Author: CWB News Department

Award Belgrade Victor for Outstanding Contribution to Film Art at the 52nd International Film Festival FEST, which runs from February 23rd until March 3rd, goes to Iranian director AsgharFarhadi. Two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi, an Iranian film director and screenwriter, who will receive the Belgrade Victor on February 29th in the Serbian capital, is considered one of the most prominent filmmakers of Iranian and world cinematography of the 21st century. Farhadi (1972) became interested in cinematography in his teenage years, and started his education in filmmaking by joining the Youth Cinema Society of Esfahan in 1986 where he made 8mm…

A cross-country journey in search of a mysterious treasure puts the nature of faith to the test in “The Great Yawn of History,” the feature debut of Iranian director Aliyar Rasti, which premieres Feb. 22 in the competitive Encounters section of the Berlin Film Festival. The film tells the story of a man of wavering religious conviction who dreams of a box of gold hidden in a cave. Convinced he’s forbidden by Islamic law to claim the treasure himself, he turns to a non-believer to assist him, setting into motion an arduous journey of both physical and spiritual dimensions as the…

One could call this psychological thriller/drama from Iranian director Mani Haghighi a high concept film, as it very much hangs on an intriguing central premise. There have been several films which deal with the idea of doppelgangers, or even clones, and both of these ideas hover around this plot. However, Haghighi takes it one step further by asking us to imagine what would happen if a husband and wife both had doubles and, further, what would happen if these doubles interacted. The English title is Subtraction but in some ways the dilemma of the film could be better expressed by multiplication. The complexities certainly multiply…

In their feature debut, In the Land of Brothers [+], showing in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition, directorial duo Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi focus on three Afghan refugees – Mohammad, Leila and Qasem – who set about starting their lives in Iran, full of hope, only to face decades of hardship. Cineuropa: Why did you want to tell a story – or, rather, stories – that take place over decades? It’s generations’ worth of trauma. Raha Amirfazli: We started by writing about Leila. We wanted to turn it into a short, but we understood it wasn’t the whole story of Afghan refugees in Iran. You couldn’t convey…

Burbank, CA – January 14th 2024. Today Palm Springs International Film Festival announced its 2024 winners and GREEN BORDER (Poland/France/Czech Republic/Belgium) by Agnieszka Holland won MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award. The Honorary Mentions went to THE OLD OAKS (United Kingdom/France/Belgium) by Ken Loach The Borders Award  is presented by Cinema Without Borders and award sponsored and prize provided by MOZAIK  The winner of Bridging the Borders Award will receive a cash prize of $2000. https://youtu.be/4jXePIrRSuQ Here is MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award jury statement: “This year we considered ten feature films for the MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award that addresses…

Sooner or later, every police officer comes across a case that remains unsolved and haunts him. For Yohan (Bastien Bouillon), Clara’s murder turns out to be that case, and what starts as an investigation into the victim’s life soon turns into an obsession. Unusually, as viewers, we are told from the offset not to expect to find out whodunnit. There’s a stillness to this movie that’s quite audacious: the brutal, gory horror of the crime (the victim is set alight on her way home) is in stark contrast to the exquisite mountain scenery surrounding Grenoble, where the action takes place.…

You’d need a heart of stone not to be touched by this extraordinary true story of Nicholas Winton, the “British Schindler”, and by the simplicity and heartfelt directness with which it’s told by screenwriters Nick Drake and Lucinda Coxon and director James Hawes. It’s a story of wartime Europe and postwar memory, and also a noble and inspired moment in the history of British popular TV. Anthony Hopkins plays Winton, a stockbroker in prosperous retirement in the 1980s who, after some nagging from his wife Grete (Lena Olin), is clearing out clutter and finally concentrates on something he’s been yearning…

Io Capitano, meaning I captain, is that harrowing motivating migrants’ story that Raj Kumar Hirani’s Dunki could not be. It has just been selected as the Italian entry for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards, one of the fifteen shortlisted films. I won’t be the least surprised if this evocative film makes it to the top spot in the international category. Its harvest of pain suffering and resilience leads us into the darkest recesses of travel trauma from where we emerge wondering if suffering is the only constant for the underprivileged sections of society in any part…

The US Academy’s 2024 international feature film shortlist of 15 titles includes many of the films most expected to appear on it, while also throwing in a few surprises. Films considered to be leading contenders for this award are present and correct, including the four eligible titles from the Golden Globe nominations for best foreign-language picture: The Zone Of Interest (UK), Society Of The Snow (Spain), Fallen Leaves (Finland) and Io Capitano (Italy). The Globes also nominated Anatomy Of A Fall and Past Lives, but France didn’t submit the former for the Oscar, and US film Past Lives is ineligible for the award. Other leading contenders making this season’s Oscar shortlist are The Taste Of Things (France), Perfect…

“Slow,”  Marija Kavtaradze’s delicate romance, won the Crystal Arrow at the 15th edition of Les Arcs Film Festival from a jury presided over by Oscar-nominated Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (“A Separation”). Kavtaradze’s sophomore outing, “Slow” world premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it won best director. The film revolves around the bond between Elena (Greta Grinevičiūtė), a contemporary dancer teaching to deaf youth, and Dovydas (Kęstutis Cicėnas), a sign language interpreter class. “The Teachers’ Lounge,” meanwhile, won the jury prize. The satirical movie, directed Ilker Çatak, world premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, in the Panorama section, and was just shortlisted…