The In Crowd

The Italian Job meets Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels? 

Online:

The Bank Job - UK website  |  US website 

Click here for more info. 

I missed the free screening in Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn this past weekend but this documentary about the exploding Nigerian film industry is still worth noting. Check out the trailer here.

Online: Website

I haven't been watching the new Sundance Channel TV show "House of Boateng" but I'm rooting for acclaimed Black Brit designer Ozwald Boateng to make it in the US because his suits are crazy.

Anyone who appreciates the slim cut of 60's mod-inspired suits and the Black swagger of wearing suits in non-traditional colors like purple or orange needs to checkout his clothing line.

Watch as "House of Boateng", which premiered a couple weeks ago I believe, chronicles Boateng's efforts to crack the US market. 

More on Boateng:

"Ozwald Boateng has made it his quest to smarten and liven up London’s dress sense.

A self-styled modernist, Boateng, has been creating and selling his designs since he was 20.

Now 34, his "bespoke couture" suits have been credited with injecting some much needed flair into the stuffy world of Savile Row. 

 
His designs have been in so much demand that the makers of James Bond called on his services for one of 007’s recent outings." (click here to read more)

Vespa-Riding Gandolfini Collides With Taxi

 

He might call the shots in New Jersey, but "Sopranos" tough guy James Gandolfini was no match Wednesday for the dangerous streets of New York.

 

TV's favorite mob boss was whacked in broad daylight on a SoHo street -- by a taxi.

 

The actor was motoring through Manhattan on his Vespa scooter at about 10 a.m. when he collided with a cab on Hudson Street, where he lay for a few minutes as dazed and confused as his alter ego was after being shot in the season opener.

 

According to witnesses, Gandolfini was traveling north when he was clipped by a cab turning east on Clarkson Street. The crash knocked the burly TV mobster off his bike.

 

"He was shaken up," said Jason O'Malley, who works in a building across the street from the accident. "A couple of guys helped him off the ground and picked up his bike."

 

Gandolfini later borrowed a cellphone to call his assistant and make arrangements for someone to pick up the damaged scooter.

 

"I'm all right," Gandolfini reportedly told a person in the crowd that gathered. "I'm going to be f---ing sore tomorrow."

(Click here to read more)

And even more:

- Vespa USA official website

Spotted while in Boston for the long weekeend (though unfortunately I didn't get a chance to check any films out):

"This eleven-program, sixth annual festival presents some of the best new African cinema, from S. Pierre Yameogo’s Delwende, to Teddy Mattera’s Max and Mona, to an engagement of Zézé Gamboa’s acclaimed The Hero. It also takes a look back at several distinctive works from the 1990’s.

This years' lineup includes the five programs that are the tenth African Film Festival National Traveling Program, in addition to six other features. Countries represented are Senegal, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Guinea, Gabon, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria.

Presented in conjunction with “West African Gold,” on display in the Loring Gallery through Mar 26." (Click here for more details)

Related:

The Boston Phoenix previews the African Film Festival.

Dork mag on The Boys of Baraka documentary here.