Father Geek here with the current Euro-AICN column. I just returned to GEEK HEADQUARTERS from the local press screening of John Boorman's wonderful TAILOR OF PANAMA. We all had a delightful time with this tongue in cheek spy flick that takes a closeup look at the power of governmental "bullshit", and those that fling it, and those that step in it. I highly recommend this film for some lighthearted adventure with some below the surface serious substance. Some nice performances from all, and Boorman's fasination with culture icons allows us a fantastic little peek at the country and its people. Its NOT "Bond"... its... huh... well, different! My cup of Earl Grey, so to speak. Now on to Edgard and his Euro-crew, and their report for this week from the wet continent...

EURO AICN

Hi folks... Edgard here with the new Euro AICN edition... Last week, I learned two important things in this column... first I will never again introduce the Euro news by talking about the sweet spring in Paris... because this then it has been raining every day and that blows !... second, I learned that April Fool's jokes were not good on the web... last week I put one in the Euro column... I thought it was so big that no one could believe it... and still I never got so many messages of worried readers asking me more about that news... so people rest in peace the JC Van Damme news about him taking over Pierce Brosnan as 007 was of course total bullshit... again I thought it was unbelievable... but some of you proved me wrong... so sorry about that... no more April Fool's jokes on Euro AICN, promised !

Anyway here's this week's edition... a quiet week... you will find a lot from Ireland (mainly on the Dublin Film Festival and the movie "An Everlasting Piece") and an update on the Cannes Festival Rumours... and a bit more... Actually a lot lore, from now on you should find a new weekly article in this column : the Ethan's Serbian Corner... Ethan has been probably one of our more busy Euro writers so now he will get his own space to ramble about films he saw... do not hesitate to get back to us on this...

So enjoy...

IRELAND

* The launch of the 16th Dublin film festival... The Miller 16th Dublin Film Festival announced its official programme this week at a launch in Mono, Dublin and ShowBizIreland.com were their to get all the gossip with Flora Montgomery the star of the new Roddy Doyle film When Brendan and Trudy. The main programme offers an exciting range of truly international titles to please and provoke in equal measure. There are multiple selections from the cinemas of France, Italy, Germany, Australia and fascinating work from Morocco, Tunisia, Japan, Iceland, Sweden, India, Brazil and Argentina.

Joel Schumacher's Tigerland has to be one of the most eagerly awaited films of recent years as is Christopher Guest's Best In Show - a sure festival winner. Other gems include the European premieres of a host of American indies: from genre rethinks like Bruised Orange (displaced Dubliner Donal Tavy toiling in Chicago-set crime territory), to a cross-over gay crowd-pleaser like Big Eden, to a nearly-Hollywood left-fielder like How To Kill Your Neighbour's Dog. The programme also boasts seven outstanding Canadian pictures including Robert Lepage's Possible Worlds and the superbly witty Kanadiana; the controversial The Isle from Korea (with a couple of hands-over-the-eyes-sequences with fish-hooks); a multiple awards winner from Mexico (Love's A Bitch); old-master entries from the likes of Oshima, Chabrol and Altman as well as such established talents as Michael Haneke, Takeshi Kitano, Tom Tykwer and Fernando Trueba; oddly numbered nods at the diversity of Dogme-disciplined filmmaking (the Danish-produced, desert-set Lear The King Is Alive is no. 4, while the US indie Reunion is no. 17); and a Euro-Visions section which ranges from the Hungarian Our Love to the German/Irish Conamara.

Other highlights include the two World Premieres: If I Should Fall From Grace and Willfull. The former is Sarah Share's Irish-produced summation of the evolving enigma that is Shane MacGowan; featuring classic footage from Nipple Erectors, Pogues and Popes, as well as yer man both living and obscuring his own legend in the course of a single sentence. The latter is the directorial debut of Rebel Penfold- Russell, as accessibly audacious in its way as the Aussie film she's most famous for producing, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. For all those C'n W aficionados there is a rolling showcase of Hollywood's productive dalliance with Country and Western music aptly titled Country Hearts, Country Hurts, including Sweet Dreams and Coalminer's Daughter at UCI's Coolock, Tallaght and Blanchardstown.

