Harrison Ford, Dennis Hopper, Sir Ben Kingsley, Producer/Director Roger Corman, and Cinematographer Andrzej Bartkowiak will receive the 2006 Tower Award during special events throughout the Fourth Annual Russian Nights Festival April 2-8, 2006 in Los Angeles.

Previous festival recipients include Ray Bradbury, Francis Ford Coppola, Leonardo DiCaprio, William Friedkin, Dustin Hoffman, Nastassja Kinski, Milla Jovovich, Shirley MacLaine, Oliver Stone, Sharon Stone, and others.

Presented by Moscow's Stas Namin Center, Russian Nights Festival will offer up an impressive and diverse schedule that celebrates the rich culture of Russia, past and present, with an exciting festival program featuring the best from the worlds of film, music, theatre and contemporary art.

The opening night gala and party is this Sunday evening with the North American Premiere screening of Rabbit Over the Void (2006, Tigran Keosayan, 95 min.)

"Russian Nights 2006" will feature a film program comprised of some of Russia's most interesting new works from 2004-2006, debuting a wide selection of feature films by the country's top directors including Rabbit Over the Void (2006, Tigran Keosayan); Dreaming of Space (2005, Alexei Uchitel); First On the Moon (2005, Alexey Fedorchenko); Garpastum (2005, Alexei German-Jr.); The Graveyard Shift (2004, Valery Rozhnov); The Italian (2005, Andrei Kravchuk); Shadow Boxing (2005, Alexei Sidorov); Remote Access (2004, Svetlana Proskurina).

The Opening Night Party will be April 2, 2006 - 8:30 PM at the Pacific Design Center (8687 Melrose Ave., West Hollywood, CA 90069)

For more information regarding Russian Nights 2006, visit www.russiannightsfest.com. Tickets available at www.ticketsR.com; Ticket box: 323-874-8216.

The Stas Namin Center is a Russian non-profit organization dedicated to preserving Russian cultural traditions and advancing contemporary Russian arts and culture.

The Festival is supported by The East West Foundation for Culture and Education & The Federal Agency for Culture and Cinematography of the Russian Federation.

Source: Movieweb.com (click here for direct link to article).

Some details on the Firewall DVD, courtesy of Movies Online:

Warner Home Video has just sent over the complete details and cover artwork for the 2005 Harrison Ford thriller "Firewall", which also stars Paul Bettany, Robert Forster, Robert Patrick and Virginia Madsen. Available in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and 1.33:1 Fullscreen editions, both come with an English Dolby Digital 5.1 audio track. Extras include a conversation with Harrison Ford and director Richard Loncraine, a featurette, and the theatrical trailer. The disc will be available to own when it hits store shelves June 6, 2006.

In other cool news, Lucasarts and Industrial Light and Magic have announced a joint effort to bring a new Indiana Jones game to next generation consoles (Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PS3). Previous installments include Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine and Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb. No details are available, but look for the new title in 2007!

Indy IV script is set? Well, maybe. There are many reports out there on the Internet about this; here's one from the UPI wire service:

BERLIN , March 16 (UPI) -- Harrison Ford says he and director Steven Spielberg finally have a script for the fourth "Indiana Jones" film.

"Steven Spielberg and I now have a script in hand that we both like," Ford told Germany's Fit for Fun magazine. "I believe that we can start with the filming soon."

Ford, 63, did not give a start date, however, E! Online said.

Ford said he, Spielberg and producer George Lucas will have to coordinate their schedules before any "Indiana Jones" work could commence.

He added he still needed to make some preparations of his own, like "a little practice with the whip."

Ford is currently out promoting "Firewall," his first action thriller since 1997's "Air Force One."

Ford and Spielberg have a script they like, and George... well, I think I've heard this one before. Unless George is on board with the current script as well, there's no movie... yet. Stay tuned...

In perhaps more tangible news, George Lucas is going to set about working on a British television series that tracks the Star Wars universe from the end of Revenge of the Sith to the beginning of Episode IV: Star Wars. Sounds great George... just leave yourself some time for Indy IV matters, OK?

