ones are springing everywhere in the world. The imagination and poetry of our young filmmakers serve as a resistance to these borders. The fact that we are here at Qumra shows our confidence in our filmmakers in breaking down these barriers.

Are you getting any feedback yet?

Elia : I mix among everyone and am hearing very positive things from the filmmakers, the experts and festival programmers.

I heard James Schamus say it is unique. I’ve had several conversations with young women filmmakers that go beyond the subject of filmmaking.

Elia: There are more women here than last year, perhaps because the doors are so recently opened.

How do you evaluate all that has happened here?

Fatma: Very soon after the event, all together, every person involved in the event reviews every step and we forecast trends from what we see has taken place so far. We plan how to fulfil the needs of the filmmakers as we grow.

How do you see the future?

Hanaa: Many more people want to come and some want to come at their own expense. We want to meet the demands and also to keep the integrity of Qumra and insure that projects develop with follow up by all participants. We want to keep the format and avoid getting too big, to keep it relevant…We want to see the evolution of the projects here.

I myself love the intimacy and fear its loss as more people become aware of how great this program is. As press, I hesitate to write to tell more people about it because I want to keep it small as a participant.

Elia: In ten years perhaps one of the Masters will be someone who began here.

Fatma: The returnees from the first year are here with passion. And yet we need to guard the windows for new comers.

Hanaa: I would say Qumra is “elastic”.

Those are good closing words. “Elastic” defines Qumra now. Thank you for this look at what has happened so far at Qumra. I hope to remain a part of the Qumra family now that I have participated with the short filmmakers myself and have experienced the people’s warm hospitality!

From the official press notes:

Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi said: “Qumra offers audiences highly engaging film experiences presenting new insights into the language of cinema and the process behind the creation of compelling films. They will also be educational and inspirational, underlining our commitment to strengthening film culture in Qatar by promoting access to and appreciation of world cinema.”

Masters and master classes with James Schamus, Joshua Oppenheimer, Naomi Kawase, Aleksandr Sokurov and Nuri Bilge Ceylan interested all participants and much of the public.

The Masters screenings, accompanied by Q&A sessions with the visiting Qumra Masters linked to each film were “The Look of Silence” (Denmark, Indonesia, Finland, Norway, UK / Indonesian, Javanese /2014) by Qumra Master Joshua Oppenheimer, “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” (Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina / Turkish / 2011) by Qumra Master Nuri Bilge Ceylan; “Russian Ark” (Russian Federation, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan / Russian / 2002) by Qumra Master Aleksandr Sokurov; “The Mourning Forest” (Japan, France / Japanese / 2007) by Qumra Master Naomi Kawase; and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (Taiwan, Hong Kong, USA, China / Mandarin / 2001) by Ang Lee, co-written and produced by Lee’s longtime collaborator and Qumra Master, James Schamus.

The ‘New Voices in Cinema’ screenings included two feature films granted by the Doha Film Institute: “ Mediterranea” (Italy, France, Germany, Qatar/ Arabic, English, French, Italian; 2015) by Jonas Carpignano being sold internationally by Ndm and Wme; “ Roundabout in my Head”/ “Fi rassi roun-point” (Algeria, France, Qatar/Arabic/2015); and two award-winning short films “Waves 98” by Ely Dagher (Lebanon, Qatar / Arabic / 2015), winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and “The Palm Tree ” (Qatar, No Dialogue, 2015) by Jasim Al Rumaihi, winner of the 2015 Ajyal Youth Film Festival Made in Qatar Award for Best Documentary.

Many of the industry guests included returnees as well as the new guests which count Bero Beyer, Rotterdam; Tine Fisher, Cph Dox; Christophe Le Parc, Director’s Fortnight, Cannes; Vincenzo Bugno, World Cinema Fund, Berlinale; Cameron Bailey, Tiff and Carlo Chatrian, Locarno here for their second time; Sundance for its first year; Matthijs Wouter Knol, European Film Market; Mike Goodridge, Protagonist; Memento Films, Arte; Michael Werner, Fortissimo; Alaa Karkouti, Mad Solutions and Selim El Azar, Gulf Films.

Also attending for the first time was Netflix who picked up “Under the Shadow” an elevated horror/ thriller partially funded by the Doha Film Institute, Film Movement and the Ford Foundation.

