Nicholas Eliopoulos – Producer/Director/Editor "Director's Statement" on Mary Pickford :

Like most of us, I never got to meet Mary Pickford. I did have the privilege of knowing and interviewing her late husband Buddy Rogers. Buddy starred in the first motion picture to ever win a "Best Picture" Oscar…William Wellman's 1927 Silent Classic Wings.

BEHIND THE FORBIDDEN DOOR

Indonesian Cinema was supposed to be dead ! After a flourishing of interesting films in the sixties in that country, little has been known about the sector, but the presence of several NEW WAVE filmakers in their 30s at Udine FarEast Festival

El Patio de mi Carcel - My Prison Yard This film is somewhat indifferent. The storyline is not very deep, but the performances are quite good. Veronica Echegui's performance is the only thing that saved this movie, perhaps the best role of her career that gives her a more promising future.

The plot: A petty thief and her pals attempt to adapt to life outside jail. But there is not much more depth to the overall story. Perhaps first-time director Belén Macías will get it right in her upcoming films.

It really has been a complicated and difficult year for Spanish film, without any blockbuster success in the billboards, different than in 2007 when The Orphanage or [REC] made box office smash numbers very close to Hollywood super productions.

A list of Spanish movies were added in the first quarter of 2008, international productions like Asterix at the Olympic Games and The Oxford Crimes that made some waves and increased the number of spectators attending premieres.

Following this wake some co-produced films were added as national films like Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Che, the Argentine, Transsiberian or El Greco, but their box office figures turned out to be really regrettable. These are not 100% Spanish produced, so they don't really count as exclusively Spanish films in my Opinion. Anyway, as 2008 is just past us, I made a couple of lists of 5- 100% Spanish films that, in my opinion, represent the best and the worst films of 2008. In this Cineblog you will read the Best and in the next Cineblog I will bring you the Worst.

How many times has this happened to you? You're watching a movie or a TV show and you know exactly where they're shooting... but you know that it may have been shot better somewhere else? Or you're watching something and now you have ideas of your own to shoot something but you don't know where to go to get the shot? Have you ever needed the perfect place to shoot a scene but can't afford to hire a location scout because you're a student or you're broke? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you should probably read this in case you're hoping to shoot in the Magic City... Miami, FL.

What are the three most important things in setting up business in the filmmaking business? Survey says: Location, Location, Location... Okay, now that we've got that down, you know that without it you'll be shooting in your mother's kitchen and in your father's garage, which per say is not a bad thing, unless that is... you have a lot of "on-location" type of shooting to do, then you need to get out and find it, Fast. First: Where does the story take place, what time of year, season? Do I need permits to shoot outside in public? Do you need seclusion, privacy in public? Do you need to stop a busy road but can't afford it? Well, I'm going to make this blog interactive by taking all specified questions you may have and answering them to the best of my knowledge. To boot, I know of thousands of different streets, alleys, bars, clubs, hotels, motels, houses, tourist traps, historical info, from who to grease for the shot and who not to, what places are camera crazy, I'm talking about anything about a location you need I might be able to help.