This year, the film festival will screen 336 films from 55 countries, including 252 features. Nearly 75% are world and North American premieres. 60% of the features are screened in a language other than English, and 66 features are directorial debuts, including the Closing Night Gala Presentation, director Jeff Balsmeyer�s Danny Deckchair. The opening night film is famed Canadian moviemaker Denys Arcand�s Les Invasions Barbares, a prizewinner at Cannes.

Also on tap are Robert Altman�s newest, The Company, as well as Dogville, another controversial entry at Cannes. A brief list of movies includes Colin Firth and Tom Wilkinson in Girl With A Pearl Earring, Jack Black and Joan Cusack in Richard Linklater�s The School Of Rock, Marco Bellocchio�s Good Morning, Night from Italy, and Nathalie from France, with Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle B�art, and G�rard Depardieu. Other movies include Bruno Dumont�s Twentynine Palms, the much talked-about Shattered Glass, about the New Republic�s celebrated plagiarist, Easy by Jane Weinstock, and John Sayles� Casa De Los Babys. There will be films by famed directors such as Jo�o C�sar Monteiro, Rituparno Ghosh, Takeshi Kitano, Michael Haneke, and Gus Van Sant, who will be showing his Cannes Film Festival grand prize winner, Elephant. The National Cinema spotlight shines on New Brazilian Cinema and the Director�s Spotlight highlights films from Turkey. Other highlights include Crimson Gold by Jafar Panahi, James� Journey To Jerusalem by Ra'anan Alexandrowicz, Kitchen Stories by Bent Hamer, and Osama by Siddiq Barmak.

One of the most popular festival events is Dialogues: Talking With Pictures, which sees some quite famous people showing and talking about their favorite movie or a special work of theirs. This year director Jane Campion presents and discusses Nicolas Roeg�s Bad Timing. Director Hector Babenco presents Eduardo Coutinho�s Twenty Years Later. Filmmaker Margarethe von Trotta presents Akira Kurosawa�s Ikiru. Gary Burns presents Robert Altman�s Nashville. Legendary director Francis Ford Coppola presents and talks about his own rarely-seen One From The Heart, and Sir Ridley Scott presents the Director�s Cut of his Alien, with never before seen footage.

And, while her father is showing one of his past films, daughter Sofia Coppola will screen her new directing effort, Lost In Translation. Other actors with films include Keith Gordon with The Singing Detective, Scott Caan with Dallas 362, and Charles Martin Smith with The Snow Walker.

And yes folks, it�s coming. Generally viewed as one of the worst movies ever made or, at the very least, the worst movie many people have ever seen, the scandal of scandals of the Cannes Film Festival will screen at Toronto. Scheduled near the end of the festival, Vincent Gallo�s The Brown Bunny will unreel and definitely demand discussion, asking the question: can a scrawny guy from Buffalo continue to alienate most of the movie-going world�s most important players? The much-talked about and much-maligned film is about, according to an understanding of its basic story line, one guy�s tragic loss of the love of his life.

In The Brown Bunny, Gallo directs and plays a motorcycle racer who journeys from New Hampshire to California. Everyday, he�s haunted by memories of the last time he saw his true love. He wants to make these memories disappear. As he motors across America, with the camera firmly planted in the front seat, he tries to find a new love, and makes outrageous requests of women to come with him on his trip. He might not be able to replace Daisy, the only girl to whom he�s ever been completely devoted, and quite possibly the only girl he will ever love, but he sure is going to try. Daisy is played by Chloe Sevigny, who, in the film�s climactic moment, performs fellatio on Gallo, an act which divided the Cannes audience like few movies ever had. They were already booing at the long static shots and endless dusty road scenes, during which screenwriter Gallo talks and talks and talks. Sevigny�s sex act, and supposedly Gallo�s arrogance, really riled up the masses. Needless to say, it will be the most talked-about movie at Toronto and one that will sell out the instant tickets go on sale.

Visit the Festival's Official website at bell.ca/filmfest or call the Bell Infoline at 416-968-FILM. The Festival Box Office is located at College Park, Market Level, 444 Yonge Street. Day-of-show tickets are available at the theater where the film is unreeling.