The closing night party was a sumptuous affair held in the desert, an homage to the tent dwellings of the Doha Bedouins, grandparents of those who are now forging a new urban and international identity.

The second edition of Qumra, March 4 - 9, the industry development event organized by the Doha Film Institute to nurture emerging voices in cinema with a focus on first and second-time filmmakers, will include as Masters, James Schamus and Joshua Oppenheimer along with Naomi Kawase, Aleksandr Sokurov and Nuri Bilge Ceylan participating in a series of master classes and one-on-one sessions with selected Qumra filmmakers and their projects along with screenings and Q&A sessions for Doha audiences throughout the week.

Read about previously announced Qumra Masters.

Held at the incredibly beautiful Museum of Islamic Art, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect I.M. Pei, and a cultural partner of the Doha Film Institute, Qumra supports the development of emerging filmmakers from Qatar, the Arab region and around the world. Dfi has arranged a “rainbow of colors in a bouquet of participants and masters”. Elia Suleiman, Artistic Advisor for the Doha Film Institute says, “each master is very different and the event looks like an edition of poetry.”

Due to unforeseen circumstances, previously announced Qumra Master Lucrecia Martel is no longer able to participate this year.

Directors and producers attached to up to thirty three projects in development or post-production are invited to participate in Qumra, named from the Arabic term ‘qumra’ popularly said to be the origin of the word ‘camera’ and used by the scientist, astronomer and mathematician Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham, 965-c.1040 Ce), whose work in optics laid out the principles of the camera obscura.

Qumra includes a number of emerging filmmakers from Qatar, as well as recipients of funding from the Institute’s Grants Program. The robust program features industry meetings designed to assist with propelling projects to their next stages of development, master classes, work-in-progress screenings, matchmaking sessions and tailored workshops with industry experts. This creative exchange takes place alongside a program of public screenings curated with input from the Qumra Masters.

Especially appealing about this event, seen in light of mega-events as Berlin, Cannes, Tiff and Sundance is the intimacy of everyone sharing meals, attending the same party, staying at the same hotel within the famed souk and in walking distance to the museum. Only 150 people, all working hard and all meeting every day as they work with 23 features, 11 of which are in development and 12 in post whose program has been guided by Elia Suleiman and Qumra Deputy Director Hanaa Issa. The Qumra team will also help us navigate the souk to find the best bargains in spices like saffron and sumac and tumeric, textiles and other middle eastern treasures from the silk road!

Qumra has come a long way in one year; where last year there was only one documentary, this year there are eight documentary features – four in development and four works-in-progress - and four short documentaries in development. Five of them are Qatari, five are from the Mena region and two international. There are 23 features of which five are from Qatar and 10 shorts, all from Qatar. Each Master will meet with four to five filmmakers formally but the collaboration among mentors and emerging filmmakers will extend far beyond such formal meetings.

There are also three great moderators of panels: Richard Pena, the longtime chief for the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York, Jean Michel Poignet and Paolo Bertolini of the Venice Film Festival.

Also included is a highly engaging selection of movies by the five Qumra Masters and from a selection of emerging talent during daily screenings and Q&A sessions. The selection includes Academy Award, Cannes Film Festival and Ajyal Youth Film Festival award winners.

Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi said: “This year, the Qumra Screenings will showcase the work of five esteemed masters of cinema alongside some tremendously talented emerging filmmakers. By presenting these two spectrums of cinematic works, Qumra will offer audiences highly engaging film experiences that will present new insights into the language of cinema and the process behind the creation of compelling films. They will also be educational and inspirational, underlining our commitment to strengthening film culture in Qatar by promoting access to and appreciation of world cinema.”

The Masters screenings, accompanied by Q&A sessions with the visiting Qumra Masters linked to each film are “The Look of Silence” (Denmark, Indonesia, Finland, Norway, UK / Indonesian, Javanese /2014) by Qumra Master Joshua Oppenheimer, “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia” (Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina / Turkish / 2011) by Qumra Master Nuri Bilge Ceylan; “The Russian Ark” (Russian Federation, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan / Russian / 2002) by Qumra Master Aleksandr Sokurov; “The Mourning Forest” (Japan, France / Japanese / 2007) by Qumra Master Naomi Kawase; and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (Taiwan, Hong Kong, USA, China / Mandarin / 2001) by Ang Lee, co-written and produced by Lee’s longtime collaborator and Qumra Master, James Schamus.

