MOVIES - April 26, 1989

Palm Springs mayor, restaurateur, former pop star and ex-husband of Cher, Sonny Bono has announced plans for what he said will immediately become the pre-eminent film festival in the United States and will eventually rival Cannes. The inaugural Palm Springs International Film Festival, tentatively scheduled to take place over five days in January, will be city-operated but privately funded, Bono said, with a format about equally split between glitz and competition. Speaking to a group of local business leaders at Maxim’s Hotel in downtown Palm Springs, Bono said he has raised more than a quarter of the first year’s $800,000 budget. He said the theme of the first festival, which will be a scaled-down model of the spectacles to come, will be comedy with about 35 international films being shown, plus major studio premieres, gala public events and a retrospective tribute to a major comedy star. Jennette Paulson, the director of the Hawaii International Film Festival, will serve as director of the Palm Springs festival as well.