out and about
Added: May 9, 2007, 4:53 pm	Share    Print    Email

It's been a whirlwind cinema filled week that's made me swear off buttered popcorn for the rest of the year - at least through fall, so I'll be able to strut in my new Rosa Cha bikini at Flying Point Beach! No kidding, I'm positively reeling (pun intended) from a marathon that included braving the crowds for Robert De Niro's gift to Lower Manhattan, the Tribeca Film Festival, and having to survive a number of star studded champagne fetes that pop up like mushrooms after spring rain in Tribeca this time of year.

Damon Dash and Rachel Roy Photo by PatrickMcMullan.com

As always, there was a banquet of wonderful film options and unfortunately a banquet to follow each! While the festival was heavy with themes of global warming and war, it was a real treat to catch Indie film writer/director Paul Soter's entry "Watching the Detectives". The flick is a quirky romantic comedy starring Irish hunk Cillian Murphy as a geeky video shop owner who avoids the real world by immersing himself in film noir. Enter the ravishing Lucy Liu looking very femme fatale-ish and poor Cillian's world goes topsy turvy.

While Cillian didn't make it to the premiere (damn), I did get to chat with Lucy looking all glam in silvery Dolce & Gabbana. Producer Bill Benenson of Benenson Capital Partners, the very prominent family owned real estate empire, came in especially from the West Coast. Bill was swarmed by well wishers congratulating him for backing a winner!

Of course, I couldn't pass up the screening of Turner Classic Movie's "Brando" with scores of Hollywood A-listers, both young and old, sharing their remembrances of the brilliant and often eccentric Marlon Brando. Most moving were the testaments to Marlon's compassion, belief in social justice and environmental preservation awareness. Who knew The Godfather was the original greenie! At the Schimmel Center for the Arts screening Quincy Jones was brought to tears in a crowd packed with Marlon's close friends and colleague's. Foremost I spotted Water Mill artist Ellen Adler, daughter of the late Stella Adler, Marlon's teacher and mentor, who confessed that she and Marlon were sweethearts in the early days. Never a day went by that they did not talk on the phone, right up to his death. Also in the packed theater were producer Mike Medavoy and wife Irena, Chevy Chase with family in tow, Patricia Clarkson, Budd Schulberg, Robert Osborne, Patricia Neal, John Turtorro, and James Lipton.

After meeting the delightful Olympia Dukakis at the party for Wynn Handman and The American Place Theatre last week, I couldn't wait to see her new film - well, at least one of her latest, she's opened in two this week. In the heart wrenching "Away from Her" she co-stars with the age defying beauty Julie Christie of, "Doctor Zhivago" fame, who plays a woman in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. It blew me away that this very grown up story of love and loss was written and directed by the same brilliant Canadian actress who turned down the lead in "Almost Famous", Sarah Polley, who is just 28.

The screening hosted by the Cinema Society co-founders Hamptons men-about-town Andrew Saffir and Daniel Benedict drew a slew of glitterati including Kim Cattrall, Candice Bergen, Dick Cavett and Rachel Roy as well as Debbie Harry, Griffin Dunne and Sandra Bernhard.

The really big event this week was Peter Parker (aka Spiderman) who came swinging back to his Queens stomping ground for the third installment of the comic enterprise that's already racked up close to $2 billion worldwide. It's also helped to make stars Tobey Maguire as the web-weaving hero and Kirsten Dunst who plays his sweetheart Mary Jane very rich indeed. Originally planning on a premiere for about 600 film marketing execs, had to just 10 days before the opening switch to the Kaufman-Astoria Studios to accommodate the invited list of almost 2,000 that turned out.

Clearly, regardless of what the critics say "Spiderman III" is sure to be the audience pleaser of summer with its even more dazzling special effects and the appearance of Peter's first love Gwen, played by the beguiling Bryce Dallas Howard. With her hair dyed blonde and a tad heavier (she was pregnant during the filming), I almost didn't recognize the former Stella Adler Studio Of Acting student who two years ago casually pulled me over to meet her dad, Ron. Yes, Ron Howard as in Opie as in the Oscar winning director and producer! Oh! Was all I could squeak out.

P.S. Bryce picked up her middle name Dallas because that's where she was born, a little idiosyncrasy of her mom, Cheryl Howard and her dad to name their kids after a street or town where they were born. I guess it helps them keep their travel records straight or something.

Several nights into the festival, a group of New York's most prolific film makers took time out for a celebratory dinner to toast long time Sony Pictures Classic co-president Marcie Bloom on her birthday (I'm not telling which one) at her favorite Upper West Side trattoria La Vella. The much loved and respected Marcie, whom you may recall was the first Toastee of The Hamptons International Film Festival a few years ago. She was deservedly the center of attention of a crowd that included Oscar winning director/actress Lee Grant, Guild Hall regular the multi-talented Bob Balaban, PBS American Masters creator and executive producer Susan Lacy of Sag Harbor, the radiant actress Patricia Clarkson and a slew of Marcie's SPC pals co-presidents, Michael Barker and Tom Bernard and Exec VP of acquisitions Dylan Leiner with his soon to be missus Andrea.

In case you didn't know, Tom, Michael and Marcie have worked with the greatest directors of the century in bringing important independent films to world wide audiences: from the classics of Merchant-Ivory to the thought provoking oeuvre of Pedro Almodovar to Ang Lee's critically acclaimed "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Their films have garnered 20 Academy Awards, scores of Golden Globes and every other award imaginable.

The trio's honors also include the annual Honors Award from the Director's Guild of America, The Chevalier Order of Arts and Letters from France's Minister of Culture, The Gotham Industry Lifetime Achievement Award from the IFP (Independent Feature Project), the FINDIE Award at the IFP/West Spirit Awards, the GLAAD Media Award, and a retrospective at the George Eastman House in Rochester. I hope they all have a lot of mantle space! Happy Birthday Dear Marcie!

Really big news came in just as I was penning this week's column from my friend Gary Springer, longtime PR rep for The Hamptons International Festival. Rajendra Roy, who since 2002 has served as the Director of Programming and most recently Artistic Director of the Hamptons International Film Festival in the wake of Denise Kassell's departure, will be leaving his position as of June 30, 2007 to join the Museum of Modern Art as Chief Curator of the Department of Film. He begins at MoMA on July 1, 2007.

Needless to say this rocked the East End and was the subject of much talk all around the cultural scene this weekend. Though many are saddened at the loss of one of the film community's most well-liked artists (and dashingly good-looking to boot), no one is begrudging his appointment to one of the world's most prestigious curatorial positions in world cinema.

Summing up the festival staff's feelings, HIFF Board Chairman, Stuart Match Suna said, "Of course, we are very sad to see Raj leave. But we are proud to see that because of the great job he did with us that he has been recruited by such a distinguished institution as MoMA. He has brought a wonderful overall artistic vision to the festival these past five years. His films and programs have been provocative and intelligent and our audience has grown exponentially because of them. He leaves us with a strong internationally respected festival that will continue to thrive and prosper creatively and organizationally. We wish him great success at the Museum of Modern Art."

About his time on the East End during which he raised the festival's credibility to great heights internationally with his programming skills and his unique relationships with the key players in film, Raj said, "Working with the staff and board at The Hamptons for the past five years has been the most rewarding experience of my career. I am thrilled to have been a part of a festival that has demonstrated that it is not only a strategic venue for international independent filmmakers, but an organization that is serious about nurturing film professionals as well. I have no doubt that the festival will continue to grow in stature and relevance to the field, and I look forward to celebrating the 15th Anniversary of the festival in October!"

Promise to visit us, Raj!

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