The ‘New Voices in Cinema’ screenings include two feature films granted by the Doha Film Institute: “ Mediterranea” (Italy, France, Germany, Qatar/ Arabic, English, French, Italian; 2015) by Jonas Carpignano being sold internationally by Ndm and Wme; “Roundabout in my Head”/ “Fi rassi roun-point” (Algeria, France, Qatar/Arabic/2015); and two award-winning short films “Waves 98” by Ely Dagher (Lebanon, Qatar / Arabic / 2015), winner of the Palme d’Or for Best Short Film at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and “The Palm Tree ” (Qatar, No Dialogue, 2015) by Jasim Al Rumaihi, winner of the 2015 Ajyal Youth Film Festival Made in Qatar Award for Best Documentary.

“We are privileged to have James Schamus and Joshua Oppenheimer participate as Qumra Masters this year,” said Doha Film Institute CEO Fatma Al Remaihi. “Both filmmakers, while very different in style, are truly ground-breaking in their fields and bring a wealth of experience to Qumra that will be invaluable for the young filmmakers participating.”

“We look forward to welcoming James and Joshua to the Gulf region for the first time and enabling our Qumra 2016 participants to establish a connection with these two leaders of independent filmmaking in the Us.”

Both Schamus and Oppenheimer were born in the Us and combine their acclaimed filmmaking careers with other roles within the industry: Schamus as a revered film historian and academic; and Oppenheimer as Artistic Director of the Centre for Documentary and Experimental Film at the University of Westminster in London.

Schamus, a multi award-winning screenwriter, director and leading Us indie producer, is best known for his long creative collaboration with Taiwanese director Ang Lee. He has worked with Lee on nine films, including “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000), which won four Academy Awards, including Best Foreign Language Film and Best Cinematography, and remains the highest-grossing non-English-language film in the Us. He was the screenwriter for Lee's “The Ice Storm”, for which he won the award for Best Screenplay at the Festival de Cannes in 1997 and co-wrote “Eat Drink Man Woman” (1994), the first of Lee’s films to achieve both critical and commercial success.

As a producer, Schamus co-founded the Us powerhouse production company Good Machine in the early 1990s, and then from 2002 to 2014 was CEO of Focus Features, the motion picture production, financing and worldwide distribution company whose films during his tenure included Wes Anderson's “Moonrise Kingdom” (2012), Michel Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Roman Polanski's “The Pianist “(2002), Henry Selick's Coraline (2009) and Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” (2003).

In 2014, Schamus turned his hand to directing with the short documentary “That Film About Money” (2014), and in 2016 made his feature directorial debut with an adaptation of Philip Roth's “Indignation," which had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2016 and is screening at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival in the Panorama section.

Schamus is also Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia University’s School of the Arts, where he teaches film history and theory, and is the author of 'Carl Theodor Dreyer's Gertrud: The Moving Word', published by the University of Washington Press.

Elia Suleiman , the Artistic Advisor to Doha Film Institute, recalls how he and James grew up together in New York as long-time friends. James introduced him to the Chilean master filmmaker Raul Ruiz. Schamus helped him with his short film while at Good Machine. He helped edit the script and was his guardian angel helping with his first contract. They even had a code for “urgent”. When Elia was in Jerusalem and James in London they used the code whenever Elia was overwhelmed by the paperwork needed. James would answer within 15 minutes. Now James has come full circle on his own, from being one of the most important producers of the decade to directing his own film. When asked by Qumra what was most important, he said first time filmmakers were the most important. And he has always been able to spot the most talented of emerging filmmakers.

Two-time Academy Award nominee Joshua Oppenheimer’s debut feature-length film, “The Act of Killing” (2012) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film, named Film of the Year by The Guardian and the Sight and Sound Film Poll, and won 72 international awards, including a European Film Award, a BAFTA, an Asia Pacific Screen Award, a Berlin International Film Festival Audience Award, and the Guardian Film Award for Best Film.

His second film, “The Look of Silence” (2014) had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where it won five awards including the Grand Jury Prize, the Fipresci Prize and the Fedeora Prize. It was nominated for the 2016 Oscar for Best Documentary Film, and has received 66 international awards, including an International Documentary Association Award for Best Documentary, a Gotham Award for Best Documentary, and three Cinema Eye Honors for Nonfiction Filmmaking.

