Author: CWB News Department

The Berlin International Film Festival has announced that renowned US filmmaker Todd Haynes will preside as the President of the International Jury for its milestone 75th edition in 2025. Haynes, celebrated for his innovative storytelling and deep exploration of complex themes, brings decades of acclaimed cinematic experience to one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals. “Todd Haynes is a dazzlingly gifted writer and director with an impressive range; his body of work is at once stylistically versatile but also unmistakably his,” remarked Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle. “Ever since his debut feature Poison won the Teddy Award in 1991, the Berlinale has followed and loved his filmmaking,…

From the first frames of Emilia Pérez, writer-director Jacques Audiard (Dheepan, Rust and Bone, The Sisters Brothers) makes it clear this is going to be a musical. Not a backstage-style musical where the numbers take place in a performance context, nor a classic Broadway-to-Hollywood musical, where characters erupt into song only at moments of heightened emotion. Here, the songs seem to emerge from the landscape that surrounds the characters, even before we meet them: A long aerial shot of Mexico City by night echoes with an eerie multivocal chant. This turns out to be the combined voices of the city’s junk salesmen, patrolling…

Winner of 2023 Bridging The Borders Award for 23rd edition of Polish Film Festival LA has been announced on Thuersday November 7th 2024 in opening night of the festival held at El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood. The winner of the “Bridging the Borders Award for the Best Short Film” at this year’s Polish Film Festival Los Angeles is BE SOMEBODY.  Polish screenwriter/director Michal Toczek lovingly and humorously depicts a family who adopt lucrative new identities after moving into the apartment once inhabited by Solidarity leader Lech Walesa. https://youtu.be/TQIlJGMzBUI?si=q7K12HX0UM2_pJ65 Special Jury Mention goes to Piotr Matyja’s THE ONLY SON, which reveals…

On the opening track of Love, Guess Who?? Autre Ne Veut’s first album in nearly a decade, the singer thrusts us right into the moment where they lose control: “I was on the phone when I had it with you.” It’s a visceral way to kick off the follow-up to 2015’s Age of Transparency, which constantly finds Arthur Ashin in the throes of despair, negotiating space with others, itching to move on and, ultimately, feel better. Ashin may have reservations about the part of their personhood that the record represents, but that’s as reflective of the time it took to let the songs…

As conflicts escalate in the Middle East and North Africa, from Palestine to Yemen and Sudan, filmmakers have seen an increase in solidarity within the local creative community to find ways to continue to get films made in the region. Still, producers and directors struggle to navigate an increasingly tense and politicized international scene and express concerns about the future of an industry that has experienced unforeseen growth within the last five years. “We are in the middle of a very scary situation right now and we don’t know when it will end,” said film producer Alaa Karkouti, CEO and…

In a year of cancelled film festivals, the ones that are somehow being held are extremely welcome. The European Union Film Festival (EUFF), celebrating its 25th year in India, has gone virtual this year, like the recent Dharamshala International Film Festival. From 5-30 November, it is presenting over 40 films in 37 languages from 26 countries. https://youtu.be/s9-g-cqghJM?si=sZ5L90Z7_LC76uYp The European Cinema Today section, which comprises films from states of the EU, forms the majority of the lineup, and looks especially promising this year. The most high-profile title is Italy’s Martin Eden, which also played at Dharamshala. An adaptation of a Jack London…

olish cinema has long had a unique voice, distinct history, and a bold artistic perspective thanks to the legendary filmmakers like Andrzej Wajda, Wojciech Has, Krzysztof Kieslowski, and Krzysztof Zanussi. At the helm of this cinematic journey is the Polish Film Festival that takes place every year in Gdynia, Poland. The organizers of the festival, which is set to celebrate its golden jubilee next year, include the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland, Polish Film Institute (PISF), and Polish Filmmakers Association. Joanna Łapinska, Artistic Director, Polish Film Festival, brings fresh insights and initiatives to further elevate Polish cinema…

Cineuropa interviewed director Lucía Casañ Rodríguez, whose first full-length feature film A Bathroom of One’s Own  has just opened Mostra de València after its world premiere at the Shanghai Film Festival. Cineuropa: The film tells the story of a housewife who finds her refuge to escape her life and write in the bathroom. Why were you interested in telling this story? Lucía Casañ Rodríguez: When I started writing it four years ago, I was already concerned about the relationship between space and the personal and professional development that a person can have as a result of those little corners that we often have to…

Slovak documentarian and editor Marek Šulík (Heavy Hearth) provides an inside view of the presidency of Slovak lawyer and anti-corruption activist Zuzana Čaputová, who became the country’s first female head of state, in his latest feature documentary Ms. President. Šulík’s film follows Čaputová from her euphoric election victory through the complexities of her tenure, concluding as she faces a new government composed of politicians who gained support by openly criticising her. A figure of liberal reform in a divided nation, Čaputová has navigated a politically volatile landscape marked by populist adversaries, widespread social disillusionment, and urgent global issues. Her presidency has seen extraordinary challenges,…

Seventeen thousand people in the Hollywood Bowl cheer as an unremarkable-looking man in a white jacket with a neat grey beard and bright blue eyes walks on stage. John Williams raises his baton and the Los Angeles Philharmonic begin the theme for Star Wars’s Imperial March. Thousands of lightsabers beat time along with him. The atmosphere crackles. Williams’s music is part of our collective psyche. Superman, Harry Potter, ET, Jaws, Indiana Jones, Schindler’s List – how many other films are so instantly recognisable from a few notes of their soundtracks? Laurent Bouzereau’s documentary celebrates the legendary film composer, now 92. The music,…