Hollywood

FX Bags the Official Rights to the '2012' Explosion
The Roland Emmerich disaster movie, 2012, has opened big everywhere on its opening weekend. The rights of this 'already a blockbuster' movie have been snapped up by FX. Here's more on the big story...

Teen Thieves Robbed Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Megan Fox and Others
Some of the biggest names in Hollywood have been burglarized recently by a group of teens driven by celebrity obsession and greed.

California Literally Buying Back Filmmakers
As the movie and film industry have moved out of California in recent years, the state is now left scrambling to try to win back the business that was once thriving in that state.

Top 10 Richest Actors
The flamboyant lifestyle led by actors is a testimony to the fact that these individuals have toiled hard to earn the wealth they have amassed. The following will throw light on the ten richest actors in the world.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies
He set many a pulse racing amongst the ladies and he caused men to emulate his perfectly, chiseled body. Arnold Schwarzenegger has enthralled audiences till date with his action-packed movies. Here’s a look at some of his movies that left a lasting impression.

Interesting Facts about Hollywood
Very few places can be truly described as full of legends galore. Hollywood definitely is one of them. The very name Hollywood brings to mind an interesting mix of facts and myths to the movie buffs around the world. Read on to known about some interesting facts about Hollywood.

List of Famous Male Movie Actors
We all have our own favorites amongst actors who have made a strong impression in our lives. This list of famous male movie actors would brief you with many such names that have made their presence felt in the world of movies.

Female Hollywood Movie Stars
Hollywood has seen the launch of many movie stars who have always been our idols and have gained adulation from people all over the world. Here is a look at some of the most famous and popular female Hollywood movie stars.

Top 10 Best Hollywood Movies
Well, here is an account of what I consider are the top 10 Hollywood movies. Do check them out.

Bee Movie: What’s the Buzz?
So, what do Jerry Seinfield and Steve Martin have in common? - They both must have fought stage fright. Well, because Jerry Seinfield does not dish out lame jokes like this one, his upcoming movie - Bee Movie - which is a highly anticipated, animated movie.

Hollywood Brats
It has been reported that producer Joe Nasser is developing a film called Hollywood Brats which we will be based on the real life scandals of three young celebrities.

What happened to Hollywood?
Sex and violence sell… What are going to be the long-term effects of the trash movies that have invaded our homes and our minds? What will this kind of thinking do to our children?

Hollywood Goes Nuts Over Walrus Penis
A mummified walrus penis, measuring 4 ½’ long, is the talk of Hollywood celebs and fossil collectors around the world.

Hollywood Madam Airs Dirty Laundry
Heidi Fleiss, Hollywood’s notorious Madam to the stars, made a splash on Sunday by revealing even more "Dirty Laundry" to the public

The Enduring Value of the Underdog Story
Underdog themed stories will never die. They capture an aspect of everyday life that we all feel at one point or another - that desire to belong and be respected, which is why I'm okay with the over saturation of these stories we see every year.

The Healing Magic of the Film Festival
Film Festivals happen in almost every major city, all over the world. Regardless of their size, audience, or importance, that Hollywood free week or two or three of world cinema can be the answer to anger and cynicism starting to breed from Hollywood's recent failures.

The Dangers of Sequel Peddling
In the space of no more than 30 seconds, even a good film can be tarnished with the sequel peddling of Hollywood executives greedy to see how an audience would react to yet another film in their overplayed franchises.

The Drain of Original Thought In Hollywood
It's all too easy these days to drain a dead idea for more money in Hollywood, whipping out two, three, or four sequels from a long withered husk of a franchise.

Hollywood’s Newest Ticket to Box Office Gold: Zombies
With the number and intensity of real-world horrors increasing rapidly, perhaps it’s no surprise that movie-going audiences are eating up zombie movies like never before.

How Disney Killed Children's Films
When I was a child, Disney films were the paramount of our movie collection. Over the last few years, that same studio has managed to kill the essence that is children's film. What went wrong?

Rapper Eve Arrested
It was reported that rapper Eve was arrested early Thursday morning in Hollywood on drunken driving charges.

The Evolution of Horror Film
The horror genre has long been a disturbingly socially conscious release from real life horrors. Today's horror industry is once again booming and its doing it through the resurgence of classic franchises and the torture sub-genre.

The American Image - Film's Role As International Diplomat
For years Hollywood has more effect on the world's perspective of us than any other medium or political movement we've undertaken. Through images and fictional stories, America has shown the world its excesses, but where are the stories of its people?

Movie Critics Copping Out - The Cheap Politcal Allegory
Movie critics are taking the oft traveled road of declaring every major, explosive blockbuster to be an allegory for our president and his war policies. Agree or not, it's a lazy way to peg a film and takes away from films with actual, strong messages.

The Return of 80s Cartoons - The Nostalgic Blitzkreig on Hollywood
As more and more children of the 80s grow into professional careers and start thinking fondly on their favorite shows from childhood, Hollywood responds with a wave of fresh remakes of fave cartoons.

Do American's Need Edited Editions of Foreign Films? I Think Not
The dumbing down of amazing films from overseas, in particular Asia, to remove cultural references that make no sense to American audiences is common practice and an insult to American audiences and the Asian Film makers.

The Ugly Face of Video Gaming Crossovers in Film
It's not the ugly stepchild of pop culture any more, but it is still going to take as little respect from the film industry before video gaming can be truly accepted as a multimedia force.

The Cult of Violence in Popular Film
Popular film has long used violence as a crucial tool in action and exploitation films. Of late, the hyper-stylized formatting has turned violence into something of an art form.

A Star Is Found: Our Adventures Casting Some of Hollywood's Biggest Movies
For anyone who's ever wondered how the Princess Bride ended up with an English accent or what Julia Roberts wore to the audition for her first major role -- or for anyone who's ever walked out of a movie saying "I would never have put that guy in that part" -- here is a first-of-its-kind look at how actors are chosen and careers are born.

"Jesus Camp" Film Shocks Both Christians and Non-Christians
A new documentary about a Pentecostal summer camp in North Dakota is causing controversy among Christians and non-Christians alike with its scenes of children sobbing while proclaiming to be soldiers in God’s army.

Toronto's Film Festival Celebrates a World of Filmmaking
For 31 years, the Toronto International Film Festival has showcased the best examples of filmmaking from around the world. One of the most controversial films to be shown at this year's festival is "Death of a President," the mock-doc depicting the assassination of President George Bush.

Porn Industry Begins Selling Adult Films Online
Starting on Monday, the adult entertainment industry will begin selling X-rated adult films through the online movie service CinemaNow, and allow buyers to burn DVDs that they can play on their television.

Famous Feather Boa And Handmade Angel Wing Supplier Celebrates Tenth Anniversary
From Hollywood stars to opera conductors, everyone adores the gorgeous line of feather boas and handmade angel wings supplied by Patricia "Trisha" Lardy, owner of Trisha’s Temptations and Dreamangels.net.

The Hollywood Film Institute: Learn Filmmaking Without Going West
Film education has been revolutionized forever by the Hollywood Film Institute, an educational resource center founded by a great film instructor, Dov S-S Simens.

Stockard Channing Busted for DUI
The West Wing actress Stockard Channing was busted for suspicion of drunken driving after trying to drive around a roadblock on the Hollywood Freeway.

Film Critique - Alexander, an Oliver Stone film?!
One of the greatest directors that Hollywood has produced ventures to make a film on one of the greatest legends that the world has seen. The author takes a long, hard look at the result.

Mötley Crüe Reunites
Mötley Crüe, the hard rocking 80s band, announced a reunion tour Monday in typical Crüe style at Hollywood’s Palladium.

Truman's Paradox
Hollywood movie, The Truman Show, is a classical illustration of the issues of free-will versus determinism. There are parallels that can be drawn with religion. Indeed, questions can be asked, about the religious ideal of a benign, omniscient entity that oversees all life.

Heidi Fleiss’ New Venture
Former "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss has a racy new boutique opening up sometime in the New Year.

Meg Ryan & John Cusack Find Love
The big buzz in Hollywood these days is the undercover romance between actors John Cusack and Meg Ryan.

Films for Kids
Parents who want their children to watch appropriate movies can check websites that rate content and potentially offensive elements.

Gene Hackman Brawls in Hollywood
Gene Hackman was involved in a fist fight in West Hollywood on Monday after he rear-ended a man in a Volvo station wagon.

History Is Made As Hollywood Unites for a Star Studded Telethon
In the wake of the tragic events on September 11th, many of Hollywood’s A-list actors and musicians came together for an unprecedented multi-network telethon.

Movie Trivia: Showing Off How Many Films We Have Seen and How Well We Know Them
America has always enjoyed a special affinity for showing off how many films we have seen and how well we know them; small wonder, then, that movie trivia is so popular.

Survivor: The Hollywood Scene for Colleen Haskell
Colleen Haskell, one of the original 'Survivor' cast members, has become the first to break into mainstream film with her co-starring role in 'The Animal.'

Hollywood Writers' Strike Looming
With the final deadline for negotiations less than a day away, the mayor of Hollywood pleads with the feuding writers to reach an agreement.

Alfred Hitchcock: One of the True Greats in Hollywood History
London-born director, Alfred Hitchcock, was indeed one of the true greats in Hollywood history, and was himself every bit as mysterious as his films.

The Dark Side of Hollywood
Not all that glitters is gold in Hollywood.....

The Hollywood Sign
Hollywood like the Land of Oz says fantasy. It is the place where you could still meet Marilyn Monroe if you tried hard enough and just perhaps high above the famous Hollywood sign you might catch a glimpse of Bing Crosby swinging on a star.....

The Hollywood Mob
Why does Hollywood never tire of gangster movies? Because we never tire of watching them, says Joe Queenan - not even the bad ones

Hollywood Still the Center of the Entertainment World
Hollywood continues to be the center of the entertainment universe, where roaming film and TV productions eventually come home. Examples include the annual finale of American Idol and the special cast screening and media event around the season finale of the Fox series 24. Other events take place throughout the year as well, but these two events are prominent examples of the importance of Hollywood in the TV and motion picture industry.

