Scorsese Plans Film About Bob Marley
Martin Scorsese is following up his Rolling Stones documentary with a film about the life of reggae legend Bob Marley, the US director’s agency DDA said Friday.
Marley’s son Ziggy is co-producer of the new documentary, which has still to be given a name.
‘I am thrilled that the Marley family will finally have the opportunity to document our father’s legacy and we are truly honoured to have Mr Scorsese guide the journey,’ Ziggy Marley said.
The film is set for release on February 6, 2010, the day on which the singer would have turned 65.
Scorsese’s Stones’ documentary, Shine a Light, had its world premier at the Berlin Film Festival on Thursday.
58th Berlin Film Festival Opens
The 58th Berlin Film Festival opened Thursday evening with a gala featuring the world premiere of Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese’s concert movie about the legendary pop group Rolling Stones.
Scorsese and Stones Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood are in Berlin to attend this big event. This also marked the first time the Berlin Film Festival being opened with a documentary film.
“Films with music or musicians at their center are the most important ingredient of this year’s festival,” said Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick said.
Apart from Scorsese’s documentary, the queen of pop Madonna’s directorial film debut, Filth and Wisdom, will also have its premiere at the festival.
During the 10-day film festival, one of the world’s top three of its kind, about 400 films are to be screened in different sections.
Berlin Film Fest Offers Wide-Ranging Program
Films from as far afield as Iran and Japan will compete with strong Oscar contender “There Will Be Blood” for the top prize at this year’s Berlin film festival.
Twenty-one films are competing for the main Golden Bear award at the “Berlinale,” the first of the year’s major European film festivals — which runs from Feb. 7 to 17.
Contenders announced Tuesday by the festival organizers include Spanish director Isabel Coixet’s “Elegy,” based on Philip Roth’s novel “The Dying Animal,” and starring Penelope Cruz and Ben Kingsley; “There Will Be Blood,” Paul Thomas Anderson’s oil-boom epic, starring Daniel Day-Lewis; and Damian Harris’ “Gardens Of The Night,” featuring John Malkovich.
Organizers say they do not expect the Berlin festival to be hit by the Hollywood writers’ strike, which reduced the annual Golden Globes ceremony to a news conference. “We will not have a dead carpet, but a red carpet,” festival director Dieter Kosslick said, adding that Cruz, Kingsley, Malkovich, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and others are expected in Berlin.
Vaclav Havel Behind The Scenes In New Film
Former Czech President Vaclav Havel allows the world a backstage peek at his turbulent political career in a two-hour documentary to be premiered in Prague on Thursday.
The film “Citizen Havel” is based on a total of 45 hours of material gathered by Havel’s friend Pavel Koutecky, who followed the president around the world for thirteen years, starting in 1992. Shot in family video style, it shows Havel at home, writing history on the world stage, or encountering global celebrities.
“It [the movie] puts a human face on the image of Havel — the icon,” said David Dusek, one of the co-producers of the film. “Lots of people will be surprised.” Viewers get to see Havel nervous against the backdrop of political Washington, clowning around with Bill Clinton in a jazz club and showing the Rolling Stones around Prague Castle. Dusek says the movie, distributed by Aerofilms in the Czech Republic, was well received at US college screenings last year, and will compete at the Berlin Film Festival on Feb. 11.
Havel was a dissident playwright when he led the 1989 revolution that peacefully toppled communism. He became president of Czechoslovakia in December 1989 and served as Czech president from January 1993 after the country split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. His last term in office ended in February 2003.