Oppenheimer is a partner at the Final Cut for Real production company in Copenhagen, and Artistic Director of the Centre for Documentary and Experimental Film at the University of Westminster, London.

Many of the industry guests include returnees as well as the new guests which count Bero Beyer, Rotterdam; Tine Fisher, Cph Dox; Christophe Le Parc, Director’s Fortnight, Cannes; Vincenzo Bugno, World Cinema Fund, Berlinale; Cameron Bailey, Tiff and Carlo Chatrian, Locarno here for their second time; Sundance for its first year; Matthijs Wouter Knol, European Film Market; Mike Goodridge, Protagonist; Memento Films, Arte; Michael Werner, Fortissimo; Alaa Karkouti, Mad Solutions and Selim El Azar, Gulf Films.

Also attending for the first time will be Netflix who picked up “Under the Shadow” an elevated horror/ thriller partially funded by the Doha Film Institute, Film Movement and the Ford Foundation.

Previous Qumra Masters include Mexican actor, director and producer Gael Garcia Bernal (“Amores Perros”; “No”; “Deficit”), Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako (Timbuktu - nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2015 Academy Awards); Romanian auteur and Palme d’Or winner Cristian Mungiu (“4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”; “Beyond the Hills”); and Bosnian writer/director Danis Tanović (“An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker”; “Tigers”, “No Man’s Land” - winner of Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2001).

Marco Mueller has been appointed director of the inaugural Macau International Film Festival (Dec 8-13).

Formerly head of the Venice and Rome film festivals, Mueller held the post of chief consultant at this year’s Beijing International Film Festival, where he revamped the international competition section, and also headed programming at the Silk Road International Film Festival, which took place in Fuzhou, China in September, 2015.

Hosted by the government of Macau and the Macau Film & Television Productions and Culture Association, the new event aims to become a major hub in East Asia for red carpet premieres of Asian and international films.

The festival will be held at the Macau Cultural Centre and the Macau Science Centre, designed by I.M. Pei, but is likely to also host screenings in Macau’s high-end multiplexes and casinos.

Lorna Tee, who recently worked with Mueller on the Silk Road International Film Festival, has been appointed head of programming and Mueller will also...

Marco Mueller has been appointed director of the inaugural Macau International Film Festival (Dec 8-13).

Formerly head of the Venice and Rome film festivals, Mueller held the post of chief consultant at this year’s Beijing International Film Festival, where he revamped the international competition section, and also headed programming at the Silk Road International Film Festival, which took place in Fuzhou, China in September, 2015.

Hosted by the government of Macau and the Macau Film & Television Productions and Culture Association, the new event aims to become a major hub in East Asia for red carpet premieres of Asian and international films.

The festival will be held at the Macau Cultural Centre and the Macau Science Centre, designed by I.M. Pei, but is likely to also host screenings in Macau’s high-end multiplexes and casinos.

Lorna Tee, who recently worked with Mueller on the Silk Road International Film Festival, has been appointed head of programming and Mueller will also...

This story first appeared in the Feb. 27 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Sony Music is moving onto the Sony Pictures Studios lot in Culver City during the next two years, sources tell THR. Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton aspires to synergize the com­pany's properties within one complex, a la Disney's Burbank headquarters. Read More Sony’s Executive Upheaval: More to Follow? (Analysis) Currently, Sony Music is based in CAA's former home at 9830 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills. The 75,000-square-foot, three-story space, designed by I.M. Pei and featuring a wall-sized Roy Lichtenstein painting,

read more...

Those who follow all things Beyoncé and Jay Z know that the couple has been gallivanting about Paris, including a trip to the Louvre. In fact, it was just last week when Jay Z told off a guy filming who asked, "Who is he?" just beyond I.M. Pei's pyramids. Well, they went inside! Both posted photos on Instagram of themselves in front of Leonardo da Vinci's iconic painting, "The Mona Lisa." 16th century icon, meet your 21st century icons.

Kim Kardashian is getting some quality girl time in before tying the knot on Saturday. The reality star, 33, took a breather from last-minute wedding prep to enjoy an intimate dinner Thursday evening at Hotel Costes with several of her sisters and several female friends. Decked in a gold dress, Kardashian met up with Kendall, Kylie and Khloé - who were all dressed to the nines - at the hotel, where she's spent time three nights in a row. Across town, the rest of the bride-to-be's family tucked into dinner at L'Ami Louis. Kourtney, Kris Jenner, stepdad Bruce Jenner, grandma M.