The Hollywood Recession ... It Still Has a Happy Ending
Slump is good for movies as Hollywood directors take inspiration from global economic meltdown

Hollywood Film Accused of Insulting Iran
Darren Aronofsky's film The Wrestler features a scene where a pole bearing the Iranian flag is broken

First They Ruined James Bond, Now Hollywood is Coming for Robin Hood
Marina Hyde: Even now, Lost in Showbiz is only beginning to come to terms with Saturday evening

There is Such a Thing As Taking Oneself Too Seriously
Terrible conflicts, global warming, financial meltdown: isn't it about time Hollywood responded with a bit of quality comedy? Jason Solomons thinks so ...

Hollywood Film on Prophet's Life Set for Remake
Film-makers plan to shoot movie in Saudi holy cities off-limits to non-muslims

Hollywood Pays Tribute to a Gay Hero. But 30 Years on His Legacy is in Peril
Harvey Milk's battle for gay rights in the 1970s is being fought again over a proposition to ban same-sex marriages

How Often Can You Say 'beaten at the Box-office By a Hollywood Chihuahua'?
Oliver Burkeman: The film's killer premise: a portly America-hating documentary maker tries to ban the Fourth of July

US Film-makers Seek to Return to Wall Street
Plans for sequel to Oliver Stone film are advancing as speculation surrounds Michael Douglas's reprisal of iconic role

Gekko is Coming Back ... But Will Greed Still Be Good?
Plans advance on sequel to the film Wall Street which mythologized the lives of financial traders

On Film: Doing Their Bit
All the really impressive heroes and heavies of postwar Hollywood had war experiences that indelibly burnished their screen presence, says John Patterson

Next Clooney Film is Low on Glitz - But It Has Goats
British author's book on CIA psychic experiments will be brought to the screen by star-studded cast

On Film: The Bust Boom
The spirit of the last Depression hovers over us, and Michael Mann is ahead of the game in dredging its history and imagery for insights, says John Patterson

Bollywood Billionaire Funds New Spielberg Studio
Indian media mogul Anil Ambani to back studio following Spielberg's rift with US media house Viacom

Axis of Idiocy
What's with all this testosterone on screen? John Patterson wishes the new breed of action bozos would fight it out on their own time, not ours

Hollywood Veterans Kiss and Sell
Tony Curtis, Roger Moore, Sean Connery and Robert Wagner among the names set to publish memoirs

Acting their Way to Success
The tinsel town of Hollywood is a congregation of actors of all genres and societies.

The Phoenix Mission Replaces Hollywood In Martian Exploration
Article about the Phoenix Mission and Hollywood's depiction of Mars through the years.

Pay Row Threatens to Turn Out the Lights in Hollywood - Again
Screen actors seek higher pay for 'middle-tier' actors earning less than $100,000 a year

Cyd Charisse, Star of Hollywood's Golden Era, Dies Aged 86
Dancer and actor who made her name in Technicolor Hollywood musicals and starred in the 1952 film Singin' in the Rain

Hollywood Private Eye Faces Life in Jail
Seedy side of LA laid bare as Anthony Pellicano found guilty of 76 counts of illegal activity

Filmmakers - ISFFH Call For Entries 2008
The International Student Film Festival Hollywood is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of filmmakers.

Science fiction movies - Unleashes the mystery
The science fiction movies are the most preferable genre among the masses these days. These films efficiently describe the war of the good and evil. The extravagant high tech gadgets, scary ghosts and monsters etc are the most attractive ingredients of these movies.

Hollywood Hunts Star to Play First Man on the Moon
Producers search for a talent big enough to fill Neil Armstrong's boots in film of astronaut's life

Hollywood Colossus From a Bygone Age
Tributes paid to Oscar winner who was known for his larger-than-life roles

Hollywood Snubbed Us, Says Angry Comedy Star
Simon Pegg condemns 'lack of respect' as US makes version of his hit Channel 4 sitcom

Hollywood's Magic Splits Final Potter Film in Two
$4.5bn-and-counting film franchise to turn Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows into two films

In a Fix
Hollywood's most notorious private eye is on trial. The Pelican has a lot of dirt on a lot of big names - so let's hope he sings like a canary, says John Patterson

Hollywood Cast Lines Up for Real-life Detective Drama
Sylvester Stallone and Farrah Fawcett to be witnesses in trial of Hollywood private eye

All-star Cast Lines Up for Real-life Hollywood Detective Drama
Studio moguls and actors on list of 127 witnesses as private eye faces wiretap and racketeering charges

Back in Black
It's Black History Month in the US - the perfect time to rerelease films that Hollywood considers too embarrassing to show for today, says John Patterson

Time to Bring Back Happy Hollywood
Victoria Coren: Oscars night! Only a few hours away, how exciting

Take Your Seats, Ladies and Gents, for the Most Downbeat Oscars Ever
Oliver Burkeman: Half the ultra-glam Oscar parties have been canceled, most of the films in line for major awards are decidedly downbeat, and Hollywood in general seems in an uncharacteristically reticent mood

And the Losers Are ...
The five Oscar nominations of 1968 are emblematic of the slow-motion death rattle of the Hollywood gerontocratic establishment, says John Patterson

Jaws Star Roy Scheider Dies
Actor's role in shark terror film launched the era of the Hollywood blockbuster

Show May Go on As Hollywood Writers Discuss Deal to End Strike
Tentative agreement could mean Oscars can go ahead · Dispute is costliest in history of film industry

Britons Triumph at Old-style Sag Awards Ceremony
It was almost like a return to the old days of Hollywood. The red carpet was laid, the paparazzi stood by, TV presenters breathlessly intoned the names of the nominees and the designers of the clothes they were sporting

Villa Extension Must Go, Court Tells Banderas
Hollywood star Antonio Banderas became the most famous name to fall foul of Spain's efforts to clean up illegal developments when he was ordered yesterday to demolish a large chunk of his beach front house near Marbella

Stars Hedge Their Bets on Democratic Race
Hollywood loves Democrats. While only a hardy few have shown their devotion by tramping across the snow-covered fields of Iowa and New Hampshire, in terms of donations, celebrities seem happy to spread that love around

Tinseltown in Tears Over Cancelled Globes
For some in Hollywood, the cancellation of the Golden Globes is enough to bring on a bout of depression and a trip to the nearest celebrity manicurist

Hollywood Cancels Globes Glitz As Solidarity Triumphs Over Fame
The Golden Globes ceremony will not take place this year after actors refused to cross a US writers' strike picket line. By Dan Glaister in Los Angeles

Coming Soon: Knut the Hollywood Movie
It is yet to be seen whether he will get to press his paws into the concrete of Hollywood's Walk of Fame, but the top grossing polar bear of all time is about to sign a contract that will see him star in his own potential blockbuster

Hollywood Writers Threaten Internet Breakaway
Forget Warner Brothers, Universal and Disney. Say goodnight and good luck to CBS, NBC and Fox. The Hollywood studio model is about to be turned upside down

Fantasy Becomes Reality for Rings Fans As Jackson Agrees to Produce Hobbit Films
Peter Jackson, director of the $3bn-plus trilogy The Lord of the Rings, has signed up to produce two films based on The Hobbit, expected to go into production in 2009

British Stars Shine in Us Film Awards List
· Atonement leads the way with seven nominations· UK dramas also prominent in awards' TV category

Car Park Film Casts Doubt on Story of Kercher Suspect
Suspect in Meredith Kercher murder case filmed returning home at a time when she says she was with her boyfriend

Star of 24 Joins Hollywood's Jail Roll Call
Actor Kiefer Sutherland, star of the apocalyptic TV series 24 and son of Donald Sutherland, has joined the ranks of the year's celebrity jailbirds

Jitters in Gucci Clan As Ridley Scott Plans Film on Dynasty
Story of colorful fashion house attracts UK director· Movie will focus on dark side, fears family member

Writers Set to Turn Down Latest Pay Deal
Hopes for a breakthrough in the writers strike faded yesterday after screenwriters reacted angrily to a proposal by Hollywood executives that would allegedly mean an extra $130m (£62.8m) over three years

Writers Recruit Hollywood Stars for Silent Protests
Actors to appear in a series of internet downloads· Speechless shorts based on Warhol's Screen Tests

Hollywood Takes Action Hero Jesus to India
Hollywood is to fill in the Bible's 'missing years' with a story about Jesus as a wandering mystic who traveled across India, living in Buddhist monasteries and speaking out against the iniquities of the country's caste system

Car Park Film Casts Doubt on Story of Kercher Suspect
Suspect in Meredith Kercher murder case filmed returning home at a time when she says she was with her boyfriend

Hollywood on Hold As Writers Prepare Strike
Hollywood's writers were told to get ready to leave its famous studio lots yesterday as the likelihood of a strike increased after months of negotiations.

Brad Just Ain't Box-office
Hadley Freeman: We see too much of A-list celebrities in magazines now to pay to see them in Hollywood films as well.

US Film Falls Short of Truth
Welcome: Portraits of America, a new seven-minute film produced by Disney to woo visitors with a sanitized take on US landmarks, features an image of Horseshoe Falls which lies almost entirely inside Canada.

Da Vinci Sequel Caught in Writers' Strike Panic
A writers' strike is set to paralyze Hollywood as early as this week.

Film Study versus Filmmaking: From A Foucauldian Perspective
The interminable dilemma about the comparative worth between entirely theoretical study of films and practical training in filmmaking can be discussed from the perspective of Michel Foucault and his theory of power and knowledge. The reciprocal relation facilitates the emanation of power through discourse.

A Hollywood Tale in Final Suspense
Robert Kitson: The euphoria of a second successive final is in sharp contrast to the recent, protracted crisis in England rugby.

Stuck beyond the rainbow. Today's gay people trapped in yesterday's world. Film Review
One documentary at the Sarajevo Film Festival, 2007 stood out for its courage and uniqueness: a film about homophobia. It’s easy to forget with all of the other ethnic, social and economic problems that the people of the Balkans face, but intolerance toward gay people in this region can be particularly cruel and violent. This is a first look at homophobia, Kosovo style, but sadly it could almost be Sarajevo itself.

Godfather Stars Have Lost Fire, Says Director
Film director Francis Ford Coppola has attacked three of the biggest stars in Hollywood, denouncing them for being lazy and uninterested in taking risks.

Boy's Rape Scene Delays Film Release As Hollywood and Afghan Culture Collide
Studio to take young Kite Runner stars to US before worldwide screenings amid fears for their safety at home

Director Breaks French Taboo With Film Tackling Algerian War
While Hollywood produced dozens of Vietnam war epics and is now tackling Iraq, the French film industry has shied away from making gun-toting action movies about its own recent war history.