Alessandro Minuto Rizzo, NATO Deputy Secretary General proclaimed the mission �a reflection of NATO�s ongoing transformation and resolve to meet the security challenges of the 21st century.�

This means the venerable NATO will become in the war on terror, and put itself on the payroll of the fastest growing multinational business on the planet.

Rizzo claimed that NATO would lead the peace- keepers �as long as necessary.�

The peace- keeping force is known as the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). At least thirty countries contribute these soldiers. Before NATO took command on February 10th it was led by Germany and the Netherlands. ISAF troops were deployed in December, 2001, after the US led war that toppled the Taliban.

But the eager eyed NATO command might not like what it�s getting into.

Immediately after the fall of the much maligned and diplomatically challenged Taliban, the boom boxes came out and the beards came off. But since then, Afghanistan has disintegrated along the fractured fault lines of War Lords, clans and families, and descended into chaos.

These different factions might hate each other and carry blood feuds for generations. But, hating and killing foreigners supercedes any provincial squabble. Banding together to fight any invader is an Afghan tradition.

Empires with Imperialist ambitions have been fiercely resisted. The British launched their first Afghan Army back in 1842. Of the thousands of British soldiers put into the field to suppress the wild tribes outside the Kabul Government, only a handful of soldiers survived to reach the Khyber Pass to safety. The rest were butchered, or died in the snow and ice.

For ten years back in the 80�s, the Soviet Army slowly died and Osama Bin Laden was born.

And now there is a new army to fight.

The last several weeks have seen some very fierce fighting; Taliban rebels have thrown the gauntlet at the government in Kabul, and have been hitting and running in their finest tradition of catch me if you can. The hottest fighting has been in the southeast region of the country. Between the cities of Kandahar and Kabul lie the two provinces of Katika and Zabol. Targets inside both provinces have been attacked and overrun by guerrillas. .

Of course, the US government probably is playing fast and loose with the title of Taliban.

There is no law and order outside the provincial governments. The countryside is rife with War Lords shooting it out for control of the once again flourishing drug trade, unemployed bandits looking for some easy pickings, or real live renegade Taliban looking to settle old scores.

And of course, any free- lance terrorists recruited by American dollars in the wrong hands will gladly sign on for the chance to slit a foreign throat.

The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is fluid at best, and simply nonexistent in other locations. The southeast seems to be the most porous.

Just two weeks ago, a convoy of guerrillas crossed the border and attacked a police station. The raid began just after midnight on a Saturday, when about 400 insurgents mounted on trucks crossed the border 125 miles southeast of Kabul. Firing machine guns, tossing grenades and shooting rockets, they easily took over the compound and held it until Sunday morning.

Afghan police were caught inside the compound and elected to shoot it out with the attackers. Seven were killed, including the police chief.

As dawn came the attackers packed up and fled. There may be a small force of Americans in country, but they have air power and know how to use it. They retreated, taking their dead and wounded with them. It was the largest attack in over a year.

It was reported that Taliban fighters actually took over the Provincial capital of Zabol: Qalat City, effectively cutting the country in half. Kandahar and Kabul would be out of communication, its forces threatened. But like many reports out of Afghanistan, this proved not to be the case. Alt Press has a source in a newspaper in Quetta, Pakistan, The Balochistian Post, just across the border. The source cannot confirm the story.

As we go to press, U.S. forces and Afghan militia are responding to a series of Taliban attacks. Using A-10 warthogs, F-16�s and Harrier jets in support, they are pounding and attacking suspected Taliban strongholds in the provinces. Central Command�s body count rests at 14 Taliban.

In Afghanistan, just like Viet Nam, anyone trying to kill you is a Taliban.

To make matters worse it�s rumored that the spots were done with money from the $246 billion landmark national tobacco settlement, an agreement reached between 46 states and the four biggest tobacco companies to help the state governments recoup the costs of treating poor and uninsured people who fell prey to big tobacco�s illegal business practices and aggressive marketing.

Despite the assurances of the state attorneys general the final agreement never incorporated specific provisions aimed at curbing smoking and treating addicts. Across the nation settlement money has been spent on everything from infrastructure repairs to filling budget gaps and, in states like North Carolina where tobacco is the leading cash crop, subsidizing and promoting tobacco production.