The heralded, award-winning 28-year-old franchise will begin to chronicle not only American masters but also “emerging American masters,” Michael Kantor said in a New York Times interview — industry speak for “targeting younger viewers.” The franchise will stop emphasizing important cultural figures important to the baby boom generation, Kantor told Nyt, which got first crack at the news. The series will redefine the word “masters” to include profiles of people in industry. Ditto science. That said, the series already has profiled Albert Einstein, as well as I.M. Pei, Billie Jean King, Walter Cronkite, etc. — in addition to more traditional subjects such as Arthur Miller, Georgia O’Keeffe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Leonard Bernstein, Sidney Poitier, Judy Garland, John James Audubon, Bob Dylan, Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Guthrie, Jimi Hendrix, etc. Susan Lacy, who created American Masters in 1986, left to join HBO in September. Related: ‘American Masters’ Creator Susan Lacy Departs PBS For HBO Under Lacy’s watch,...

Black Sabbath, Kiss and the Sex Pistols have also blasted the institution.

By Gil Kaufman

Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose

Photo: Getty Images

Suffice it to say that in his lengthy, lawyerly letter to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this week refusing his induction as part of the classic line-up of Guns N' Roses, singer Axl Rose had a bone (or two, or six or 20) to pick with the process.

It's hard to say who the enigmatic hard-rock icon was most mad at, but his steadfast refusal to attend the induction, or even acknowledge the honor, put him in a long tradition of rock legends who've either bashed the Rrhof for not including them (only to change their tune once their number came up) or refused to show up, not to mention the fans who've raised holy hell when their favorite bands couldn't make the cut.

"We Want You on That Wall,...

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum sits fairly isolated on Boston Harbor. On a cold and clear December day, I.M. Pei’s architecture looks undeniably beautiful, in many ways showing the best of what can be accomplished in America. But the view of the harbor is undeniably stark, leaving one to wonder: What if the man to which it was dedicated had lived longer? It seems only appropriate that this shrine to the most notable member of the famed yet tragic “essential American family” is also home to the largest collection of letters from the famed yet tragic “essential American...

I'd not been to the I.M. Pei-designed seven-story pyramid that houses the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland for at least six years. With my family traveling to Akron for a long summer visit, it was inevitable that I'd make the short journery north to take in the history of rock. Well, the caveat being, not the entire history of rock as it continues to be wriiten, but the inductees into this American-based Hall of Fame since the first class of 1986. Hard to believe the museum itself opened on September 2nd, 1995. (The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was born on April 20, 1983.). It's easy to spend a full day in the museum taking in the exhibits, artifacts, and movies. 

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The elite Choate boarding school is embroiled in a tabloid-ready scandal, involving catty Facebook postings about students drinking and taking drugs.

The elite Choate Rosemary Hall boarding school has long been a destination for the rich and fabulous, with so many big-name graduates and booted preppies-jfk, Ivanka Trump, a Bhutan royal, Ali MacGraw, Edward Albee, and Michael Douglas, to name a few-that it seems like an East Coast cauldron of money-meets-Hollywood-meets-international glamour.

Related story on The Daily Beast: The Facebook Gaming Revolution

Now the prestigious Connecticut prep school has its own tabloid-ready scandal. Again.

Last month, Choate officials banned access to Facebook through campus computers after discovering a 200-plus-page-long thread, crackling with Gossip Girl-cattinesss, penned by half a dozen Choate girls. "You know it is possible to say no when someone tries to have sex with you. Just throwing that out there. Like no is still an option,...

A one-time cow town, oil town, and even a tent city (when it was founded during the 1889 land rush), Oklahoma City is urgently trying to reinvent itself as the next big city in America. If "America is the Saudi Arabia of natural gas," as T. Boone Pickens puts it, then Oklahoma City is its Riyadh. It's home to three of the largest independent producers--Chesapeake, Devon, and Sandridge--which are helping to underwrite its urban ambitions.

This afternoon, Sandridge will unveil an over $100 million expansion of its downtown headquarters across three city blocks. The plans include a renovated 1960s tower by architect Pietro Belluschi, a restored Braniff Building--built in 1923 by the brothers who started their namesake airline--and a public park recycled from a pair of windswept plazas. The New York-based architecture firm of Rogers Marvel will incorporate features like green roofs, native plantings, and storm-water management to meet Leed standards. Sandridge, which...

