Father Geek here, sorry this is a little late but the computers at Geek Headquarters in Austin were down this weekend. Luckily Harry was in LA so he was able to do alot of updating from out there. Anyway here's Edgard and crew's column for this week. Man I would love to attend The 19TH BRUSSELS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF FANTASY THRILLER & SCIENCE-FICTION FILMS. What a lineup!

EURO AICN

Hello Folks !! Edgard here with the all fresh new edition of Euro AICN... this week we have some Awards (London Film Critics Circle - yipee for BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, BILLY ELLIOTT and MEMMENTO... three excellent movies); some Festival (the Brussels Festival of Fantasy, Thriller and SF... very very cool Festival indeed); some Awards from Festival (results from Berlin...) and of course the news from all over - almost - Europe... I am in a hurry so no more introduction, here are the Euro News...

GERMANY

* Well that's it, the Berlin Film Festival ended today... Last year MAGNOLIA was the big winner of this excellent festival, this year the winner is INTIMACY, directed - in English - by Frenchman Patrice Chereau (him of "LA REINE MARGOT"). Let's note also the much deserved acting price to Benicio Del Toro (in TRAFFIC)... Here's the full story from Screendaily : The Berlin Film Festival has awarded its top prize, the Golden Bear, to Patrice Chereau’s sexually explicit Intimacy based on one of Hanif Kureishi’s semi-autobiographical short stories. One of the film’s courageous leads, Kerry Fox, also took home the Silver Bear for best actress. Living up to the pre-festival promise from jury president (and ousted Fox studio chief) Bill Mechanic to honour international films whose daring stand in contrast to Hollywood safety-first mentality, Berlin singled out an audacious film that has yet to find a North American distributor. Marking Chereau’s English-language debut, and set in a seedy London where the two lead characters played by Fox and Mark Rylance engage in a long series of graphically portrayed rough sexual encounters, Intimacy divided audiences at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Despite protestations from Chereau himself that this film was much more than a sex film, an NC-17 rating seems a virtual certainty should the film be picked up by a US distributor looking to stir up the same kind of provocation as Catherine Breillat’s Romance. (Breillat, as it happens, also won a prize, a DM 30,000 cash award for her latest film Fat Girl). In our own review, Screen International described the StudioCanal-financed Intimacy as “a stunningly-made film that explores the mysteries of sexual desire in a dauntless way.’ Intimacy beat out a strong field that also included Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar-nominated Traffic, which walked away with a Silver Bear for Benicio Del Toro’s acting performance. Other winners included Taiwan’s Ling Cheng-sheng, who was awarded the Silver Bear for best director for his Chinese-Taiwanese co-production Betelnut Beauty. The Grand Jury prize went to Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai's Beijing Bicycle and another Silver Bear was awarded to Lone Scherfig's Italian For Beginners, the popular product of Denmark’s Dogma school of no-frills filmmaking that was grabbed during the festival by Miramax Films for distribution in the US, Mexico and English-speaking Canada.

MAIN PRIZES AT THE 51ST BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL :

Golden Bear: Intimacy (Patrice Chereau) France/UK

Silver Bear, Grand Jury Prize: Beijing Bicycle (Wang Xiaoshuai) China

Silver Bear: Italian For Beginners (Lone Scherfig) Denmark

Silver Bear for Best Director: Lin Cheng-Sheng (Betelnut Beauty) Taiwan/China

Silver Bear for Best Actress: Kerry Fox (Intimacy) France/UK"

Silver Bear for Best Actor: Benicio Del Toro (Traffic) US

The Blue Angel for Best European Film: Patrice Chereau (Intimacy) France/UK

Silver Bear for Individual Achievement: Cinematographer, Raul Perez Cubero (You're The One) Spain

The Alfred-Bauer Prize for a First Film: La Cienaga (Lucrecia Martel) Argentina/Spain

Golden Bear for Best Short Film: Black Soul (Martine Chartrand) Canada)