Deep Sea Diver Dies While Filming U-boat
Deep sea divers yesterday recovered the body of a colleague who died while filming the wreck of a German U-boat on the Atlantic sea bed.

Top Directors Back Tiny Art House in Battle With Hollywood
Suburban cinema in Paris takes on multinational· David Lynch and Wim Wenders among allies

Dawkins Rails at 'creationist Front' for Duping Him Into Film Role
Among the films being shown tonight at the Atheist Alliance convention taking place near Washington is, unsurprisingly, Monty Python's Life of Brian. What will not be showing are trailers for a new movie, Expelled.

Literature & Film: Translating Between Media & Its Difficulties
The difficulties in adapting literature in to film medium include not only the semiotic dissimilarities but also bring in the profound influence of the historical perspective towards the appreciation of literature and films. Considering the issue of adapting literature in to film medium is intrinsically related to the potential problem and consequences of finding a possible scheme of effective film adaptation of literature.

Harry Box-office Record
Figures released by Warner Bros, the studio behind the Harry Potter films, confirm that the series has become the highest-grossing film franchise.

Strike Threat Spreads Panic in Hollywood
Desperate studios are rushing to hire A-list stars and finish films before a threatened walk-out.

Summer Takings Are Icing on Cake for Hollywood
Huge sighs of relief can be heard around Beverly Hills with the news that the decline in cinema-going over the past two summers has been emphatically reversed, with record receipts at the American box office.

How Three Swedish Geeks Became Hollywood's Number One Enemy
The Pirate Bay directs 2m surfers to copyright-busting film and TV downloads every day. Bobbie Johnson meets the men who have enraged Hollywood.

Landing Tracks For Your Urban Film Soundtrack
Movies need music. Good music adds impact, emotion, and mood to a film. Quentin Tarantino has made amazing use of music in his films. Many viewers have commented that the music is like a character itself.

Hollywood Tears Up Script to Make Anti-war Films While Conflicts Rage
Tradition overturned as star-studded movies deal with Iraq and Afghanistan.

24 Hours to Save the Planet
Jack Bauer's new target is global warming. Leonardo DiCaprio's latest film is eco-conscious. David Smith reports on the greening of Hollywood.

Film Shows Gandhi As Father to a Nation But Not His Troubled Son
Gandhi, My Father portrays the Mahatma as an unforgiving patriarch whose ideals shaped India, but often at the expense of his family.

Film Legend Bergman Dies Aged 89
Legendary Swedish film-maker dies quietly on island home.

Bad Girls Oust Wild Men As the Sinful Darlings of Hollywood Scandal Sheets
Suddenly, the sex, alcohol and drug misdeeds of LA's young female stars are rarely out of the news. Do they only have themselves to blame or is it just one sign of changing behavior across all of America?

Four Die As Tv News Helicopters Collide While Filming Police Chase
Two American news helicopters, which were transmitting live footage of a police pursuit of a pick-up truck, collided in mid-air and crashed to the ground killing the occupants of both aircraft in Phoenix, Arizona.

Filmy-eyed Over Days of Vine and English Roses
Tennis: Time is slipping away for all those waiting for a British Wimbledon champion, so a nostalgic Martin Kelner may turn to movies instead.

Ahmadinejad Turns Down Chance to Star in Oliver Stone Film
JFK director sought access to make documentary - President dismisses him as 'part of the Great Satan'

Herman Stein
Obituary: Hollywood composer noted for his sci-fi and horror scores.

Filmmaker Rides to Rescue of Nemesis Out to Discredit Him
It's not easy being a nemesis. Particularly if your opponent is Michael Moore.

Osama is a Film That Isn't About Who You Think
The film Osama offers a penetrating glimpse into what life was really like under the Taliban regime. It isn't a story about Bin-Laden, but rather what a world he envisions would be like for women.

NY Analyst Sues Over Borat Film
Borat's efforts to glean cultural learnings from the US have upset a New York financial analyst, who is suing 20th Century Fox over a scene in which he was chased down the street by the spoof Kazakh journalist.

Hollywood Black Film Festival, CineVegas Film Festival...
...MA Music Festival, City of New York Music Festival, Bluegrass Masters Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival, Hollywood and Games Summit

Celebrity Politicians: From Reagan to the Terminator
A long list of Hollywood actors have made the transition to politics, explains Mark Tran.

Spiderman and other Hollywood Heroes Save America from Repression
The "Marxism" America withstood at its front door for sixty years has donned a new costume and now hardly recognized is knocking on America’s back door. Too late, he’s already in the parlor.

Italian Tv Urged to Scrap Bbc Film Accusing Pope of Abuse Cover-up
Italy's public broadcasting corporation, RAI, was accused yesterday of withholding approval for the screening of a controversial BBC documentary that accuses Pope Benedict of covering up sex crimes by Roman Catholic priests.

Not on Our Watch - How Hollywood Made America Care Abour Darfur
Cannes premiere is latest event to be used to draw attention to African crisis.

Jury President Frears Defends Absence of British Films
Jude Law and Norah Jones feature in opening night film by Chinese director.

Dark Days for Film-making World As Depression Lays Von Trier Low
Film director Lars Von Trier, renowned for dark, psychologically difficult, artistically pioneering films, has been left unable to work following a serious depression and is doubtful about when he would be able to return to filmmaking, it was revealed yesterday.

From Child Actors to Superstars
How child actors such as Britney Spears, Drew Barrymore, Lindsay Lohan, and the Olsen twins have evolved into adult celebrities.

Hollywood Loves a Blockbuster
Hollywood loves a blockbuster, but these overhyped marrows crowd out better releases. By Peter Bradshaw

Hollywood Tackles Hitler's Leni
Jodie Foster courts controversy by starring as the Third Reich's genius of screen propaganda.

Global Outcry at Taliban's Use of Boy in Filmed Beheading
The Taliban's use of a young boy to behead a man drew international criticism yesterday, with Unicef condemning the incident as 'a terrible example of how children can be used by adults to commit heinous crimes in times of conflict'.

'You're a Rude, Thoughtless Little Pig' - Star's Phone Rant at 11-year-old Daughter
Leaked voicemail stirs up Baldwin v Basinger battle - Hollywood custody fight ratchets up on internet

And Now, From Tehran, the Film and the Book
First there was the furore over their capture. Then the backlash when released. But no drama is ever complete without an accompanying movie, and yesterday Iran beat Hollywood to the mark by pledging to recount the entire 13-day affair in a film.

Ahmadinejad Weighs Into Row Over Us Film
Iran's president today attacked western filmmakers for portraying his country as "savage", echoing anger among his aides at the Hollywood film, 300.

Iran Accuses Hollywood of 'psychological Warfare'
The Iranian government has joined MPs and bloggers in denouncing a film depicting the battle between Greeks and Persians at Thermopylae in 480BC.

Spartans Film is Psychological War, Says Iran
In Iran's pantheon of hated western symbols Hollywood is already firmly established as a place of cultural decadence.

Iran Accuses Hollywood of 'pyschological Warfare'
The Iranian government has joined MPs and bloggers in denouncing a film depicting the battle between Greeks and Persians at Thermopylae in 480BC.

Mexican Film Duo Goes Public in Row Over Credit
A long-running private squabble over who deserves most credit for the film Babel has escalated into a public row between one of the most important cinematic duos of recent years.

Flurry of Denials Greets Release of Hollywood Madam's Contacts List
Famous names say they did not know 'Babydol' - Organiser of prostitution ring publishes biography

Inner Mongolian Herdswomen Beat Jolie and Damon to Top Film Prize in Berlin
Only one professional actor in Chinese movie - British black comedy misses out on award

De Niro May Have Role in Opus Dei's Film Fightback
As portrayed in The Da Vinci Code, Opus Dei has all the warmth of the Holy Inquisition and fewer scruples than Cosa Nostra.

Hollywood to Immortalise Pop Frauds
Universal to make movie of Milli Vanilli story - Lip-synching duo at centre of celebrated music con

6 Worst Films in Cinema History
Here you can read about some of the worst films ever released from the advent of Hollywood and until today. I have compiled a list of the top six and reviewed them.

Lights, Camera, Action! A Guide to Film Locales in Orlando
Once known as "Hollywood East," Orlando has been the site of many film shoots such as Parenthood, Lethal Weapon 3, The Waterboy, Monster and Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector.

Starbucks Stirred By Fair Trade Film
Representative of Ethiopian farmers to meet Blair as exposé of industry released.

Jolie to Film the Cult 'bible of Selfishness'
Actress tackles daunting epic by controversial author who counted Reagan among her fans.

10-year-old Star Sues for Creative Control
It is a familiar Hollywood tale: creative visionary turns a real-life incident into a heart-wrenching piece of art and then falls out with the film's producer. Only this time the auteur is just 10 years old.

Hollywood in the Mirror
The Queen's biopic is a US success because many in the movie business see themselves in her travails. By Mark Lawson

(th)ink: "Little Known Film Fact"
A little tidbit that isn't really surprising...

Stars Become a Diamond's Best Friend in Row Over Warzone Film
Celebrities sponsored to lead industry fightback - Gem sales increasing despite negative publicity

Hollywood Studios Battle to Make Litvinenko Film
It has all of the ingredients of a Hollywood blockbuster: a mysterious and gruesome death by poisoning, several shadowy ex-spies, plenty of political intrigue - and a London sushi bar.

Artists Biographies on Film Top Movies about Visual Artists
Here is a guide to the best movies that describes the life of visual artists.

For Sale: the Secrets of Hollywood's Golden Age Stars
Fox studio contracts will be auctioned for charity - Mystery of Elvis's changing hair solved

Hollywood Resurrects the Two Sides of Japan's Forgotten Battle
After decades of being treated as an unfortunate episode in a war many would prefer to forget, Iwo Jima has finally penetrated the Japanese consciousness with the release of two films directed by Clint Eastwood.

British Tycoon Seizes Tv Crew in Battle Over Mugabe Film
British property tycoon Nicholas van Hoogstraten had a Channel 4 film crew put under house arrest in Zimbabwe when he discovered that they intended to make a documentary critical of Robert Mugabe.

You've Read the Book, You've Seen the Film ... You've Missed the Show
High Fidelity a flop after 14 nights on Broadway - Hit Hornby tale of record shop nerd now a miss

'Litvinenko Laughed Off My Warning. He Said It Was Like the Plot of a Film'
Italian gave former agent details of 'murder plot' - Document pointed finger at retired Russian agents

Hometown Boys Make It To Hollywood: Krescent 4 Signs Album Deal With The Document Room
Look For The All-Out Rock-Metal Of K4 Just Around The Corner...

