The UCLA Film & Television Archive will kick off its 18th Annual Celebration of Iranian Cinema at the Billy Wilder Theater in Westwood on Friday, March 14. The month long program, which concludes on Sunday, April 20th, will feature an eclectic group of new works from Iran. This year’s celebration will include seven new feature films from Iran and the diaspora, as well as screenings of new documentary and short works on film and video. These films will all in their own way center around the theme of this year’s program, Iranian culture. The theme of culture will be seen…
Author: Christopher P. Duffy
“Flower in the Pocket”, the first film by Malaysian director Liew Seng Tat, has won the Regard d’Or at this years Fribourg International Film Festival, held in Fribourg Switzerland. In its 22nd year, the Fribourg Internationl Film Festival dedicates itself primarily to showing films from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The program of this year’s festival, which concluded on March 8th, included over 150 films.Striking both a grave and humorous note, Liew Send Tat’s “Flower in the Pocket” tells the story of two young boys who are abandoned by their mother and ignored by their father, and the optimism that…
The process of updating cinemas to be equipped with digital projection technology will continue to be expanded throughout Asia. Today Dolby Laboratories Inc announced a partnership with the Chinese Production Company, Shanghai Film Group Corporation, and UFO India Limited, a top distribution company, to bring more digital cinema systems to China and India. The Shanghai Film Group will purchase 100 Dolby(R) Digital Cinema Systems that will be installed in its cinemas throughout China. The Chinese will also receive a Dolby 3D Digital Cinema to be installed in the Chengdu Theater in the city of Chengdu. This was also the first…
Kino Video this week released a new DVD box set that represents masterworks of German Expressionism, one of the most creative decades in the history of film. Working with dark, shadowy, and non-realistic aesthetics coupled with themes of mystery, insanity or madness, German filmmakers of the 1920’s embraced Expressionism on film with intellectual depth and creativity. The box set is a collection of 4 films from the era, including two that are first time available titles. Starting with a re-release of the classic, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1919) by director Robert Weine, the new box set by Kino Video…
The 10th annual Mumbai International Film Festival, presented by the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI), kicked off its festivities on Thursday with a screening of the highly acclaimed film, “Katyn”. Director Andrzej Wajda’s film, which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at this years Academy Awards, was the first of over 100 films to be screened throughout the weeklong festival. Festival goers will have other chances to view works by Wajda, as six of his films, including “Ashes and Diamonds”, “Conductor”, “Hunting Flies”, “Landscape after the Battle”, “Man of Marble” and “Man of Iron”, will be included…
2 Czech Lions for EmptiesJan SvÄ›rák´s Empties, which had its international premiere in the Official Selection Competition at the 42nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2007 where it won the Audience Award and the Special Jury Mention for the screenplay, continues on its successful path. The film, nominated for nine Czech Lion national movie awards (selected annually by the Czech Film and Television Academy), received two prestigious awards – Czech Lion for Best Screenplay for ZdenÄ›k SvÄ›rák and Czech Lion for Best Director Jan SvÄ›rák (Oscar for Kolja 1997). As the film’s producer, Jan SvÄ›rák can also be pleased that…