By Sharon Waxman

It's been nearly a year since CAA made a fateful decision at its new Death Star headquarters in Century City, all shiny and gleamy and expensive.

No more parking validation.

This was a shocking breach of Hollywood etiquette just months after the talent agency moved out of Mike Ovitz's I.M. Pei-designed lair in central Beverly Hills.

And it was particularly painful because some of us had already noticed that parking was a sickening $34 for a couple of hours. That r...

Even buildings get sick--and when they get sick, you'd better watch your head.

Since 2005, hundreds of the 438-pound marble slabs that cover I.M. Pei's National Gallery of Art in D.C. have been slipping loose--not falling, but threatening to. Phew! Remember when those 11-foot-tall window panes popped out of his Hancock Tower in Boston? Guess he didn't learn much--after four years of head-scratching, The Wall Street Journal says the marble mystery has been solved ... and it's basically the same deal.

The story is, Pei used 3-inch-thick panels (too thin) connected by 1/8-inch-thick gaskets (too narrow), so when the panels warped in the heat (as thin as that, they warped a lot), the stiff gaskets couldn't take it. Shit. (In Boston, a too-stiff bond between the windows' two layers of glass couldn't handle heat and wind pressure and popped the outer layer off.)

We've heard these stories before--yeah, yeah, Gehry's school leaks,...

Key industry, notable press, and local audiences all came together this past week to make the inaugural Doha Tribeca Film Festival - which drew notable directors like Mira Nair and Martin Scorsese - an unqualified success. I'm not just saying that because I work here, or because the hard work of the past few months has faded into the rosy glow of an event's aftermath. I'm saying that because, even though there were glitches and bumps to stumble over, it was well done, with good films and happy participants. From the City Center multiplex to I.M. Pei's latest masterpiece (the Museum of Islamic Art), from the historic Souq Waqif to the Four Seasons, the Festival spanned the entire city to showcase the depth of culture found in Doha. Highlighted by quality cinema and sparkling events, an event of this magnitude was no easy feat (quick shout out to the amazing duo at the helm,...

There's a price for everything, even in the Louvre: Tomorrow, Apple will be opening up their very first Parisian Apple Store, and it'll sit in the concourse right below I.M. Pei's glass pyramid.

According to Bloomberg, this will be Apple's 277th store, worldwide. It's set to be slightly smaller than the one on Oxford Circus in London. But it's not tiny: The bilevel store will employ 150 people. You can expect the place to be mobbed. The Louvre concourse is one of the most heavily trafficked places in Paris. It links all of the wings of the Louvre, and visitors to the museum have to pass by before entering the museum.

For Microsoft, it comes at a particularly irksome time. Last month they opened a very sad looking cafe to coincide with the launch of Windows 7.

By next summer, Apple will open two more stores in France--one near Opera, a...

Huge local crowds, a little bit of chaos and international stars turned out Thursday night for the official opening of the inaugural Doha Tribeca Film Festival in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar. The I.M. Pei designed Museum of Islamic Art served as the very impressive backdrop for the festival’s opening night pre-reception and screening of Mira Nair’s “Amelia.” Three-thousand locals along with international guests turned up on the museum’s expansive …...

he first annual Tribeca Film Festival begins today in Doha, Qatar, the tiny, oil-rich Arabian monarchy on the Persian Gulf. A swank of celebrities—Robert de Niro, Ben Kingsley, Jeff Koons, Patricia Clarkson and directors Martin Scorsese, Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) and R.J. Cutler (The September Issue) are attending the festivities, which will be headquartered at I.M. Pei's new Museum of Islamic Art. The event was cooked up by the Emir's daughter, Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, 27, after she worked as an intern for the Tribeca festival in the summer of 2006. (Her first job was picking up breakfast pastries.) It's the first time the Tribeca group has expanded its franchise globally, and the woman helming the four-day event is festival executive director Amanda Palmer, a veteran of CNN and Al Jazeera. We asked her what it's going to be like:

Alexandra L. Peers: Why a Tribeca Film Festival in Qatar?...