As ever, the Festival is an international, non-competitive event, showcasing an impressive slate of feature films new to Dublin audiences, plus the cream of new short-film production. This years programme will be supported by public talks, round-tables and interviews with the filmmaking guests.

* Author John Le Carre was initially opposed to the idea of casting Irish actor Pierce Brosnan as the seedy British spy in the film adaptation of his novel The Tailor of Panama. Le Carre disliked The Thomas Crown Affair and is bored by the James Bond films, he told the Los Angeles Times...

* An Everlasting Piece is a comical approach to the life and times in Belfast in the eighties. Directed by Barry Levinson who gave us classics such as Rainman, Bugsy, Diner, and most recently A Perfect Storm, entertains us with a lighthearted approach to a hairpiecing business generated in the heart of the troubles. A genius in his own right and Oscar Winner for a directorship, Levinson has teamed up with Irish and English writers, producers and actors to display a comedic satire to this peculiar area of topic. It is fun, frantic and full of laughs. However, it does takes itself to seriously sometimes - overshadowing the politics with the humour and vice-versa. The film is potentially a very good comedy, but approaching the area of Northern Ireland in the grim, concrete surroundings juxtaposed with the different perspective of content, made it slightly monotonous.

We were entertained and the character development was as deep as it could possibly be, considering it was a film about hairpieces!. In retrospect, the film was well written and sparkled with gems of originality and spontenaiety. It was culturallly apparent of its era, but disappointingly did not capitalise on the 'in -ness' of the eighties regarding fashion and music of the time period. The film reflects more on the Protestant and Catholic division and their togetherness. It evoked a weave of tenderness and reverence in regard to its take on the subject - even if I was itching my head afterwards as to why Levinson decided to take the project on in the first place??!

In a nutshell, the characters were funny, not belly laughter, but good. The contect was apt and well pieced together (sometimes the puns surprise even myself!). The storyline, although relevant, it has to be said overdone to the death. However, in saying all that thank god it was a comedy! It was spirited, a likeness to a Road Movie - a Thelma and Louise of Wigs, and a far cry better than many other films that have come out of late about the troubles. An educational and interesting angle on a hairpiecing business up North, because you may never know when you might need one! Definately worth a view!!

Full Story: http://www.showbizireland.com

FRANCE

* Cannes Festival (May 9th-20th 2001) : The final selection should be announced officially around April 20th, but once in a while some news appear and here there're... As a reminder, it will be Liv Ulmann who will be the Jury's president (and Premiere Magazine - the French one - wrote that Tery Gilliam and Mathieu Kassovitz could also be part of the Jury).

- Charlotte Rampling has accepted to open the festivities by presenting the opening ceremony of the 2001 festival on May 9th in Cannes. She will also host the Awards Ceremony on May 20th. (More news at : http://www.festival-cannes.org/)

- From the French Premiere magazine, here's a list of possible films for the selection. Two films are meanwhile confirmed : Baz Luhrmann's MOULIN ROUGE for the opening ceremony and Coppola's APOCALYPSE NOW in a longer version (3h20 instead of 2h27).

For the USA : HUMAN NATURE (from Michel Gondry; coproduced by Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman, who wrote the script also, with Patricia Arquette, Tim Robbins and Rhys Ifans); THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY (from and with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming; with also Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Kline, Phoebe Cates, Jennifer Beals, Lisa Kudrow, Parker Posey...); MULHOLLAND DRIVE (from David Lynch); THE PLEDGE (from Sean Penn; with Jack Nicholson, Benicio Del Toro, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright, Mickey Rourke, Sam Shepard,...); THE BARBER MOVIE (from the Coen Brothers; with Frances McDormand, Billy Bob Thronton... and Carter Burwell's music); SHREK (the new DreamWorks Animated Film); THE DEEP END (from Scott McGehee and David Siegel) and R-XMAS (from Abel Ferrara).

From Asia : ZU 2 (China, from Tsui Hark; with Ekin Cheng, Louis Koo, Zhang Ziyi, Cecilia Cheung and Sammo Hung); FAH TALAI JONE (Thailand; from Wisit Sasanatieng); HUSH ! (Japan, from Ryosuke Hashiguchi); KAIRO (Japan, from Kiyoshi Kurosawa); AVALON (Japan; from Mamoru Oshii).

