Festival briefs: Berlin, Tokyo, Locarno, Kinoteka, Pan-Asia, Ilkley

Scorsese & Tedeschi doc added to Berlin

Untitled New York Review Of Books Documentary directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi is the newest addition to the Berlinale Special, where it will be shown as a work in progress, followed by a discussion with the filmmakers and key contributors. More here.

Tokyo sets 2014 dates

The 27th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will be held from October 23-31. TIFFCOM will run earlier than last year, from Oct 21-23.

The festival revealed that its 2013 edition drew 121,771 people, up 14%. TIFFCOM 2013 hosted 316 exhibitors, up 15%, and 1,074 buyers, up 9%. More info here.

Locarno to celebrate Titanus

The 67th edition of the Locarno Film Festival (Aug 6-16) is planning a retrospective on the Italian production studio Titanus.

The production company was founded by Gustavo Lombardo in 1904, and Locarno will celebrate the company’s history as well as its present day output.

The Festival audience will have the opportunity to see melodramas starring the screen couple Nazzari-Sanson, directed by Matarazzo, the Pane amore and Poveri ma belli series directed by Comencini and Risi.

It will also screen films that revealed auteurs such as Fellini, Visconti, Lattuada, Olmi, Pietrangeli, Zurlini, and maestros of genre cinema like Bava, Margheriti, Freda, Mastrocinque, as well as a constellation of major Italian actors, from Sordi, Mastroianni and Gassman, to Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida to Claudia Cardinale.

The programme will travel to Cineteca di Bologna, the Cineteca Nazionale (National Film Archive) in Rome, the National Cinema Museum in Turin, the Cinémathèque suisse, the Cinémas du Grütli in Geneva, the Filmpodium in Zurich, the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York, the American Cinematheque and the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles. More info here.

Kinoteka Polish Film Festival

The 12^th Kinoteka Polish Film Festival is set to run from April 24 to May 30 in London, celebrating the best of Polish Cinema, music and visual arts.

Highlights include a retrospective of filmmaker Walerian Borowczyk and his “erotic fables”; and the New Polish Cinema strand.

The opening night film will be Papusza, a biography of the rise and fall of Polish-Gypsy poet Bronislawa Wajs. The film, directed by Joanna Kos-Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze, will screen at London’s Riverside Studios.

The closing night concert takes place at the Union Chapel and will premiere two short films by the Quay Brothers; In Absentia and Kwartet Smyczkovy.

The full programme will be announced on March 20. Further details here www.kinoteka.org.uk .

Pan-Asia to kick off with Unforgiven

The Asia House Pan-Asia Film Festival, overseen by the East End Film Festival team, will open Feb 26 with the UK premiere of Unforgiven [pictured].

Other programme highlights for screenings in London, Glasgow and Leeds will include the Chinese remake of Dangerous Liaisons starring Zhang Ziyi, and closing film Bhopal: A Prayer For Rain. More info here.

Ilkley plans first festival

The Victorian spa town of Ilkley in West Yorkshire is planning its first film festival, to be held Feb 14-16.

The programme includes films such as Only Lovers Left Alive, The Rocket and Philomena - the latter in honour of the festival’s official patron Judi Dench.

The festival will also show an extended cut of classic Metropolis, accompaniest by BFI pianist Stephen Horne.

Paul Merton will present Silent Clowns and British Sea Power will perform with Penny Woolcock’s From The Sea To the Land Beyond. Of particular local interest is Lad: A Yorkshire Story by Dan Hartley. More info here.