Silver Bear for Short Film: Jungle Jazz: Public Enemy (Frank Fitzpatrick) USA

Wolfgang Staudte Prize For Best Film in The Forum: Love/Juice (Kaze Shindo) Japan)

The Ecumenical Prizes: Competition: Italian For Beginners (Lone Scherfig) Denmark; Panorama: Blue End (Kaspar Kasics) Switzerland; Forum: The New Country (Geir Hansteen Jörgensen) Sweden

FIPRESCI Prizes: Competition: Italian For Beginners (Lone Scherfig) Denmark; Panorama: Maelström ( Denis Villeneuve) Canada; Forum: Danach Hätte Es Schön Sein Müssen (Karin Jurschick) Germany

Best Children’s Film: Nagisa (Masaru Konuma) Japan

The German Film Guild Prize: Finding Forrester (Gus Van Sant) USA

The German International Film Union Prize: Late Night Shopping (Saul Metzstein) UK

Peace Prize: Vivre Apres - Paroles Des Femmes (Laurent Becue-Renard) France

“Teddy” for Best Gay or Lesbian Film: Hedwig And The Angry Inch (John Cameron Mitchell)

Special Teddy: Moritz de Hadeln

Manfred-Salzgeber Film Prize (Dm 30,000): A Ma Soeur! (Catherine Breillat) France

BELGIUM

* And now some news on another really really cool Festival that I used to visit when I lived in Brussels : The 19TH BRUSSELS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF FANTASY THRILLER & SCIENCE-FICTION FILMS. It will take place from 9 to 24 March 2001.

As usual the selection sounds intriguing with the following World or European Premieres : "2001 : A Space Travesty" (USA - with Leslie Nielsen and Ophélie Winter !!); "7 Days to Live" (Germany - with Amanda Plummer); "Another Heaven" (Japan); "Bichunmoo" (Korea); "Chunky Monkey" (UK); "Common Wealth" (Spain - From cult director Alex De La Iglesia); "Delivering Milo" (USA - with Albert Finney, Bridget Fonda, Campbell Scott...); "Escaflowne" (Japan); "Gojoe" (Japan/France); "Hellraiser V - Inferno" (USA); "Highlander : Endgame" (UK/USA); "Il Mare" (Korea); "Innocents" (Germany/ USA - with JH Anglade and Connie Nielsen); "Legion" (Germany); "On the Nose" (UK/Canada - with Dan Aykroyd, Brenda Blethyn); "Possessed" (USA); "Secret Tears" (Korea); "Shiner" (UK - with Michael Caine); "Sleepwalker" (Sweden); "Sorted" (UK - with Tim Curry); "Spiders" (USA); "Tales of the Unusual" (Japan); "Terror Tract" (USA); "The Lake" (Sweden); "The Unknown" (Sweden); "Three Businessmen" (UK - from Alex Cox); "Vampire Hunter D" (Japan); "Visitor Q" (Japan).... and much more...

If you like weird little films... If you like to discover and get scarred... don't hesitate, this Festival is for you. And if you go, please send us your reports...

Full programme at : This Site.

FRANCE

* Not really new, but let's quickly recall the final casting of FEMME FATALE, the next movie directed by Brian De Palma (shooting will very soon start here in Paris) : Rebecca Romijn-Stamos should finally star with Antonio Banderas; and probably also Jean Reno... Sounds good to me...

* More on VERSUS : Interview of director and producer in real at Their Site click on "Mate le reportage exclusif sur "Versus"...

* Just a big "Good Luck" to Mister W, editor of a great French website on film news (if you speak French, you will find tons of info at : http://www.mistice.com/misterw/dernieresnewz1.html) and now director of his first "long film" called AMATEURS - a mix between TRAINSPOTTING, RESERVOIR DOGS and TWIN PEAKS, so it can only be good !! You can check the official website of AMATEURS to see a very cool teaser (also available in English) at : http://www.amateurs-lefilm.com/

So... good luck to you Mister W... and beware we'll keep on eye on your film !