From Europe : LA CHAMBRE DU FILS (Italy, from and with Nanni Moretti; with Laura Morante and Giuseppe Sanfelice); Invincible(Germany, from Werner Herzog; with Jouko Ahola, Tim Roth and Udo Kier); CONCURRENCE DELOYALE (from Ettore Scola; with Sergio Castellitto, Diego Abatantuono and Gérard Depardieu); TAUREAU (Russia; from Alexandre Sokourov); ELOGE DE L'AMOUR (from Jean-Luc Godard).

From Africa : KARMAN GEI (Senegal; from Gaye Ramaka - a new version of "Carmen" in Dakar)

From France : L'ANGLAISE ET LE DUC (from Eric Rohmer); LA REPETITION (from Catherine Corsini; with Pascale Bussières and Emmanuelle Béart); MADE IN USA (documentary on death penalty, more precisely on the Odell Barnes case; from Solveig Anspach); LE PORNOGRAPHE (from Bertrand Bonello; with Jean-Pierre Léaud, Jérémie Renier and Catherine Mouchet); TERMINUS DES ANGES (from André Téchiné: with Stéphane Rideau, Lubna Azaabal and Mohamed Hamaidi); CARREMENT A L'OUEST (from Jacques Doillon); LA CHAMBRE DES OFFICIERS (from François Dupeyron; with Isabelle Renauld, Eric Caravaca, André Dussolier, Sabine Azéma and Géraldine Pailhas); ROBERTO SUCCO (from Cédric Kahn); TROUBLE EVERY DAY (from Claire Denis; with Vincent Gallo, Béatrice Dalle, José Garcia); LES AMES FORTES (from Raoul Ruiz; with Laetitia Casta and Frederic Diefenthal).

We remind you this list is NOT official, these are only guesses from the press.

- The French website allocine.fr also adds one film to this list : CHELSEA WALLS, the first film directed by Ethan Hawke; with Uma Thurman, Marissa Tomei and Christopher Walken font partie du casting de ce film; and inspired by the Dylan Thomas play "Under Milk Wood".

* Fanny Ardant will be Maria Callas in CALLAS FOREVER, film directed in English by Franco Zeffirelli for 18 millions $. Jeremy Irons co-star.

UK

* I haven't seen this posted so i thought I'd let you know. BBC teletext today reported the following : After piecing together and viewing a rough cut of Episode 2, George Lucas has done a cast and crew recall to reshoot several scenes and new ones that he has written. Shooting is beginning asap at Elstree Studios in England

Daddy G

* From www.empireonline.co.uk : After widespread reports that she had ruled out the possibility of piling on the pounds for a sequel to Bridget Jones¹s Diary, Renee Zellweger revealed to Empire Online that she may yet reprise the role. ³We haven¹t actually talked about it,² she told us at last night¹s premiere for the film (4 April), ³but wouldn¹t it be wonderful?². Director Sharon Maguire also seemed optimistic about the prospect of bringing the batty heroine back for round two: ³I want to sleep for a long time and then I¹ll think about whether I want to direct another one. But I think so.² Zellweger had recently been reported as adamant that she wouldn¹t reprise the role after having been forced to put on weight and chain-smoke herbal cigarettes during the production. She was also said to be unhappy at the idea of spending so much time away from the US. However, if the effervescent enthusiasm she demonstrated at last night¹s premiere was anything to go by, Zellweger may well be slipping back into Bridget¹s oversized pants. ³But this time,² she said, ³I¹d have to make a trip to Victoria¹s Secret first.²

GERMANY

* Some news for your next column about german production of Lovecraft's HAUNTER OF THE DARK. Seems they reworked their official site (http://www.haunterofthedark.com/) a bit with slightly altered designs. Since they had some trouble in recent months and uncertainties about what direction they are going to take with the production - it now seems sure, it's going to be a feature-length production, possibly produced in english for international theatrical release. Right now it says, they are in talks with several production companies about co-production, with no shooting date in sight - at least not for now. However, pre-production is still working at full gear, for a lot of has to be designed and build.

