Another Official Selection of the 21st Annual Philadelphia Film Festival has made it's way back to the Philadelphia Silver Screens. Adam Leon's‘Gimme The Loot’ opens at the Ritz Bourse this weekend.
Borrowing it’s title from the classic Biggie tune, ‘Gimme The Loot’ follows two teenagers as they plan a scheme to become the most famous graffiti artists in New York by putting their tag on the infamous Mets' home-run apple.
Director Adam Leon was in town last October during PFF21 to present the film to Festival attendees.
After premiering at Cannes Film Festival, ‘The Sapphires’ came to Philadelphia for PFF21 and received as much fanfare as it did in France. Audiences embraced the true story of four talented young Aboriginal girls, plucked from obscurity and transformed into a soulful Motown-style singing group.
Now, the film based on the hit Australian play is open for all to see at the Ritz Five and to promote it, director Wayne Blair paid our good city a visit.
Just got back from the Sundance Film Festival and I’m happy to report that there are some great things in store for filmgoers this year. After many sleepless nights, long hours in lines and some plowing through screeners in front of my laptop, I’ve managed to sift through 90+ movies. Some incredible gems, some duds, plenty of things I’m excited to follow up with and hopefully bring to Philly in the fall. What will make the cut? You’ll just have to wait and see. But, in the meantime, there are some great Sundance hits just around the corner.
The month of February celebrates a number of things for different groups of people. In the United States and Canada, it’s Black History Month. In the UK, it’s LGBT History Month. For fans of the NFL, it marks the end of their season as the two top teams in the NFL battle it out in the Super Bowl. Finally, for cinefiles all over the world, this February is all about Hollywood looking back at the past year’s praiseworthy films in order to honor them at the 85th Academy Awards.
However, I have a confession to make: I’m not too huge on award shows, especially the Academy Awards.
Although the Sundance Film Festival is a little over 2,000 miles away from Philadelphia, we’ve got some pretty tight connections to their 2013 line up!
Don Jon’s Addiction – Directorial debut of recent Philly visitor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Spectacular Now – Writers, Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter also worked together on the PFF18 opening night film (500) Days of Summer.
If you recall, after each movie in the Philadelphia Film Festival, you were asked to rate the film on a ballot. Well, the numbers are in and we’ve determined some of the standout, award-worthy films of PFF21!
During the 21st Philadelphia Film Festival, we celebrated the 10-year anniversary of M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Signs’ at the Prince Theater with a Q&A with the director and WMMR's ‘Preston & Steve’ morning show host/movie buff Steve Morrison after the film. Here are some pictures from the event to relive the great time had by all attended:
Sandy who? There's still a full day of screenings at the 21st Philadelphia Film Festival! And if you brave the weather, you can take advantage of our buy one get one free tickets. Hopefully these savings are the only things to blow you away today and not the high winds.
If you're not sure what to see tonight, might I sugest the following:
Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey
[i]A rockumentary about Arnel Pineda, the internet sensation that went from leading a Filipino cover band to fronting one of the most legendary bands of all time, Journey.
In just a few short hours, the 21st Philadelphia Film Festival kicks off this year’s festivities with a screening of David O. Russell’s ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, and Robert DeNiro.
If you managed to get tickets or snag a badge (since that’s the only way you’ll get into this SOLD OUT event), you’ll be rubbing elbows with ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ author Matthew Quick, producers Donna Gigliotti and Bruce Cohen, and director O. Russell since they’ll all be making appearances right here in Philly for the festival.
Last Friday, the whole line up for this year’s Philadelphia Film Festival went live. Hopefully in the week that it’s been available, you’ve noticed that there’s a great selection this year, but for you newbies (or even some of you veteran festival goers), it might be a little overwhelming when you’re trying to decide which films to see.