* From Screendaily : The annual New York festival of new French films Rendez-vous with French Cinema will take place March 9-18 with 13 new films in the lineup. Screening at the Walter Reade Theatre, the festival will be attended by among others Daniel Auteuil, Isabelle Huppert, Chantal Akerman, Xavier Beauvois, Jean Becker and Benoit Jacquot.

Films screening are:

• Les Blessures Assassines (Murderous Maids) Dir: Jean-Pierre Denis.

• Selon Matthieu (According To Matthieu) Dir: Xavier Beauvois.

• Samia Dir: Philippe Faucon.

• Un Crime Au Paradis (A Crime In Paradise) Dir: Jean Becker.

• Esther Kahn. Dir: Arnaud Desplechin.

• La Ville Est Tranquille (The Town Is Quiet) Dir: Robert Guediguian.

• Saint-Cyr. Dir: Patricia Mazuy.

• Les Filles Ne Savent Pas Nager (Girls Can‚t Swim). Dir: Anne-Sophie Birot.

• Ca Ira Mieux Demain (Tomorrow’s Another Day). Dir: Jeanne Labrune.

• Trois Huit (Nightshift). Dir: Philippe Le Guay.

• La Captive. Dir: Chantal Akerman.

• Sade. Dir: Benoit Jacquot.

• Du Poil Sous Les Roses (Hair Under The Roses). Dir: Agnes Obadia & Jean-Julien Chervier.

IRELAND

* Pierce Brosnan will join Director Renee Harlin in a movie called "Sound of Thunder." In the film Brosnan will play a time travel hero and great white hunter. His goal is to travel back and hunt a dinosaur. However, when he does this he tampers with evolution and chaos theory does its thing. Cause and effect ensue and Brosnan like all true action heros has to save the day...

* Horrifying, gorish, nail biting, and ruthless... and that's just Lisa's review of HANNIBAL, check out why this one left a bitter after-taste...

For the review and the full story on Brosnan's next, go to http://www.ShowBizIreland.com

UK

* Warner Bros launched the official Harry Potter website www.harrypotter.com (www.harrypotter.co.uk in the UK) on Feb 16 in anticipation of the release of the film Harry Potter And The Sorcerer’s Stone in December. The site is planned as a community forum for Harry Potter fans across the world and is inviting other fan-managed Potter sites to link themselves to it. It will feature an animated short of the Hogwarts Express train as well as message boards, games and information about the feature film. Warner is planning to roll out local language customised versions of the site in German, French, Spanish, Italian and Japanese. (Source : Screendaily)

* Talking about HARRY POTTER... Our friends at Empire On Line (http://www.empireonline.co.uk/) met with actor Richard Harris and had a chat on his role in HARRY POTTER... : Richard Harris, not a man familiar with the finer arts of diplomacy, spoke to Empire Online last night (15 February) after he won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the London Film Critics' Circle. His view of the award was that "I suppose they'd nobody else to give it to this year, so they gave it to me." He added "I don't collect awards, I only came for the free champagne". But when we quizzed him about his role as Dumbledore in the much-anticipated "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", he wasn't much more effusive. When asked if he was enjoying doing the film, he replied "I'm actually not. I'm in it, so is Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman and Robbie Coltrane, but we're there sort of as special appearances. We come along and we do it and we get off and we go home." He did, however, manage to summon up some enthusiasm for Daniel Radcliffe, who plays the young wizard. "The kid is just fantastic. For never having acted before, you know, he could give me acting lessons". When Empire Online asked why Harris wanted to take on the role of Harry's mentor, he replied "Who knows? It's a job." And as for his possible standing as the new Obi-Wan Kenobi, he didn't really entertain the idea - "I never thought of it that way. I just want to be known as me". Winding up with a question about recent movies, Harris snorted; 'I don't go to movies. I hate movies. They're a waste of time. I could be in a pub having more fun talking to idiots rather than sitting down watching idiots perform.'