LONDON , March 15 (UPI) -- "Star Wars" creator George Lucas is creating a 100-episode British TV version of his film franchise, it was reported Wednesday.

The TV series will fill in the years between the 2005 "Revenge of the Sith" and the 1977 original "Star Wars," the Mirror reported.

The series is being produced by Rick McCullum and is expected to spark a big-money bidding war between the BBC and ITV, the newspaper said.

Original C3P0 portrayer Anthony Davis is the only film star signed for the TV series, McCullum said.

"It'll all be new (actors) because the originals will all be too old," he said. "But we will be using Anthony as C3P0 because there is such a thing as loyalty."

Both articles: United Press International, © Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc.

Fox 411 by Roger Friedman:

"Munich" director Steven Spielberg will take a year off from moviemaking, he told me last night at the Academy Governor’s Ball.

He deserves it: between November 2004 and October 2005 he produced and directed both "War of the Worlds" and " Munich."

(Hello! What did any of us do in that time period?)

Spielberg and his sensational knockout actress wife Kate Capshaw very happily attended the Governor’s Ball and the top top top A-list Vanity Fair party at Morton’s afterward, even though " Munich" — my personal choice for Best Picture this year — received nothing.

During my long talk with the most successful and honored film director in motion picture history, Spielberg told me a couple of things. For one, he expects that it will take two years before " Munich" makes its money back. It’s among his lowest grossing films, including "Amistad," "1941" and "Always."

“But it doesn’t matter,” he said. “I didn’t make it for the money.” He’s very happy with the finished product, also.

Right now, he does not have a project on the front burner, a big change for a man who does sometimes make two feature films in a year.

His main work in 2006 will be preparing his Abraham Lincoln film with award-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin, and acting as a producer, not director, on several other smaller projects.

I asked him about "Indiana Jones 4." What’s up?

I said: “George Lucas told me recently that there’s a script and he’s happy with the story.”

Spielberg: “George Lucas isn’t the director. I am.”

You may recall that in this space on Dec. 6, 2005, I wrote that Lucas said he had a script by Jeff Nathanson, who wrote Spielberg’s "Catch Me If You Can" and "The Terminal," as well as Bret Ratner’s "Rush Hour" movies. But even Nathanson seems to have been succeeded in the Indy sweepstakes.

“I have David Koepp on it now, and he’s my ‘closer,'” Spielberg said, using a baseball reference to the pitcher who comes in during the 9th inning and finishes up a winning ball game (New Yorkers automatically think: Mariano Rivera, Goose Gossage, Sparky Lyle, Dave Righetti).

“He wrote 'Spider-Man' and 'War of the Worlds,'” Spielberg said, “so he’ll get it done.”

Koepp (" Mission: Impossible," "Carlito’s Way," "Jurassic Park") also wrote “Zathura,” a current total bust that looks like it will lose millions for Sony, but hey, no one’s perfect.

Roger Friedman, Fox News, 3/6/06, ©FOX News Network, LLC. Direct link to article here.

Digitalspy:

Harrison Ford thriller Firewall entered the Australian box office chart at the top spot last weekend.

The film stars Ford as a computer security expert whose identity is slowly infiltrated by a ruthless Paul Bettany who hold him and his family hostage, leaving it to Ford to beat him at his own game. The movie took AUS$1.32m in its debut weekend, followed in second place by non-mover Walk The Line.

The previous week's chart-topping Date Movie slipped two place to third, followed by new entry Match Point and the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain rounding out the top five.

Australia's top ten in full:

1. (-) Firewall - AUS$1.32m
2. (2) Walk The Line - AUS$0.98m
3. (1) Date Movie - AUS$0.83m
4. (13) Match Point - AUS$0.73m
5. (5) Brokeback Mountain - AUS$0.57m
6. (3) Hostel - AUS$0.51m
7. (4) Syriana - AUS$0.41m
8. (-) Kinky Boots - AUS$0.39m
9. (6) Derailed - AUS$0.29m
10. (12) Capote - AUS$0.27m

Daniel Saney, Digitalspy, 3/7/06, direct link to article here.