One Last Fight for Hollywood Hard Men
Ageing stars reprise action roles that made them famous in sequel boom.

Film World's Farewell to Robert Altman 1925-2006
Film director Robert Altman has died at the age of 81 in a Los Angeles hospital.

Hollywood Gets a New Role As Los Angeles' Great Polluter
A study by the University of California Los Angeles shows the film and television industry to be the second largest polluter in the Los Angeles area.

Niiice ... Borat is Biggest Small Film in Us Ever
Sacha Baron Cohen's latest incarnation Borat became the biggest small film ever released in north America, taking $26.4m (£14m) at the box office.

Karadzic Captured ... at Least in the Hollywood Version
Reality is no barrier to $20m romp in which Richard Gere traps genocide suspect.

Framed by a Film Maker
My identity…

Small Church Group's Low Budget Football Film is Big Us Hit
Facing the Giants, a feature film about an American football team down on its luck. The coach is about to be sacked, his car keeps breaking down, he's running out of money and the doctor has told him he may never have children.

The Tarnished Truth Beneath Hollywood's Golden Age Glitter
Salacious lives of former greats are laid bare in a crop of tell-all biographies.

Ur Network Film/Acting Biz Support, ASCAP "Meet & Greet...
...", Durango Songwriters Expo, Latino Screenwriter's Lab, VH1 Hip Hop Honors, Alameda Writers Group Meet, NAB New York, Gothic Pagan Halloween Ball

Kazakhstan Fights Back Ahead of Borat Film Release
Kazakhstan: land of superstition, religious intolerance, political suppression and goats. Wrong. Kazakhstan is actually a country of metals and machinery, an outward-looking, modern nation with a stable economy that attracts foreign investors to its cosmopolitan capital.

If We Move Fast, We Can Curb the Film World's Male Bias
Going to movies directed by women as soon as they are released is a pragmatic and enjoyable form of feminist activism. By Natasha Walter

America's Tv Genius Strikes Gold Again
With The West Wing, Aaron Sorkin paved the way for a breed of sophisticated TV dramas.Paul Harris in New York reports on how the small screen has become the new Hollywood.

Hollywood Film Threatens to Take the Shine Off Africa's Gem Trade
· £8m De Beers campaign to counter DiCaprio film · Bushmen appeal to star for help against industry

Hollywood Finds Christ As Foxfaith Plans Series of Religious Movies
Fifty years after Charlton Heston as Moses descended the mountain in Cecil B DeMille's Ten Commandments, Hollywood made its most direct appeal to Christian audiences yesterday with the launch of a new brand dedicated to producing films on religious themes.

Acropolis to Make Hollywood Debut
The Acropolis will soon become the backdrop for a big-screen comedy after Athens gave the green light for the glory that was Greece to be used by Hollywood for the first time.

Martin Sheen's New Role: the Oldest Fresher in Town
Hollywood actor Martin Sheen begins university in Galway, where he is studying an idiosyncratic combination of English literature, philosophy and oceanography.

Southern Florida Authorities Looking for Tourism Bounce with Release of Miami Vice Film
The release of the Miami Vice blockbuster this summer is hoped to stimulate the tourism economy in Southern Florida.

Lawrence Film Another Coup for Secret Policeman Team
Tonight's BBC1 investigation into the Stephen Lawrence murder inquiry is another coup for the team behind Bafta-winning documentary The Secret Policeman. By John Plunkett.

The Internet Allowes Niche Tastes in Film and Books to Thrive
The internet has allowed niche tastes in film and books to thrive behind the blockbusters. But is there a gap inbetween? By Natasha Walter

Call to Censor 'immoral' Egyptian Film
Egyptian MPs are demanding cuts in a popular new film, claiming it defames their country with its gritty portrayal of corrupt politicians, police brutality, terrorism and homosexuality.

Egyptian Mps Call for Hit Film to Be Cut
· Soap-style work defames country, say politicians · Gay character's storyline attracts fiercest criticism

Ad Rules Threaten Filmfour's European Output
Channel 4's film channel could be forced to slash its commitment to showing European cinema because of new ad rules planned by the European commission, the broadcaster warned today. By Chris Tryhorn.

Wobegon Cult Reveals America's Quiet Divide
A film version of the radio show A Prairie Home Companion is storming the US - at least in part.

Hollywood Stars Removed From Urban Farm
The struggle to save an urban farm that has drawn celebrities and media from around the world came to a halt on Tuesday as 100 police evicted farmers and their supporters from the site.

Hollywood Stars Rally to Save Farm
A-list stars turn out to script a happy ending as developers threaten an LA oasis of rural life.

Reversal of Roles As Hollywood Remakes Bollywood Hit
After decades of borrowing from western movie scripts, Bollywood is poised to have one of its biggest films remade in Hollywood.

Examining "The Da Vinci Code"...
One of the largest money makers as movies go, the Da Vinci Code has certainly made Hollywood happy! Is this movie just a moneymaker?

Film-maker's Cannes and Can'ts
In years to come The Caiman could be seen as the film that lost Silvio Berlusconi the election. It was released in its homeland in March, a fortnight ahead of Berlusconi's knife-edge general election defeat.

Director's Debut Brings Glasgow to the Croisette
Andrea Arnold worked for 16 years to make her film, taking on roles as a Top of the Pops dancer and children's television presenter to pay for it. At the weekend her debut feature opened in competition for the Palme d'Or at the weekend, and it was greeted with hopes that it might be a contender in Saturday's awards ceremony.

Director Confronts Hollywood Taboo in Racism Case
· Universal Pictures accused of racial discrimination · Equality commission says studios are unaccountable

Films on Guantanamo and Iraq Face War of Cuts
Two new films which expose unpleasant truths about Guantanamo and the battle for Iraq are coming under pressure from censors in the United States.

Christians Protests and Boycotts Planned for Da Vinci Code Film
Film may be in for rough ride at world premiere tonight.

Warner Bros to Use Bittorrent for Films and Tv
Warner Bros is to become the first US studio to distribute television programmes and films via BitTorrent, a file-sharing technology that has been associated with online piracy. By Chris Tryhorn.

Stasi Film Stirs Up Plaudits and a Spying Row
The Life of Others, a film about the Stasi, East Germany's secret police, is at the centre of a row after its lead actor said he had been a Stasi victim, spied on by his own wife.

Comeback for British Films
After several years in the wilderness, two British films are in the frame for the film world's most prestigious award - the Palme d'Or.

Alternative Hedonism Might Just Lead Us to Fulfilment
A new campaign by those disaffected with our shopping culture could be a cure for anxiety and low self-esteem, says Jackie Ashley.

Stars Take the Shine Off Hillary's Bid
Leading Hollywood liberals are sniping at the former First Lady over her strong support for the Iraq war. Paul Harris reports.

Film-maker Was Carrying White Flag, Widow Tells Inquest
The widow of a British film-maker shot dead in Gaza told an inquest he was carrying a white flag and shouting he was a British journalist when he was shot by Israeli troops. By John Plunkett.

The Fake Escape
Hollywood's version of one of the most famous war stories ever was "a load of rubbish", a veteran who was there tells Luke Harding.

Hollywood Stars Join Campaign to Close Prison
The campaign to close Guantánamo Bay has secured high-profile support, with Nobel laureates and film stars signing a letter in today's Guardian demanding an end to torture.

Hollywood, The F.C.C., Is Asleep At The Switch
Those were the good old days, and you could be entertained, thrilled, and still enjoy your meal with out being grossed out and loosing your cookies because some guy just blew someone’s head clean off and you've just seen his brains splattered all over the place thanks to a million dollars worth of Hollywood special effects.

From Matinee Idol to Tracy's Mum - Travolta is Back on Song
Twenty-eight years since his last musical role, the Hollywood star is going back to his toe-tapping roots to take on the role of Edna Turnblad in a new film version of Hairspray.

Hollywood Dream for Township's First Star
Two young leads in a film about life on the edge in South Africa are tipped for international fame.

'Mockumentary' Claim Over Feted Film
· Authenticity of amnesiac's tale called into question · British-funded production makes Oscar shortlist

Hollywood Private Eye to Stand Trial
An investigator known as the "private eye to the stars" was held without bail yesterday after prosecutors charged him with 110 counts of wiretapping, blackmail and intimidation.

Mockingbird Author Steps Out of Shadows
Harper Lee wrote one of the great works of American literature and is portrayed in two new Hollywood movies. Now her friendship with high school pupils has led her to talk publicly for the first time since 1964, writes Paul Harris.

Wily Foxx Adds Hit Album to His Quick-change Hollywood Act
Jamie Foxx has achieved an unrivalled feat of successfully changing careers not once but twice. Foxx has stormed to the top of the US Billboard charts, selling more than a million copies of his new album, but also is thought to have now rocketed into the ranks of the elite group of top players who can command $20m-$25m a movie.

Interview: William Boyd Talks to Stuart Jeffries About Writing for Film
When William Boyd adapted Scoop, Evelyn Waugh's great comic novel, he left out one of its best jokes...

Konica Minolta to Stop Making Cameras and Film Amid Big Losses
The demise of traditional film photography gathered pace yesterday when Konica Minolta said it would stop making cameras and photographic film in an attempt to stem expected losses this financial year.

Obituary: Shelley Winters
Hollywood superstar who rose from screen victim to matronly sex symbol.

Oscar Winner Shelley Winters Dies
Shelley Winters, the double Oscar winner and sex symbol from the golden age of Hollywood, has died at the age of 85.

'Bad Taste' Film Proves to Be a Surprise Hit
As storylines go, it seemed destined to offend. The Ringer, a film by the Farrelly brothers, is about a man who pretends to have learning difficulties so that he can compete in the Special Olympics.

Smoking in Films As Cool As in the 50s
Why nearly half of all teenage smokers in the US try cigarettes can be linked to on-screen smoking, leading the researchers to call for an adult rating for all films that depict tobacco use.

Hollywood: Ego, Politics And Wealth
Why is it we demand from some elected/appointed officials, a high degree of integrity and experience, but not from Hollywood candidates?

Geisha Film Incenses Japanese
The Hollywood blockbuster Memoirs of a Geisha has been heavily criticised in China and Japan even before it opens.