While things here in Erie County might not be as absurd as the tobacco growing South, there is very little money going towards tobacco prevention measures. Instead, as reported by the Buffalo News, the majority of the County�s portion of the settlement has gone toward capital projects like suburban road and bridge repairs.

This is perfectly legal and acceptable according to Erie County local law 4-2000, the act that created the Erie County Tobacco Asset Securitization Corporation (ETASC), a not-for-profit corporation formed by Erie County in 2000 to securitize the tobacco settlement money in the face of concerns that the tobacco companies might default on their payments at some time over the 25 year term of the national settlement.

What isn�t acceptable or legal is the Giambra administration�s failure to comply with the spirit and letter of the law that created ETASC. According to that law, in addition to the securitized $211.7 million ETASC is directed to pay Erie County a much smaller sum of money annually from a business trust set up under Delaware state law. This residual fund provides $3-$5 million to the county annually, according to our sources.

The law states that half of the annual residual payments should go toward economic development and the other half toward Mr. Giambra�s regionalism projects. Out of the portion for economic development half is to go solely for economically depressed areas like the City of Buffalo- over three years that amount is somewhere between $2.25 and $3.75 million.

How much has been spent toward this end? Not nearly enough to comply with the law, depending on how closely one pays attention the number is either $1.9 million or $0.

According to a Buffalo News article from January 13, 2003 Budget Director Joe Passafiume claims $1.9 million of the County tobacco residual fund went to fixing the East Side Transfer station after it partially collapsed following the December, 2001 snowstorm.

Our sources don�t back up that claim. According to the minority leader of the Erie County Legislature, George Holt, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has allocated $1.4 million to reimburse the City of Buffalo for the $1.9 million spent on demolishing and reconstructing the station. After discovering that the city and FEMA were covering the costs Mr. Holt sent two letters, one on May 5, 2003 and the other on May 8, 2003, to Mr. Passafiume to inquire what was going to be done with the $1.9 million pledged for city economic development. Mr. Holt said Mr. Passafiume has failed to respond to the query. Other county government officials reported that Mr. Giambra�s administration has failed to provide an account of the $1.9 million as well. Attempts by Alt to get a response, an explanation or a retraction from Mr. Passafiume were unsuccessful. Alt was told that Mr. Passafiume didn�t want to be quoted, could offer no information and would be unavailable to us. Attempts to get a response from others in the Giambra administration were unsuccessful as well. None of this surprised the members of the County Legislature contacted for this research, nor did they surprise Dan Ward, the Democratic contender for County Executive, who said that Mr. Giambra appears to have nothing but disdain for open governance.

�I�ve seen all kinds of administrations,� said Mr. Ward. �Some lazy, some inept, but this is a sinister enterprise put together to fleece government of everything it can. If he is in violation of County law the first thing to do is get a new County Executive, I certainly wouldn�t run a pirate or corrupt regime.�

The County Executive�s unethical use of the tobacco settlement money extends past the small residual fund, according to many in county government. When ETASC was created by the county Mr. Giambra put himself, Mr. Passafiume and County Comptroller Nancy Naples on the board of the corporation that now has the rights to the county�s portion of the settlement, $646 million. As of press time the other two board members remain unknown to Alt. Meanwhile the administration has been burning through the securitized tobacco money, according to budget documents and county officials. One knowledgeable source within the County Legislature said that the $211.7 million was supposed to be available for about ten years and would be used to create two $100 million trust funds, one for rising Medicaid costs, the other to fund maintenance, repair and restructuring at the Erie County Medical Center.

Turns out this never happened. According to documents received by Altpress about half of the money is already spent or allocated to be spent this year, mostly on capital projects and to replace the county�s traditional subsidies to ECMC and Erie Community College.

Additionally the County Executive, with the support of the Republican controlled County Legislature, has been using the tobacco settlement money to pay for recurring county expenses like County Fleet Operations (between $800,000 to $1million a year since 2001), county office equipment ($420,000 in 2001 and $600,000 this year) and operating Dunn Tire Park ($1 million this year and last), according to publicly available budget information.

The list is large and repetitive but the income isn�t. At least $127 million is spent and the County is poised to spend well over $30 million more of the settlement, according to our sources there will only be $56.7 million left at the end of the 2003 fiscal year- at the rate Mr. Giambra is burning through the tobacco money it will all be gone in two years.