Glass pyramids and cylindrical stucco facades both fall under the geometric umbrella of Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei, who has just been announced as winner of QE2's prestigious Royal Gold Medal. The 92-year-old architect, recognized for projects like the Louvre pyramid, retired from full-time practice in 1990. Since then, he has taken on work as an architectural consultant, supervising a round of museum commissions from Qatar to China.

2008: Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar, which covers a 376,740-square-foot area sited in Doha Bay in the Arabian Gulf.

2006: Luxembourg's Mudam (or, Musée d'art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean) was built on the site of the old Fort Thüngen in the northeast of the city.

Ieoh Ming Pei was born in 1917 in China, and arrived in the U.S. to study architecture at MIT and Harvard on the cusp of the International Style movement, led by his professors Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer.

With the NFL season less than a week old, the new $1.15 billion stadium for the Dallas Cowboys may be the most talked about piece of architecture in the country.

Designed by Hks, the go-to architecture firm for splashy sports arenas, Cowboy Stadium has gained notice this week mostly for a flaw: its $40 million high-def Mitsubishi scoreboard that bafflingly hangs 90 feet above the field--low enough for A.J. Trapasso, a Tennessee Titans kicker, to bang a punt off it during a preseason game.

The low-hanging scoreboard notwithstanding, the stadium is notable for its whopping dimensions--it seats 100,000 and the "world's largest operable glass doors" open up behind each end zone--at a time when conventional thinking favors modesty and moderation. On the other hand, who would expect a stadium in Big D to be anything but a hollering XXX-Large.

Big projects are like runaway trains--you can't stop them just because the economy sours.

I haven't seen enough of Gemma Arterton - and most likely, neither have you - to say whether or not she's worth the build-up. Probably the last time a young British starlet emerged like this was Keira Knightley, who, it is safe to say, has turned out to be a much better investment than you would've thought six years ago. In fact, it's hard to imagine Atonement and The Duchess even existing without her.

We'll see what the future holds for Arterton, but at the very least, we know she'll be busy. The other Bond girl from Quantum of Solace, Arterton will appear in Clash of the Titans and Prince of Persia next year, as well as a new Wuthering Heights, so by the time Tamara Drewe rolls around, we'll have a better idea of what she can do.

Drewe is a live-action adaptation of the graphic novel by Posy Simmonds...

Though the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was first established in 1983, it took 12 years before it finally settled on an actual home. On September 2, 1983, Yoko Ono and Little Richard cut the ribbon to officially open the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio. The hall, designed by legendary architect I.M. Pei, the Hall houses seven floors of music history and memorabilia, from Keith Moon's velvet suit to Janis Joplin's 1965 Porsche. Though the criteria for getting into the Hall is sketchy at best, in recent years they've done a better job about embracing older rock pioneers from the '50s and more underground and hip-hop acts from the modern era.

This year's inductees included Jeff Beck, Little Anthony & the Imperials, Run-d.M.C., Metallica and Bobby Womack. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has been slow to embrace metal, so the welcoming of Metallica...

After snatching up the William Morris Agency, Rahm’s younger brother is vying to become the next industry strongman -- but does he have the muscle?

By Kim Masters

Hollywood hasn’t had a real strongman since Michael Ovitz built up the Creative Artists Agency in the 1980s and called the shots from his sleek I.M. Pei-designed headquarters in Beverly Hills.

There’s been such a long gap since he took a fatal step by accepting the No. 2 job at Disney in 1995 that a person had to wonder whether nature really did abhor this particular vacuum.

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Quick: Which state has the boldest architecture? Ohio didn't roll of your tongue, did it? But Bowling Green State University, near Toledo, just broke ground on a new building by Snøhetta. And that's on top of a slew of other works by contemporary masters, scattered around the state, including Coop Himmelb(l)au, Frank Gehry, Thom Mayne, Sanaa, Zaha Hadid, I.M. Pei, Peter Eisenmann, Cesar Pelli, Robert Stern and Arata Isosaki; Rafael Vinoly is putting the finishing touches on an expansion of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Snøhetta's Wolfe Center for the Arts will be the new home of Bowling Green's music and theater departments; it'll also anchor the arts on campus, with theaters and performance spaces. Naturally, it's a fairly large building, at 93,000 square feet, with a cost of $40 million. The signature feature will be a stunning cantelevered awning, which visitors approach via a gently graded, grassy ramp.

iHandy Level - ****

Thirteen-year-old Connor Mulcahey made headlines last week when he downloaded the billionth app in Apple's "Billion App Countdown Promotion." As the grand prizewinner, he's now enjoying a bunch of Apple gear and a $10,000 iTunes gift card to purchase more gadgets, games and gags for his iDevices.

