It's been a zany and frenzied year. Ripping out of the starting gate in snowy January for lofty Sundance, then roaring across and around America for months to attend 30-plus film festivals -- big and small, stellar and stinker, weird and restrained -- then jumping across the autumn ocean to...

Amsterdam, Netherlands -- Without change there are no surprises and the everyday slips into the mundane and life goes flat. Then the Big Bore has you! Those over 40 know about the Big Bore, while those over 60 prefer to not talk about the monster. In youth, they remember that...

I was informed via the Internet that America has a great future. A political conservative penned an article claiming we are well situated to become the "crossroads nation," the center of the planet. Hallelujah! A liberal acquaintance posted his enthusiasm on Facebook. A middle-of-the-road friend emailed me his relief. But...

Copenhagen, Denmark -- Wearing my Woodstock Film Festival hat -- at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival -- I was all set. Years ago, I had been one heavy devotee of The Band, an enthusiastic participant at the Woodstock Music Festival, a resident and lover of the artistic village of...

An addicted nation with an insecure supply of dope will turn irrational and vicious. Ask Iraq. America did not charge into that Middle East country so Iraqi children could go to school, so Iraqi women could have...

New York, NY -- The plan was simple. During one weekend I would attend four film festivals in three boroughs -- Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn. No problem, right? Maybe, or maybe not. This is the city that never sleeps, making it a...

Film festivals are large and small, high profile and low profile, single genre and full-spectrum, destination festivals in warm beautiful surroundings and festivals in cold boring urban areas. Some are more traditional and some are more daring. There are all kinds of festivals, thousands, maybe ten thousand worldwide, and the...

Brooklyn, New York -- It was the worst of times in New York and the best of times.

Real estate prices had plunged. Apartment buildings were being abandoned -- whole neighborhoods were being abandoned. Unemployment was skyrocketing. The crime rate was rising even faster -- New York had become...

Life is not going well for Will. His girlfriend of four years walked out on him. His job in advertising is going nowhere. His mother is remote and cold. Then his father dies.

So Will drives from his home in Philadelphia to Lebanon which is two hours west for...

Woodstock, NY -- Coming of age films are often stunningly boring for those who have already come of age. For them the entire genre is one deep ditch in the mind of monotony with shallow scripts crafted by comatose writers that deliver painful romps through the cinematic terrain of...

Woodstock, NY -- John Lennon loved New York City. Although his love affairs were generally rough and rocky -- his love for the Beatles crashed hard, his love for mother England turned sour, his love for Yoko Ono took a nasty plunge, his love for music slipped away -- but...

For eight months, I've been ripping around this country -- from Cape Cod to California, Montana to Texas, Florida to New York. I was on the film festival circuit. There was top-tier Sundance, quickly rising Big Sky, struggling Full Frame, biggie Tribeca, small town True/False, little -- so little I...

Atlantic City, NJ -- Dreams without passion are useless. That's fantasy. That's a waste of time.

Raised in the infamous North End, a section of Atlantic City blanketed with poverty and hopelessness, riddled with drugs and violence, young John Paxton saw up-close how quickly passion dies and dreams fade...

Atlantic City, New Jersey -- At the very beginning, Beijing Punk asks: "What happens when 1.3 billion Chinese discover punk?" Then it proceeds to answer the question -- well, not exactly. But that doesn't matter. This is a fascinating and insightful journey into China's punk culture, a world few...

Good film festivals are intense experiences that drain your brain and relax your body. Actually, they can slam you into a mellow lump and leave you more than a tad depressed. No problem, I've been there many times, and I know what happens next. The "aftermath blues" will get whacked...

Woods Hole, MA -- It was a routine police raid. No big deal, not in 1969. Yet, this routine police raid would ignite a human rights revolution. It would ignite the gay rights movement.

Seldom in the struggle for civil rights has one routine action, one police raid, set...

Woods Hole, MA: My Perestroika tells the story of five rather ordinary Russians who have lived during extraordinary times, in mind-boggling times, dangerous, for some, incredibly rewarding times. With childhoods in the cozy cocoon of the Soviet Union, teenage years during the collapse of the communist regime, adulthood in the...

The best film festivals have stimulating films in a festive atmosphere. They have films that challenge and entertain and stretch the mind in a social environment of filmgoers who interact and bond. The best film festivals live way beyond the festivals. The best have filmgoers who return year after year.

The Manhattan Film Festival is a small festival in a large city, New York City. It's a modest event with some ambitious films. Without corporate sponsors, it screens low-budget films, yet low-budget films that can rock your socks! Such as Apostles of Park Slope.

The film's narrative is straightforward....

Although the Vietnam War has for some time been away -- away from the headlines, away from the public dialogue, away from our private thoughts -- the Vietnam War is not gone. I don't think it will ever be gone.

The two wars that have rocked...