* Also from Empire on Line, some news on British actress Minnie Driver... : Minnie Driver is set to star in a film with mercurial actor Philip Seymour Hoffman. On a fleeting visit to the UK last night for the London Film Critics’ Circle Awards, she spoke to Empire Online about it. “I just signed the deal, like, yesterday,” she told us. “It’s called OWNING MALONEY. It’s about compulsive gambling. I play Brenda the bank teller: a normal, ordinary girl with a bad habit.” She also talked about her role in the forthcoming British comedy, "High Heels and Lowlifes" and raved about its director Mel Smith. “I play a Nurse who tries to extort some money from some bank robbers she overhears on a police scanner pulling a scam. Working with Mel was just vintage comedy. He’s very, very funny and a terrific director. We had such a laugh, but it rained a lot.”

* And again from Screendaily, some news on Danny Boyle that could interest those around London... : Danny Boyle, whose credits include Trainspotting and The Beach and who is now editing two digital films for BBC2, will be discussing his career at the Production Show Movie Day on March 14 at London’s Olympia. The Q&A session, which will be chaired by Screen’s editor-in-chief Colin Brown, will kick off a day of events featuring a number of leading film industry players discussing key issues of the day. The Film Council’s Robert Jones, Scala Productions’ Nik Powell, Winchester Films’ Gary Smith, Grosvenor Park’s Don Starr, Sky Pictures’ Will Turner and Civilian Content’s Richard Holmes will be mulling over new sources of finance available to UK filmmakers, from the City and sale and leaseback schemes to the Lottery. In the afternoon, producers and directors will be pitching their projects to a panel comprising Working Title’s Debra Hayward, Universal’s Graeme Mason, Pathe Pictures’ Cameron McCracken, Miramax Films’ Teresa Moneo, FilmFour’s Jim Wilson and The Film Council’s Paul Trijbits. For more information, see www.productionshow.com.

* And let's finish with some Awards - it's the season after all - in this case the London Film Critic's Circle (source : Screendaily) : Spike Jonze's Being John Malkovich was named film of the year at the 21st London Film Critics' Circle awards last night, held at London's Savoy Hotel. The film also bagged prizes in the director and screenwriter of the year categories, for Jonze and Charlie Kaufman respectively. Christopher Nolan, meanwhile, picked up the British screenwriter of the year award for Memento, while Stephen Daldry was named British director of the year for breakout hit Billy Elliot. Ang Lee's Oscar favourite Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - the most successful subtitled picture of all time in the UK - bagged the foreign language film of the year award. Billy Elliot, which this week received three Oscar nominations, racked up five prizes including British film of the year. Jamie Bell, the film's star, also picked up the British newcomer award. Julia Roberts was named actress of the year for her role in Steven Soderbergh's Erin Brockovich, while Russell Crowe picked up the actor of the year prize for Ridley Scott's Gladiator. In the British actor categories, Jim Broadbent picked up the British actor prize for his role in Mike Leigh's Topsy Turvy and Julie Walters was named best actress for Billy Elliot. Samantha Morton was given the supporting actress prize for her role in Woody Allen's Sweet And Lowdown, while Albert Finney picked up the supporting actor award for his role in Erin Brockovich. Veteran actor Richard Harris also received a special achievement award.

FULL LIST OF WINNERS

FILM OF THE YEAR Being John Malkovich

BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR Billy Elliot

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR Spike Jonze, Being John Malkovich

BRITISH DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR Stephen Daldry, Billy Elliot

ACTOR OF THE YEAR Russell Crowe, Gladiator

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich

BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR Jim Broadbent, Topsy Turvy

BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR Julie Walters, Billy Elliot

BRITISH ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Albert Finney, Erin Brockovich

BRITISH ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Samantha Morton, Sweet & Lowdown

BRITISH NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR Jamie Bell, Billy Elliot

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR Charlie Kaufman, Being John Malkovich

BRITISH SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR Christopher Nolan, Memento

BRITISH PRODUCER OF THE YEAR Greg Brenman & Jonathan Finn, Billy Elliot

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Richard Harris

Well that's it for this Euro week... don't forget we need to hear from you at euroaicn@yahoo.com !