"Land of the Dead" George Romero's Latest Zombie Film
George Romero's latest effort will definitely please his long standing fans and will make fans of first time viewers. Keep in mind this is horror at it's most gruesome and goriest, so it's not for the faint-hearted. But for horror fans in general and George Romero fans in particular this one is a must see.

Hollywood Writers and Actors Demand Product Placement Controls
Hollywood writers and actors are calling for rules to control product placement in television programs. They are also demanding a share of the profits from the $550m (£315m) industry.

This Film Will Be My Last, Claims Depardieu
The 56-year-old actor told Le Parisien he would "go out on a high" after filming Michou d'Auber, an Algerian war of independence drama.

Iran Bans Foreign Films
A committee of Islamic clerics in Iran, led by the country's new hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, this week banned foreign films in an effort to wipe out what they called "corrupt Western culture".

Record 58 countries to compete for Best Foreign Film Oscar
Under now hotly-disputed rules, each country can now only submit one film for the Best Foreign-Language Oscar category and that submission must be predominantly in the language of the entering country.

Film Spotlights Paris Night of Blood
Jason Burke reports on a nation racked by memories of war in Algeria and the killing of protesters by police.

Global Plan to Protect Film Culture
The UN's cultural agency, Unesco, is expected tomorrow to approve a convention that will allow countries to protect their cultures from globalisation, despite bitter opposition from the United States.

Lopez Joins Hollywood Trail to Mexico's Murder Town
The plight of more than 400 women murdered in a Mexican city in the last 12 years is to get the Hollywood treatment in a new movie starring Jennifer Lopez.

Sex, Lies and Celluloid: Doctors Hit Out at Hollywood
Films failing to show dangers of sex and drugs as the HIV/Aids are pandemic ignored in top 200 movies.

Fly on the Wall Film Dims Last Hope for Kerry
The decision to allow film-maker Steve Rosenbaum to film intimate moments of the Kerry campaign has probably scuppered his hopes of running again in 2008.

Welcome to the Strangest Show on Earth
Reclusive regime opens its doors with a spectacular to make Hollywood envious.

Hollywood's A-list head east to bring star power to Broadway
Once Broadway was the grooming ground for Hollywood; a stepping stone to the riches of the movie mecca on the west coast.

Hollywood’s Underbelly Comes to the Surface in Michael Mangia’s The Invisible Wall CD
The new album was produced and mixed by Mangia over a 2½-year period in his own high-tech loft studio in downtown Los Angeles...

Credit Where It Isn't Due
Hollywood's treatment of the scriptwriter is as much a work of fiction as the movie itself. Mark Lawson

Robert Wise, Hollywood Legend, Dies at 91
Robert Wise, director of The Sound of Music, died yesterday at the age of 91. The four-time Oscar-winner was reported to have suffered heart failure and passed away at the UCLA Medical Centre in Los Angeles.

Hollywood Films Old English Epic
Angelina Jolie - subject of a delighted feeding frenzy in the tabloids as rumours abound that she is pregnant with Pitt's child - is to star in another sword-slinging epic, Beowulf.

Hollywood Tackles 9/11 With Third Feature
A third major Hollywood film about September 11 is in the works, it was announced yesterday.

Hollywood Cloned Our Clone Movie, Say Cult Film-makers
An independent film company is alleging that a big Hollywood studio has cloned its film about clones.

US Military Sends Scientists to Film School
He will have the body of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the brain of Stephen Hawking. Step forward the Pentagon's perfect Hollywood hero, possibly coming soon to a screen near you.

Unrepentant Killer of Dutch Film-maker Jailed for Life
A Dutch Islamist militant was jailed for life yesterday for the murder of the controversial film director and columnist Theo van Gogh, in the first conviction under tough new anti-terrorism legislation.

Dutch Film-maker's Killer Gets Life
A Dutch court today sentenced the self-confessed murderer of Dutch film-maker Theo van Gogh to life imprisonment.

John Sayles on His Latest Film
With his latest film, John Sayles set out to bring down the Bush presidency. He tells Xan Brooks how.

Hollywood Signs Pact With China to Curb Bootleg Films
A trade group representing the top Hollywood film studios has signed an anti-piracy pact with the Chinese government, in the hope of clamping down on the rampant bootlegging of DVDs.

Hollywood Does History
One of the most disgusting moments in modern cinema came in the epilogue to Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down, a film about the disastrous US raid on Somali rebels in Mogadishu in 1993. Stuart Jeffries

Man on Trial for Dutch Film-maker's Murder
An alleged Islamist extremist accused of murdering the Dutch film maker Theo Van Gogh went on trial in Amsterdam today.

Boyz in Hollywood
This comes from a celebrity magazine, so take it with a barrel of salt: Tom Cruise feels that Victoria Beckham has what it takes to make it in Hollywood. No, not as a lamppost, but an actor. Caroline Sullivan

In Hollywood, Cops Take on the New Wave of 'lawless' Paparazzi
Detectives in Los Angeles are investigating whether they can rein in a new breed of paparazzi with criminal charges following a spate of "hyper-aggressive" incidents involving Hollywood stars.

Journalist Whose Film 'betrayed' Singer May Face Renewed Legal Action
Martin Bashir was yesterday waiting to hear whether the pop star would restart legal action against him and his former employers following his acquittal.

Celebrity Sleuth's Wiretaps Unveiled
The secrets of some of Hollywood's biggest stars could be exposed after a court yesterday ruled that prosecutors can trawl through the transcripts of wiretaps found in the office of the infamous "celebrity sleuth" Anthony Pellicano.

Blanchett Brings Hollywood Glitz to Venice Biennale
At the Venice Biennale, nations vie with one another to flaunt the best and most moment-defining works they can muster.

Cinemas Bombed As Film Angers Sikhs
New Delhi on high alert after dozens injured in two blasts.

US Military Backs Marine Over Filmed Falluja Mosque Shooting
A US marine who caused an international furore when he was filmed shooting dead a wounded and unarmed Iraqi will not face a court martial after the military authorities determined he had not broken any rules, it emerged yesterday.

Hollywood Boss Loses Fight to Keep a Beach to Himself
Ordinary Californians win the right to sunbathe on a stretch of Malibu coast after 22 years.

A New German Film Has Turned the Ss Into Heroes
Stephen Moss: Most of the critiques of the German film Downfall, which opens here today, have missed the point. It is not the alleged humanising of Hitler that is contentious, it is the lionising of the SS, who remain brave, unbending and beautifully dressed as Berlin disintegrates around them.

Not Over Till the Fat Lady Slims
Kirstie Alley, the overweight star who has been force-feeding Hollywood a diet of doughnuts in her new comedy show celebrating her size, has taken a decision that has outraged some of her most loyal fans.

Rampage Killer Put Violent Film on Website
The youth who shot his grandfather and eight others before killing himself on an Indian reservation in Minnesota posted a crudely drawn animated movie on a website. It showed four people being shot before the shooter puts the gun in his own mouth.

Family Seek Report on Israeli Killing of Film-maker
The family of a British documentary maker shot dead in Israel were expecting to receive the results of an inquiry into his killing today.

Film Portrays 'human Face' of Suicide Bombers
A film about Palestinian suicide bombers is to have its premiere at the Berlin film festival on Monday.

London Lad is the New King of Movies
With friends like these, you make memorable movies: Hollywood's unpretentious golden boy Graham King talks exclusively to Dan Glaister.

Murdered Director's Film Shelved
The screening of a film by Theo van Gogh, the Dutch filmmaker murdered by an alleged Islamist extremist last November, has been called off amid fears of violence.

Dreamers Become Doers: Proposed Film Industry Tax Incentive
At a time when tax incentives for filmmakers and film investors nationwide are in the news, so is award-winning Montana author, Janet Muirhead Hill.

Sundance Chooses War Films for Competition
America's prestigious Sundance festival choose a competition list dominated by war films.

Staunton v Winslet in Battle of Brits
Scorsese's big-budget hit The Aviator flies high as Hollywood's favourite with 11 Oscar nominations.

Hollywood Heyday Star Virginia Mayo Dies
Virginia Mayo, once described in a fan letter from the sultan of Morocco as "tangible proof of the existence of God", died on Monday at the age of 84.

Film Reveals True Destruction to Ghost City Falluja
Fresh evidence has emerged of the extent of destruction and appalling conditions in Falluja, still deserted two months after a major US offensive against the insurgent stronghold.

Indiana Jones Leads Hollywood Version of Battle for Falluja
Universal Pictures announced yesterday that it is to make The Battle for Falluja. Hollywood's first foray into the second Iraq conflict is due to go into production next year and will be based on a yet-to-be-finished book, No True Glory: The Battle for Falluja by Bing West, a former marine, politician and now war correspondent.

Stone Sorry for Midnight Express
The Hollywood writer and director Oliver Stone has apologised for offending Turkey with his Oscar-winning film Midnight Express, which featured powerful images of appalling prison conditions and brutality that have haunted the country for decades.

Critics Pan Hollywood Portrayal of Alexander the Great
Hollywood continued its long tradition of serving up turkeys for the Thanksgiving holiday with the release yesterday of Oliver Stone's sword-and-sandal epic Alexander.

Image Queens Shake Film World in Battle Royal
Here's the pitch: young go-getter joins staid movie publicity company and forms dynamic partnership with veteran boss. Together they steer the agency to the heights of Hollywood: Nicole, Tom, Meryl, Woody and Harvey all become close friends and clients.

Amélie Follow-up Fights to Prove It's French
Hollywood is accused of seeking to cash in on European subsidies over Jeunet's latest movie.

Devil to Pay Over Film of Bulgakov's Novel
Russia's Orthodox church has reacted with dismay to a film of the seminal novel The Master and Margarita, saying it offers a version of the Gospel that is "nothing but negative" and fearing it will offend or confuse many believers. Last month a Russian director began filming a version of...

Controversial Dutch Film Director Shot Dead in Street
Theo van Gogh, the Dutch artist's great grand-nephew and a provocative filmmaker, was shot dead in a street in Amsterdam yesterday, police said, apparently because of a film he made about Islamic violence against women. Van Gogh, 47, was stabbed and then shot several times by a man who...

Tarantino Plans Old-style Kung Fu Film - in Mandarin
His last film, Kill Bill, bravely incorporated Japanese, Chinese and Spanish dialogue into a mainstream Hollywood movie, but Quentin Tarantino's next project promises to dispense with the English language altogether.