And now for the main thing: Recently they announced their Cyber Producer program, for fans to take part in creating the film and get insight into the production's secrets. Now they announced a starting date, from where on registration forms will be available. Its April 15 - so only ten days to go. It's a rather cool thing, and rather unique for a film production - Big studios should take a look and see, how you can use the internet to let fans have access to your production and even use their help to create your product. Almost a groundbreaking thing, ain't it? :)

Martin the Martian out.

ETHAN`S SERBIAN CORNER

Hello AICNers this is your very own cowboy speaking from the cloak and dagger country of Serbia. I hope this column will survive after its` debut and that all of you will respond well to my ramblings.

Last week I' ve seen Robert Aldrich's VERA CRUZ and I was amazed by this oldie. If you haven't seen it dig it up because it is a true masterpiece. This glorious movie mixes the traditions of western and tough film noir. Maybe I liked it because I'm such a sucker for movies about people getting in trouble with Mexican scumbags. Anyway this movie anticipated Sam Peckinpah's WILD BUNCH and it features the typical muscular Aldrich's direction. My opinion is that Robert Aldrich is one of the most underrated directors of all time. This guy's classics like KISS ME DEADLY, THE DIRTY DOZEN or EMPEROR OF THE NORTH POLE are something that every serious movie buff must see and appreciate. They don't make movies like Aldrich used to make. Characters got softer, mean plots got lost somewhere down the road. I hope that Tarantino's upcoming WW-2 movie will capture Aldrich's nihilism. But my problem with Tarantino is that he usually surrenders toughness to coolness (hipness) and he is way too self aware to really simulate Aldrich. Still, I hope for the best since no one else doesn't even mention works that are inspired by Aldrich. I haven't seen Aldrich's movie named HUSTLE but its' BOMB rating in Maltin surely sounds promising. If anyone of you Talk-Backers seen this picture give me little info and comment on it.

Matthieu Kassovitz' THE CRIMSON RIVERS is about to enter Serbian cinemas. I've already seen it on bootleg video and it feels that Kassovitz has betrayed the idea of Euro-Americana. What is Euro-Americana? Euro-Americana is the reinvention of European cinema through use of Hollywood narrative. This insultingly dumb but well-crafted effort not only compromises the French cinema but it also disgraces famed Hollywood movies than inspired it.

A couple of days ago I've entered my local video store and felt the undescribable urge to see some Michael Madsen direct-to-video flick. Since TROUBLE BOUND wasn't available I settled for MEN WITH A GUN starring Madsen, Jennifer Tilly, Gary Busey and Robert Loggia. Sadly the movie isn't as good as its' cast. It is a mystery how Michael Madsen never became a star. It's maybe because he reached the prime in nineties when guys like Benjamin Bratt get pushed by the undercover dealings. If he began just a decade earlier today we'd be seeing luxury DVD boxes dedicated to Madsen. Michael Madsen would be a perfect cast for SUPERMAN REBORN or Batman's DARK KNIGHT RETURNS incarnation. Let's hope Tarantino will revive this guy's career. He deserved it.

I was thinking about how Philip K. Dick's FLOW MY TEARS, THE POLICEMAN SAID could be a great movie. Sadly no studio would fund it because it has no obvious hooks for the lobotomized mainstream audience. Anyway if they let me make it 'd do the following. First of all I would discard the whole genetical engineering subplot and cast Jack Nicholson as Jason. Also I would cast one actress in all female roles. It would be Kate Hudson because she has the needed mystique for the drug induced dream woman. Roman Polanski could be cast as Felix.

Robert Rodriguez' SPY KIDS really kicks ass. I've seen it on a bootleg video where many of the SFX works weren't finished yet . It's great to see a kiddie pic made with love and respect for the little people. The only bad thing about this movie is the fact that it was under-budgeted so it is too CGI-reliant. I just wanted to see more stuff happening in reality. But hey we are talking Miramax here, aren't we?

When my salary comes I'll have to get my own copy of EXTREME PREJUDICE. If you haven't seen this Walter Hill/ John Milus classic rush to your video store now!!!!

Till next week, with hope that I haven't bored you,

God bless, Ethan

Well that's about it for this week's news... don't forget to send your reports, comments or questions to the Euro AICN offices in Paris at euroaicn@yahoo.com