Unfortunately tracking the spending of County government is becoming very difficult as the Giambra administration has refused repeated requests by County officials for information on County revenue and expenses. Additionally County Democrats no longer have access to the county accounting database. According to our sources only those in Mr. Giambra�s good graces can access this information anymore- information that was available to all legislators prior to the ascendancy of the County Republican machine.

Alt has copies of three letters sent to Mr. Passafiume by Mr. Holt. In addition to the two cited above another includes 13 simple questions about ETASC and tobacco revenue. This letter too remains unanswered, according to Mr. Holt. We have also learned that Legislator Al DeBenedetti has sent several letters asking similar questions, he too said that no one in the administration has answered his questions.

Mr. DeBenedetti took special issue with the Executive�s spending practices, claiming that capital spending has been excessive, especially since the overwhelming majority of the money has went to suburban projects at the expense of the ailing City of Buffalo.

�It�s election year ribbon cutting,� said Mr. DeBenedetti of Mr. Giambra�s road, bridge and culvert repair projects. �He�s spending the tobacco money like a drunken sailor when he could be using it to pay down some of our debt. We�ve increased our capital expenditures over what was approved on budget solely because of amendments. It�s a shame that the legislative body that�s supposed to provide checks and balances isn�t because they fear there�s going to be retribution if they don�t rubber stamp the amendments.�

Mr. Giambra�s office declined to comment on his use of securitized tobacco money even though a July 28, 2003 press release from County Comptroller Nancy Naples stated that using non-recurring revenue sources to cover recurring expenses is an unhealthy practice. Phone calls to press Secretary Jeff Hammond have gone unreturned as have requests to speak with Deputy County Executive Carl Calabrese.

(Editor's Note)

Mr. Giambra�s manic spending habits, evasion of facts and petty crime all mirror symptoms of addiction as defined by the American Medical Association. We here at Alt feel that addicts need treatment rather than incarceration and urge Mr. Giambra to seek help before this problem spirals out of control.

Perhaps it has something to do with Warren Buffett�s new hobby as campaign manager for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Or maybe it has something to do with his paranoia about the effects that the recent power blackout will have on his interest in MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co.

According to MidAmerican�s website, �the vertical configuration of the electric utility industry in the United States provides unlimited opportunities for companies like MidAmerican Energy Holdings Company. This model is particularly favorable to utility companies because they control the supply and distribution of electricity to consumers.� Questions about the �unlimited opportunities� presented by deregulation are apparently not welcome with Warren & Co. at the moment.

Buffett, now the second wealthiest human being on the planet, has reinvented himself as a �moderate� Republican and it shows in the pages of The News. Although he has condemned the Republican drive to eliminate estate taxes, Buffett continues to act as an adoptive father figure to such ideological sons as The Terminator and Bill Gates. Buffett did a series of PBS interviews with Gates giving his stamp of approval to his junior monopolist and he now appears eager to grant his imprimatur to the Austrian muscleman as he attempts to piledrive the results of a democratic election in California.

Since Sen. Clinton has taken the lead in criticizing both the recall effort in California and the negative effects that power deregulation has had on both California and the northeast, it comes as no surprise that the editorial staff of The News has chosen to give less coverage to the Senator and Democratic Party candidates in the 2004 Presidential race than they gave to the appearance of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader when he appeared in Buffalo on a campaign stop sponsored by The Buffalo Alternative Press in the summer of 2000. In her speech in Buffalo Sen. Clinton noted that while the recall referendum was financed privately with a few million dollars raised by wealthy Republicans, the State of California will wind up spending $65 million to enable, ��an angry minority to reverse the results of a Democratic election.� As we take time to celebrate Labor Day this year, our thoughts, of course, turn to our armed forces in harm�s way in Iraq and Afghanistan. Let us not, however, forget the battles at home, especially the fight for our 42 million fellow Americans who are without health care, and, of course our struggle against media moguls like Mr. Buffett who would prefer that things stay just the way they are. As Mother Jones famously said, �Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living.�

For complete coverage of Sen. Clinton�s speech and more on the Young Democrats Convention in Buffalo we encourage our readers to visit our website at www.altpressonline .com