Japanese on Edge Over Spielberg's Geisha Film
Critics fear teahouse culture will be tweaked for western audience. With her emerald green kimono, ghostly white face and bright red lipstick, Kosen stands out in the sparsely decorated tatami-mat room.

Obituary: Janet Leigh
Hollywood star whose gift for musical comedy was forever overshadowed by the horror of Psycho.

Suicide Film Sparks 'right to Die' Debate
Spanish movie drama about a paralysed man wins plaudits and puts government under pressure.

Film Deal for Hawaii Five-o
The 70s cop show Hawaii Five-O, one of the most popular TV shows of all time, is to be turned into a movie.

Hollywood's Little Brother
Is there a chance that Venetian excitements might trigger a fresh wave of interest in the British B-movies?

Thailand Takes on Hollywood Over Film That 'humiliates' Buddhism
Thai authorities have expressed outrage over a poster for Hollywood Buddha, an award-winning independent picture by a French film-maker.

Hollywood Raids Venice Festival
Politics takes the main stage with complaints that European events are in thrall to blockbusters at the expense of struggling independents.

Gymnast Honours Hollywood Star
Former Playboy centrefold and a pizza waitress from Cincinnati hope to emulate such luminaries as Olga Korbut and Nadia Comaneci.

How a Hoaxer Faked and Filmed His Own Execution
Benjamin Vanderford had a funny way of making a point about the media: he filmed his own fake beheading and distributed the video over the internet. In the footage, which was posted on a militant website and aired on Arab television on Saturday, Vanderford sits on a chair in a dark room,...

Pitched Battle Over Shrek Jibe
An Israeli singer whose entry to this year's Eurovision song contest was described as sounding like a strangled cat yesterday won a court order against the Hollywood blockbuster Shrek 2, because the Hebrew version implies he has been castrated. David D'Or obtained an injunction barring...

Film to Tell of German Cannibal
Six months after Germany's infamous cannibal Armin Meiwes was jailed for killing and eating another man, one of the country's most controversial film directors is to make a film of his bizarre life. Rosa von Praunheim's film is to be entitled Your Heart in My Brain, and is expected to be...

Motor Sports: IFC Films acquires North American distribution for 'Dust to Glory'
IFC Films has acquired North American distribution rights for Dana Brown's homage to desert racing's premiere event -- the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 -- titled Dust to Glory, SCORE President and CEO Sal Fish announced today.

Hungary Vies for Euro Film Crown
Home to the world's first nationalised film industry and first journal of film, Hungary is now setting its sights on becoming the Hollywood of the new Europe. The Hungarian producer Andy Vajna, who was jointly responsible for a number of Hollywood blockbusters, announced in Budapest that...

Blow Up Hollywood Releases New Album Fake
Fake? What Is Real? The Answers Are In the Music...I was duly impressed with the self-titled debut of Blow Up Hollywood in 2002 and now two years later they have returned with another outstanding album.

Stardom is a Gas for Brad and Leo
Hollywood stars are easing their consciences by planting forests to make up for the pollution they cause. Robin McKie reports.

Ollie's Last Pub Lifts a Glass to Film Hellraiser
Oliver Reed's death five years ago has given birth to a memento industry for his Malta drinking spot.

US Guards 'filmed Beatings' at Terror Camp
Senator urges action as Briton reveals Guantanamo abuse.

Never Mind the Weather Overkill: Scientists Praise Hollywood's Global Warning
Hail stones the size of tennis balls are knocking people out in Japan. Shortly afterwards it is snowing in India. But that is only the beginning.

Tarantino Takes on Uk Film Industry
Director blames elitism and absence of stars for declining fortunes of home-grown movies, as opening feature breaks festival tradition.

Film Star Rattles Political Elite As Filipinos Vote for President
The choice facing Filipinos, who go to the polls today to elect a new president, is between an uncharismatic US-trained economist and a secondary-school drop-out who became a mega movie star.

Fraud Puts Poland's Star Film Boss in Jail
Poland's star film producer, Lew Rywin, was sentenced to 30 months in jail yesterday after being found guilty of fraud in the country's worst corruption case in 15 years of democracy.

Treat me like a grown up
Buzzle.com's Dave Singleton rants about the staleness of Hollywood.

Film-maker recreates the killing zones to reach beyond cliche of 'never again'
Hollywood cinema addresses the Rwandan genocide. The executions will take place in the banana grove, the commander decides, and his men drag the refugees from the church down a grassy path, forcing the first batch, two dozen men and women, to kneel at the edge of a shallow grave.

Hollywood Comes Out for Kerry
The Hollywood fundraiser for the Democratic presidential hopeful earlier this week was the culmination of a remarkable three months for the John Kerry election machine.

Man Confesses to Murder After Seeing Gibson's Film
Mel Gibson's controversial but lucrative depiction of the final hours in the life of Jesus has moved a Texas man to seek redemption by confessing to the murder of his pregnant girlfriend. The conversion of Dan Leach, 21, apparently as a result of viewing The Passion of the Christ, is the...

Disney Pins $100m Hopes on Narnia
CS Lewis's tales of an enchanted world reached through a wardrobe are to hit the big screen as Hollywood studios seek to repeat the success of JRR Tolkien's fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings. Troubled studio Disney has struck a deal to co-produce The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the...

Hit Film Gets Lost in Racism Row
Anti-racism campaigners are attempting to scupper Lost in Translation's Oscar hopes, claiming that it is guilty of racist stereotyping. George Wright reports.

Gibson Film Ignores Vow to Remove Blood Libel
Director keeps in infamous line - but in Aramaic only.

Church Tries to Cool Christ Film Row
The Catholic church in America was yesterday set to release church teachings on Jews and reconciliation in an attempt to cool religious passions before the release of Mel Gibson's film about Jesus. With the opening of The Passion of the Christ just one week away, religious denominations...

Focus: Pirates Loot the Film and Music Giants' Coffers
Organised crime is running the multi-billion dollar counterfeit trade - and it's not just Hollywood that will suffer. Jamie Doward reports on the fight against the bootleggers.

Minghella Faces Us Boycott
The acclaimed UK director Anthony Minghella last night countered criticism from Hollywood over his decision to film his epic American love story, Cold Mountain, in Romania. In an interview to mark the start of the Berlin film festival, which opened last night with Minghella's film, the...

Shop Staff Step Up Action in Landmark Strike
Hollywood stars and religious leaders wade into row over health benefit cuts as unions warn defeat would devastate labour movement.

UN Opens Door to Hollywood
The United Nations has given permission for the makers of a film starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn to shoot scenes at its New York headquarters.

Cold War Warrior Fêted by Hollywood
It is hardly the formula for Hollywood success: TV commercial director makes a documentary featuring an 87-year-old man staring directly into the camera lens as he tells the story of his life. Robert McNamara, US Secretary of Defence in the early years of the Vietnam war and subject of...

Hollywood to Break Last Taboo With Gay Cowboys
Stars set to play in Ang Lee Western based on Annie Proulx story of ranch hand's relationship with rodeo rider.

Film of the Week: Time for a Reality Check
Film of the week: Harvey Pekar's cult comics, drawn by his friend Robert Crumb, celebrated eccentric working-class people. Now Pekar stars in American Splendor - or does he?

Mystery Figure From Tv and Film Aided Eta Murder
A mystery figure said to be from the world of Spanish film and television has emerged as a central player in the 1973 assassination of Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.

Peter Bradshaw: A Great Year for Films, So Why the Christmas Turkeys?
Do our national broadcasters have a patriotic duty to show more British films this Christmas? Speaking as someone who watches more British films than is strictly speaking good for me, my gut reaction is no.

Fade Into the Red Facing Irish Films
Fury at plan by government to end tax breaks. It is the world's smallest cultural superpower, where worship of the written word has produced more Nobel laureates than any other country, and writers and artists are spared paying tax.

Chavez Film Puts Staff at Risk, Says Amnesty
Recriminations after documentary on Venezuelan coup attempt is dropped from a Vancouver festival.

Reefs at Risk After Disney Film
A booming trade in aquarium fish, sparked by Finding Nemo, the Disney film featuring clownfish, is endangering the wildlife of the Vanuatu archipelago in the South Pacific. Over the past year about 200,000 fish and other marine creatures have been exported from the country, and local tour...

Steve Martin to Star in Pink Panther Film
Hollywood's remaking of the 1960s is set to continue with a new version of the Pink Panther, with Steve Martin playing the part of the world's worst sleuth, Inspector Clouseau. The role was made famous in 1964 by Peter Sellers, but the French policeman's shoes have proved hard to fill....

Motor Sports: 2003 Baja 1000 to be chronicled In "Dust to Glory" sports documentary film
Seeking to capture the power, beauty, mystery and solitude of a Baja landscape that comes alive once a year with the annual running of the Baja 1000, the world's most famous desert race, filmmaker Dana Brown is set to produce "Dust to Glory." Read on for the story.

Hollywood Tale of Aid Worker in Cahoots With Cia Sparks Dismay
A new film, starring Angelina Jolie and Clive Owen, about humanitarian aid organisations that operate in war zones, has been attacked by aid groups for potentially putting their staff at risk. The film, Beyond Borders, opened in the US last month but the distributors say it will not now...

Uproar As Soap Fails to Clean Up Reagan's Image
iberal left accused of hijacking Hollywood as TV prepares to run warts-and-all biog of former US leader. Facts are stupid things, as Ronald Reagan once observed. They can also be extremely difficult to pin down, particularly when they concern the ever controversial former president.

Celluloid Cartel
Hollywood's supposed pre-Oscar clampdown on piracy has more to do with sidelining independent filmmakers, writes Duncan Campbell.

David Duchovny Hosts New Film About Abandoned Pets
Clover the dog and Oreo the cat may be a couple of strays, but they are about to change a lot of lives. They are the stars, along with host/narrator David Duchovny, of an inspiring new documentary that explores the lives of abandoned pets.

Digital fogs Kodak's epic film years
The golden age of photography is dead. This was not quite how Kodak announced its change of strategic direction yesterday, but the company responsible for many of the commercial innovations in 20th-century photography yesterday had to admit it has been overtaken by technology:

Fast track to success
Offbeat venture proves film festival hit. He is the unlikeliest movie hero Hollywood has ever seen - a trainspotter with an unerring knack for getting the girl.

Stars rough it after hotel staff walkout
They are the biggest names in Hollywood, long accustomed to having their every whim attended to by entourages of aides, calorie counters, personal hairdressers and life coaches.

Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's Favourite Film Propagandist, Dies at 101
The controversial German film-maker Leni Riefenstahl, whose hypnotic depiction of Hitler's 1934 Nuremberg rally, Triumph of the Will, is renowned and reviled as the best propaganda film ever, has died at the age of 101.

Riefenstahl, 'Hitler's film-maker', dies at 101
Leni Riefenstahl, arguably history's most controversial film-maker, has died at her home near Munich. The 101-year-old director had been seriously ill for several months.

"YAWP!" Hollywood's Teachers Earn A+
Filmic forays into the classroom tell us all that education is more about the relationship between teacher and student than the three R's

Jackson names the price of his success
Twenty million dollars - fully one-fifth of the film's entire budget. Those are numbers which will cause a low, stunned whistle from even the most jaded Hollywood player.

Gibson's Film of Christ's Last Days Alarms Jewish Groups
Star claims Holy Ghost helped him make film but threatens legal action after academics criticise script of The Passion.

Film Star Dies After Fight With Rock Boyfriend
President Chirac leads tributes in France for revered talent as her pop icon lover calls death an accident. They had been together six months and already they seemed destined to become France's golden couple: the fragile and gifted film actress from one of the country's great theatrical families, and the radical rock star-poet with a genuine social conscience.

MGM drops out of Vivendi race
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the Hollywood film studio, last night dropped out of the auction for the entertainment business of Vivendi Universal, saying the price was too high.

Film Causing Children to Flush Fish
A large number of children have recently been unintentionally killing pet fish by flushing them down toilets after seeing or hearing about a scene in the currently playing animated movie "Finding Nemo" in which a clown fish returns to the sea via a spit basin in a dentist’s office.

Protesters to target French TV and films
Performers angry at loss of subsidies plan next stage of 'cultural revolution'. Performers and technicians in France were this weekend planning the next stage in their cultural revolution - an attack on the country's film and TV industry, which begins with a day of action on Tuesday.

Love Me Do? Love Me Don't!
Alone? Unattached? Hollywood's take on romance should cure your love-sick blues. Almost since the first moving image was captured on film, Hollywood has been fascinated with the love story.

Hollywood's Hopes 2: How the Sequels Failed at the Box Office
Nearly 30 of this year's major Hollywood films are sequels, but in the US ticket sales are down amidst a feeling that what seemed like a magic marketing notion no longer works. The big three offerings over the weekend were sequels: Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines; Legally Blonde 2: Red...

Making up for lost time
Hollywood may see the web as a place for 15-year-old hackers, writes Peter Preston, but it's really the perfect tool for those old enough to be their grandparents.

Ooh aah, Cantona: Eric joins fat club for film
Don't pick a fight with Eric Cantona. He's more likely to crush you under 160 kilos of bulging flesh rather than risk falling flat on his back after a karate kick.

Rule to Terminate Oscar Cheats
On the day the latest Terminator film opened in Hollywood the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences threatened to use its ultimate weapon against members who break the rules in this year's Oscar competition: miscreants will be expelled and their films disqualified.

Film Star Hepburn Dies at 96
Katherine Hepburn, the famously gravel voiced, feisty and stylish actress, died last night at the age of 96.

Hollywood writes charity out of script
They make millions but few stars are among America's philanthropists. When television billionaire Haim Saban gave away $100 million in charity donations this weekend, he was less than charitable to other rich and powerful figures in Hollywood, launching a stinging attack on their 'stinginess'.

A Dog's Life: the Movie
In Hollywood, you have to be quick off the mark if you want to make a film based on real events, writes Duncan Campbell.

Russia's cult video pirate rescripts Lord of the Rings as gangster film
They call him the Goblin. He is the new toast of Russia's massive pirate video industry, his films sought all over Moscow. The trick of his silver screen success is that the Goblin redubs Hollywood movies, using his own 'better' Russian alternative to the script.

Peck's 50 years in films
Days of Glory, 1944
Spellbound, 1945
The Yearling, 1946

The good, the bad and the chosen
It is a tradition now that British actors play the villains in Hollywood films, so perhaps it should be no suprise that Anthony Hopkins has been voted all-time screen baddie.

Hollywood finds new taste for Dahl's chocolate factory
Though it has attained cult status, the film version of the classic children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was never a favourite with its author, Roald Dahl.

Tarantino producers plan Premier footie flick
First Eric Cantona donned a doublet in Elizabeth, now several Premiership players are being signed up to star in a big-budget Hollywood franchise being billed as football's Rocky.

Phenomenal films
With the imminent arrival of Matrix Reloaded the air is electric with talk of philosophy; of doubt, the self, self-doubt, and the feasibility of an ugly robot replicating itself a hundred times over.

Matrix films blamed for series of murders by obsessed fans
One of the attractions of The Matrix, the film whose sequel, The Matrix Reloaded, opens in Britain next week, was its blending of fantasy and reality. A series of murders in the United States suggests some people have been unable to distinguish between the two.

McGregor rages at film fund's agenda
Trainspotting star's latest potential prizewinner almost failed to get made for want of emergency money from lottery fund. The actor Ewan McGregor accused the British film establishment yesterday of slapping him in the face by refusing funding for his latest, critically acclaimed movie.

Costliest Uk Film Takes on Epic Scale
Cast of thousands and record-breaking £49m budget to put story of emperor Cyrus on celluloid for the first time. An action adventure with a cast of thousands about the Persian emperor Cyrus is set to become the most expensive British film ever made.

Court web snares Spider-Man
Spider-Man is facing his biggest challenge in 40 years as a crime-busting superhero - he has been kidnapped by corporate America and held to ransom in a Hollywood courtroom.

Buddha Goes to Hollywood
Richard Gere is to open a Buddhist spa - but do western believers understand the religion? It's some years since I shared a caravan in North Wales with Richard Gere. New Age Californian platitudes are made for a 12-month sunshine state, while slate-grey skies, though misery-inducing, at least make you more alert.

Abuse Survivors Attack Brosnan Film
In true Hollywood fashion the film ends with a feel-good message - Pierce Brosnan's character wins his court case and thousands of children are freed from the misery of Ireland's notorious church-run institutions. But survivors of physical and sexual abuse in the Republic's Industrial...

BBC Film Maker Killed By Landmine
A BBC cameraman was killed and a producer injured yesterday when they stepped on landmines while filming near the frontline in Kurdish northern Iraq. Kaveh Ibrahim Golestan, 52, a distinguished Iranian cameraman, was working with three others including the BBC correspondent Jim Muir in...

Hollywood mogul wins Kirch plum
A Hollywood-based Israeli billionaire yesterday became one of the most powerful media figures in Europe when he agreed a $2.2bn (£1.4bn) deal to buy Germany's biggest television broadcaster from the crippled KirchMedia group.

Hollywood celebrates US World Cup win
Hollywood is planning a film about underdogs triumphing at the World Cup. Sadly not England, but the USA, in the true story of their victory over England in 1950.

Far from Heaven
This extraordinary film, written and directed by Todd Haynes in homage to the "women's drama" Hollywood pictures of Ross Hunter and Douglas Sirk, is a cinematic event - an event where I came to mock and stayed to pray.

Get the picture?
It could be the first line of some old Hollywood joke: how do you fit 13 millionaire movie stars on the front cover of a magazine? The damp-squib punchline, however, is that you can't. So this month's Vanity Fair special on the "Kings of Hollywood" gives pride of place to Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson, Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt.

Tintin Goes to Hollywood
Comic strip hero gets Spielberg treatment. Great snakes! Twenty years after his Belgian creator's death Tintin, the betufted boy reporter of comic-strip fame, is to go to Hollywood to star in a series of action films produced by Steven Spielberg.

Murder case turns Spector into hot movie property
Once the undisputed doyen of America's music scene, wooed by film producers eager to immortalise his glittering career and controversial life on screen, Phil Spector has spent the last three decades hiding from the world in his sprawling Hollywood mansion.

Raspberry time for Hollywood's worst
This is nominations week in the film world with the Oscars shortlist being announced tomorrow. The nominations that only masochists want to receive are out today, with the director Guy Ritchie and his wife, Madonna, both in line for the award of the dreaded Golden Raspberry.

B-movie Actress Named As Shooting Victim
The woman veteran record producer Phil Spector has been charged with murdering was named today as Lana Clarkson, an actress who gained a cult following from starring in Hollywood B-movies. Ms Clarkson, 40, was found shot dead yesterday at Spector's Californian mansion, her body sprawled...

Hollywood pair go head-to-head for Oliviers
Gwyneth Paltrow and Emily Watson will be pitted against each other for the best actress gong in this year's Laurence Olivier theatre awards, announced today.

British film industry on a roll
After the grimmest of years, the British film industry seems to be turning the corner at last, according to official figures released last night by the Film Council.

Hollywood dips a toe in Mandarin
Filming of the first Mandarin-language movie made by Warner Brothers began in Taipei this week. It is the latest sign that Hollywood regards China as one of the world's great untapped cinema markets.

Teenage hacker beats Hollywood clamp on DVDs
Hollywood's biggest film studios were defeated yesterday in their effort to punish a Norwegian teenage computer hacker for DVD piracy.

Kings of Hollywood in Epic Battle to Film Alexander, the First Bisexual Action Hero
Luhrmann and Stone lead race for frank take on conqueror.

A Hollywood Rebel Flies Into Baghdad
The Hollywood actor and director Sean Penn flew into Baghdad yesterday on a three-day visit to warn that a war with Iraq would be "frightening". Penn, the former husband of Madonna and an Oscar nominee, spent yesterday afternoon touring the poorly equipped children's wards at al-Mansour...

Israeli Censors Ban Film About Battle of Jenin
The Israeli board of censors was criticised by both Palestinians and Israelis yesterday for banning a documentary about the battle in Jenin which took place earlier this year. It is the first film banned in Israel for 15 years. Israel's film ratings board said the documentary...

Oscar hope as Daldry film wins US film award
Stephen Daldry's film, The Hours, his follow-up to the surprise success of Billy Elliot, was yesterday named best film by the National Board of Review in America, an early indicator of how the Oscar awards may go.

James Coburn, Hollywood Tough Guy, Dies at 74
James Coburn, the classic Hollywood tough-guy who fought his way back from crippling arthritis to win an Oscar in an extraordinary comeback performance, died of a heart attack yesterday in Los Angeles, aged 74. Coburn, together with his close friend Steve McQueen, defined a new brand of...