While many of the top selling apps only cost a buck, this is a huge business for Apple--and the iTunes app store opened its doors only nine months ago. I'm probably not the target customer for much of what's available and have only a handful of these apps. However, the easy impulse buy can be addictive, (I've just downloaded "Flashlight" while writing this) and I have become reliant on some of these. I wake up in the morning to the gentle strumming guitar available on "Nightstand's" alarm clock. I improve my vocabulary and spelling with "Dictionaire." My kids love "Koi Pond...

Peanut Birdfeeder - *****

Five years ago our family moved out of Manhattan to Palisades, New York, 30 miles north on the Hudson River. One of the great joys of living there is that it is teaming with wildlife. Among this host of fauna, I'm most fond of the wild birds that I keep happy with a daily feeding of nuts and seeds. Unfortunately, I've been unimpressed with the many birdfeeders that are commonly available. Most look more like cages and lack any design merit.

When I saw the Peanut Birdfeeder in the Design Within Reach catalog, it looked way too beautiful to actually work. I was skeptical, but decided to spend the $90 to give it a try.

At first, no one showed. A failure, I thought. It took a couple days for birds to trust this bizarre, Sputnik-like orb but finally I saw it swinging on the branch, evidence that one...

Fender Telecaster *****

What constitutes a "game changer?" It's usually an idea so bold that its effect completely alters preconceived notions of what something can do or should be. Think Apple's iPhone, Toyota's Prius or even the typeface Helvetica.

In 1950, the Fender Telecaster (originally called the Broadcaster) changed the way musicians thought about the electric guitar. It broke all the rules. It was the first commercially successful solid body guitar. It introduced bolt-together construction and utilized innovative electronics. And, everything about its design said "the future."

Hollow body, arch top guitars were pretty much the norm up until the "Tele" came along. Leo Fender's, beautiful invention quickly became favored by rock & roll and country musicians of the period. And it still is today. I've never seen Bruce Springsteen without one and its versatility and sonic range also appeals to jazz virtuosos like Bill Frisell.

Its blonde body and black pick guard...

La Pyramide du Louvre - *****

From the moment I.M. Pei's design for the pyramidal addition to the Musee du Louvre was introduced in 1985, it was the subject of controversy and international attention, derided as a violation of the museum's classical integrity. But two decades later, it is one of the top tourist attractions in Paris, attracting some 8.5 million annual visitors.

Two weeks ago I traveled to Paris for the 20th Anniversary celebration of the project. It was also a reunion of the original team that worked on this historic project, including our firm, which worked closely with the architects on developing the original wayfinding and signage.

The week of festivities included a light installation by Jenny Holzer, lectures and films. But the highlight was a daylong seminar about Pei's architectural plan, its impact on the Louvre and on the city of Paris. Architects and curators dramatically recounted the massively complex process,...

Jackson Hole, Wyo., bigmouths swear Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart took blood tests and got licenses so could be they already are or soon will be filing joint returns . . . Tom Hanks watching son Colin's B'way debut in "33 Variations," now previewing at the Eugene O'Neill . . . I.M. Pei, alone, lunching contentedly at Gramercy Tavern . . . "Love, Loss, and What I Wore," Nora and Delia Ephron's play of comedy and delicious nostalgia, having weekly readings at producer Daryl Roth's downtown theater. Last Monday's readers were America Ferrera,...

We open on … oh dear. There seems to have been some sort of mistake, and my TiVO recorded Regis and Kelly. Which is not just a simple case of DVR malfunction but more evidence of how much my TiVO hates me and is actively trying to drive me insane. Why else would it constantly be suggesting I try watching Ghost Whisperer?

It turns out that Kelly and the Reege have taken time out of their busy schedule shilling for whatever bank Commerce is this week to offer up a B&S cameo. Which makes it exactly three-fifths less irritating than if it had been The View. I’m looking forward to the part where Kitty clamps her hand over Kelly’s mouth, and Kelly says, “Put that away, dear. I don’t know where inside your husband it’s been.”

Kitty is on TV hawking her crappy book that nobody will ever read,...