by JACK KINDRED
Leaving Variety for good, long-time Rome staffer Deborah Young has been appointed director of the Taormina International Film Festival in Sicily. She was here wrapping up her last reviews for the paper. Deborah was a member of Variety’s Daily Screen Guide team headed by Elizabeth Guider.
Ron Holloway was busy with interviews and meetings prior to being awarded, with wifieDorothea Moritz, the fest’s Golden Camera on Friday for their contribution to the German Film, among other things, their 88 quarterlies on domestic and international film events.
Whilom Hamburg stringer and current freelancer Ernest Gill was off for San Francisco on a ghost-writing mission, after a long weekend at the Berlinale. Ernest and I caught Berlinale supremo Dieter Kosslick at the posh restaurent Lutter & Wegner in the Kaisersaal as he was rushing to another event but had time to greet us warmly. Variety ties with Dieter go back to Hamburg days decades ago when he headed the Hanseatic City’s Film Fund.
Perennial Berlinale goers Edna Fainaru, former reviewer and hubbie Dan Fainaru, were reporting for various outlets in Israel.