French screenwriter and director Simon Moutaïrou spent summers as a teenager in his father’s native country of Benin in West Africa. Etched on his memory from this time are the trips to its so-called slave coast and port city of Ouidah, through which more than one million Africans passed in the 18th and early 19th centuries ahead of being transported overseas for a life of slavery. “There is an enormous red brick arch commemorating these deportations, ‘The Door of No Return’,” says Moutaïrou. “I couldn’t get my head around this idea of such inequality between people, or human beings being treated like…
Author: CWB News Department
CWB News Department
CWB News Department, collects and republishes most important news and stories about International and Independent cinema, by noting the original source of the articles
When the Marquis d’Urfé, a noble emissary of the King of France, is attacked and abandoned in the remote countryside, he finds refuge at an eerie, isolated manor. The resident family, reluctant to take him in, exhibits strange behaviour as they await the imminent return of their father, Gorcha. But what begins simply as strange quickly devolves into a full-fledged nightmare when Gorcha returns, seemingly no longer himself… Myths and legends surrounding undead figures of vampires have proven to be a successful source of literary and cinematic retelling for centuries. Chief among them is Bram Stoker’s 1897 work Dracula with numerous cinematic…
Cinema with a Cause, a groundbreaking initiative organized by the Center for Law and Social Justice, is set to unite the New York City community through a series of free film screenings that address critical social issues, with a strong focus on voting and civic engagement. Starting this September, the monthly screenings will be held at Medgar Evers College, CUNY, running through June 2025, from 6:00pm to 8:30pm. Photo: Supplied/CLSJ The mission for the initiative is clear: to create a dynamic space where compelling stories inspire meaningful action, spark conversations, and empower New Yorkers, particularly those of African descent aged 17-40, to actively…
At Toulouse’s Cartoon Forum (16-19 September), we caught up with Wouter Quartier, head of Digital, Transformation and Platforms at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). During our chat, we spoke about the organisation’s brand-new Co-Development Initiative, a collaboration opportunity that aims to secure the most exciting new content for young audiences in the highly competitive market of animation. Cineuropa: Could you please touch on the EBU Co-Development Initiative’s aims and the activities surrounding its launch? Wouter Quartier: The European Broadcasting Union, France Télévisions and Cartoon have joined forces to work on a new, collaborative model for animation. The effort is centred on the collective financing of a pilot project selected by EBU members…
Following last year’s Bones and Names , Fabian Stumm both directs and stars in his second feature, Sad Jokes [+], which is a Discovery title at this year’s Toronto Film Festival. Stumm plays Joseph, a filmmaker trying to get his sophomore feature off the ground while co-parenting a toddler with a close female friend. Cineuropa caught up with Stumm just before the Toronto premiere and spoke about the translatability of humour, his working methods and how to keep the creative spark alive. Cineuropa: How do you relate to the English language in your work? Sad Jokes has many scenes in English, but maybe this was a result of…
Mike Flanagan’s The Life Of Chuck picked up the top People’s Choice honor Sunday at the Toronto Film Festival as its 2024 edition wrapped with renewed celebrity heat but still in the shadow of Venice and Cannes. The Stephen King novella adaptation stars Tom Hiddleston, Mark Hamill, Karen Gillan and Chiwetel Ejiofor in a genre-tripping film about embracing hope in the face of tragedy and had a world premiere in Toronto. Flanagan in a statement thanked TIFF for the top audience award prize: “I’m absolutely overwhelmed. We’re so grateful that The Life of Chuck connected with audiences in such a powerful way, but never expected this.” The second…
TEHRAN-The 10th Iranian Film Festival Zurich (IFFZ), which kicked off on September 11 in Switzerland, is showing contemporary and classic films of Iranian cinema in different sections. The festival highlights include contributions from emerging women filmmakers and an all-female jury evaluating 12 films, including world premieres, ISNA reported. The notable films in competition include “The Last Birthday” written and directed by Navid Mahmoodi, “In the Arms of a Tree” by Babak Khajehpasha, “The Great Yawn of History” by Aliyar Rasti, “Green Plum Season” by Ali Bayat, “Melody” by Behrouz Sebt Rasoul, and “Cause of Death: Unknown” by Ali Zarnegar. This…
The selection of France and Italy’s contenders in Oscar’s Best International Feature Film race are always a big deal; the two countries thoroughly dominated the category in the 20th century and they’re still the all-time stat leaders 24 years into the new century. France announced an official finalist list of four films. We also know which films Italy is choosing between though there are no “finalists” per se since they skip that step and go straight to voting. Let’s look at the possibilities after the jump… FRANCE All We Imagine is Light – Payal Kapadia Kapadia’s drama about nurses travelling to…
Steven Soderbergh discusses how Jaws inspired him to make films, why he started making genre films, and how to succeed in the streaming era. Steven Soderbergh is a beloved filmmaker. He changed the game of indie filmmaking with his film Sex, Lies, and Videotape in 1989 and has been making iconic films ever since, including Contagion, the Ocean’s trilogy, and Magic Mike. More recently, he’s made Kimi and Full Circle. He spoke at TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) as his most recent film, the ghost story Presence, is set to get its international premiere. There, he talked about his journey in the film industry, from his youth to today. For Soderbergh, it all started with Jaws.…
In terms of Iranian cinema, they don’t get much bigger or more significant than Abbas Kiarostami. A genuine stalwart auteur of his native country, Kiarostami has captured the world’s attention with some of the greatest movies of all time, always delivering with his unique and careful attention to thematic attention. Through the Koker trilogy and Close-Up, the Tehran-born filmmaker announced himself as one of the greats of contemporary world film, delving into a personal cinematic language bursting with ambition, seeping with emotion. Following up over the years with The Wind Will Carry Us and Taste of Cherry, Kiarostami will always be considered a master of…