Hollywood opening on net
Hollywood movie studios are fighting back against online piracy with the launch of a service allowing fans to download films over the internet on to their computers.

Genocide film sparks diplomatic row and ban on young
A top museum has run into controversy after commissioning an exhibit that is too harrowing to be seen by children.

Apocalypse again for British films
The streets of London are eerily empty of Hollywood stars, tumbleweed blows through the vast sound stages of Pinewood and Shepperton, and all of a sudden you can get a table at the Ivy restaurant.

They are some of Hollywood's most bankable stars. So why are their films gathering dust?
Poor old Hollywood. Many films starring big-budget names are sitting on the shelf unable to obtain a release because they are so bad or unmarketable. And now studios are also having to hold back films which may be seen as offensive in a newly patriotic and sensitive United States.

Washington Killings Halt Release of Sniper Film
A film about a mad sniper has had its release delayed indefinitely because of the shootings in the Washington area.

Email Push Bowls Hollywood Over
Bowling for Columbine, the controversial documentary by the maverick director Michael Moore about American gun culture, opened in cinemas in the US at the weekend to an enthusiastic audience response. Its success may be in no small way due to thousands of emails sent by the director...

'It Was Like a Film. Flames Going Up Everywhere'
Survivors tell how night out turned to horror.

Spielberg Jr makes debut
As Hollywood holds its breath to discover whether film-making genius runs in the family, Steven Spielberg's 17-year-old son is finalising work on his debut, a short thriller called Snap Shot.

British film deployed in Russia's war
A video documentary in which a British journalist was killed while filming last week, provides proof that Chechen rebels are using Georgian territory to launch attacks on Russia, according to Russian officials.

Coming soon, Die Soft and other sanitised films
John Dixon owes his career to Kate Winslet's brief topless scene in the film Titanic. If it hadn't scandalised the Mormon community of American Fork in Utah, it might never have occurred to the owners of a video retail store there to edit it out before putting the tape on their shelves.

American woman filmed beating up her child surrenders to police
An American woman who sparked a countrywide search after a surveillance camera captured her beating her four-year-old daughter in a car park turned herself in to the police at the weekend, crying as she told reporters: "I am not a monster."

London film festival focuses on refugees
Two-week programme features award-winning films from Polanski to Frears. The plight of refugees in Britain is one of the major themes of this year's London film festival.

Chasing Amy
She made $1bn for Columbia pictures in one year and as a result has been voted Variety magazine's Showman of the Year. Amy Pascal might have smashed through Hollywood's glass ceiling, but has she done anything for women in the process?

Ladies in Black Pay Respects to Hollywood's Greatest Sex Symbol
The "ladies in black" were out in force at a Hollywood graveyard this weekend to pay tribute to one of the greatest sex symbols of all time. Rudolph Valentino may have died of a perforated ulcer on August 23 1926 but he is still able to pack them in at the Hollywood Forever cemetery.

Movie stars back farm hands' rights
One of the most stellar line-ups of Hollywood names assembled for a political cause in recent years has thrown its support behind one of the most impoverished sections of the American workforce.

Hookers seek to claw back some Hollywood benefits
From Irma La Douce to Pretty Woman, film prostitutes have always fascinated Hollywood, but the real-life hooker has not always benefited by it.

Gypsies' Fate Haunts Film Muse of Hitler
As she approaches her 100th birthday this week, Leni Riefenstahl, Hitler's favourite film-maker, remains the pariah of the German cinema.

Call to Ban Film of Mitterrand's Last Feast
Six years after his death, France is still torn over whether its enigmatic president was saint or sinner, gourmet or glutton.

Festival premiere for film on strife in Israel
A cartoon-musical about suicide bombing and racist thuggery, considered too inflammatory to be shown in the Middle East, is to premiere next week at the Edinburgh international film festival.

Hollywood Old Guns Rewrite the Script
After years of being passed over for younger people, the older members of the entertainment industry in Hollywood are seeking redress. And being American, they are doing it through the courts.

Secret film exposes South African jails
Warders trade in sex, drugs and weapons, inquiry told. The South African prisons department has been forced to reinstate a governor who was sacked for resisting official pressure to destroy a secretly made video showing warders selling convicts weapons, drugs and juveniles for sex.

Pop will film itself
As S Club reveal their plans to cross over to the silver screen, Sean Clarke explains why there is no spectacle quite so cringeworthy as pop stars playing themselves.

Stuart Jeffries: FilmFour's blurred vision
Channel 4's venture failed because producers neither knew their market nor truly cared about cinema. What is the point of the British film industry? Is it to make money with blameless, if fatuous, pictures starring Hugh Grant?

Hollywood Stunned By Star Agent's 'gay Mafia' Slur
If there's one thing the denizens of Hollywood's film industry relish more than their own success, it is watching someone else's career disappear into the abyss.

Hollywood's Women Directors Hit Celluloid Ceiling
Hollywood remains a boys' club with women directors and screenwriters hitting a "celluloid ceiling" and their numbers actually falling, according to a survey.

New film accuses US of war crimes
A former chairman of Amnesty International yesterday called for an independent investigation into claims that US troops tortured Taliban prisoners and assisted in the disappearance of thousands of others in the war in Afghanistan.

Screenwriters Criticise Movie Bosses
Less studio interference and a cut in stars' fees is being demanded in Hollywood, writes Duncan Campbell.

Finding the Right Direction
Hollywood's finest writers are demanding less studio interference and a cut in stars' fees, writes Duncan Campbell.

Hollywood Threatens Los Angeles With Independence
It has the best known sign in the world, and now it may have its own municipality to go with it, independent of Los Angeles. The possible secession of Hollywood is hailed by its supporters as a victory for the little guy and denounced by its opponents as a damaging and potentially...

French teenage murder linked to Scream horror films
A youth of 17 has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a girl of 15 found stabbed, a case linked to the Wes Craven horror-film trilogy Scream.

Hollywood hype, black stereotype
Halle Berry's Oscar-winner is just another blaxploitation movie.

Nuclear attack film thrills America
And how are Americans choosing to relax on the weekend when a nuclear attack has seemed more plausible than at any time over the past 40 years? They are flocking to a supposedly escapist film - about a nuclear attack.

Celebs Vs Plebs in the Battle of Malibu Beach
A great wave is poised to crash ashore along the beaches where Hollywood's rich and beautiful stroll and sun themselves - an invasion not of seawater but of the common people.

Leigh criticises British for aping Hollywood
Director says UK needs fewer commercial genre films as his bleak drama All or Nothing receives its premiere.

Why Woody Hates Hollywood, Loves France
As his film opens festival, veteran hails French good taste as a bulwark against the barbarism of the US industry.

Crowds Flock to Film to Beat Censor's Ban
Almost 50,000 Australians rushed to their local art-house cinemas this weekend to watch the erect penises and heaving buttocks that have made the French film Baise-Moi infamous, before censors had it removed from screens yesterday.

Lyn Gardner: Hollywood Stars and the West End
Madonna and Gwyneth may pull in punters, but are they worth it?

Film: The Adventures of Zouzou
She was a star of film, music and fashion, and had an affair with a Rolling Stone. Then came the drugs bust - and a spectacular fall from grace. By Stuart Jeffries.

A finale on Sunset Boulevard ... Hollywood maestro Wilder dies at 95
The film director Billy Wilder, who more than anyone else combined Hollywood's yearning for movies with meaning with its need for commercial success, has died aged 95.

Hollywood Maestro Wilder Dies at 95
The film director Billy Wilder, who more than anyone else combined Hollywood's yearning for movies with meaning with its need for commercial success, has died aged 95. The news of Wilder's death was released yesterday by George Schlatter, a producer and friend of 40 years...

Will talent out this time?
Three times he has been nominated for the Oscar for best actor and if he fails to win this time, Hollywood's critics will have a field day. But win or lose, cinema's leading black star will turn in an exemplary performance: Denzel Washington.

Guerrillas Expose Hollywood's Most Famous Naked Man
The Guerrilla Girls have struck again - and this time their victim was a 74-year-old naked man. The group of anonymous arts activists who are famous for their political stunts have placed a billboard in the heart of Hollywood just a few days before this Sunday's ceremony, mocking the...

Net Pirates Turn Sites on Hollywood
Online swapping of films and TV shows threatens to cost the industry billions.

UN Shows Graphic Film at Milosevic Trial
UN prosecutors today screened graphic film footage of gaunt prisoners in Bosnian prison camps at the start of the second day of the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic. With the prosecution's opening statement lasting longer than expected, it was unclear whether Mr Milosevic would have...

Hollywood enlists its heroes to lift the spirit of America
It has a cast of thousands of the best known actors in the world and will be seen by millions of cinemagoers this weekend. In the sort of opening that every film producer dreams of, a celebration called The Spirit of America will become the most visible contribution so far by Hollywood to the war...

Celebrity answers on Hollywood Squares
From The Original Hollywood Squares T.V. Show. These are from the days when game show responses were spontaneous and not scripted like they are now.

General: Violence at children's sporting cvents -- Film at 11
Parents and coaches starting brawls at kids sporting events. Can't we all just get along? What ever happened to -- just for the love of the game?

The Erotic Films History of Turkey -- The First All-Turkish Pornographic Film
Turkish movie-makers have been including earthy subjects and fleshy cinematic scenes in their conventional films since the 1950's. But, the intensity of 'erotik' action in conventional Turkish films escalated in the 1960's...

History of the Turkish Erotic Films Industry -- Introduction
Seven thousand people attended the gala opening in 1972 of the first Turkish erotic film, "Parcala Behcet". It premiered in Konya, of all places, in the heart of Turkish religious conservatism -- and it was the start of something big...

Russian outrage at Sergei's blue films
Sergei Pryanishnikov presses 'play' on his massive deck of video players and grins gleefully. Before him unfolds a typical scene from his pornography empire that has enraged many Russians.

MGM plans Girls Gone Wild film
The beleaguered MGM studio, currently languishing at the bottom of the major rankings after a run of flops, has signed a deal to bring a hit video about girls who strip at public events to the big screen.

'There's no reason why a porn film can't also be a good film'
Jon Henley meets the French porn director who is fighting to keep hardcore movies on TV. Into the office in a backstreet in the 11th arrondissement walks a slim and beautiful young girl in jeans, open-toed sandals and one of those cheese-cloth smock things that are unaccountably back in fashion this summer.