Author: CWB News Department

In a rare triumph for nonfiction cinema at a major film festival, American docmaker Laura Poitras has taken the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival for “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” — the third female director in a row to the take the honor on the Lido, following recent victories for Chloe Zhao and Audrey Diwan. In doing so, she narrowly edged out such hotly fancied filmmakers as Martin Donagh, Luca Guadagnino, Alice Diop and Jafar Panahi, all of whom nonetheless landed prizes of their own from a jury headed by actor Julianne Moore. An Oscar winner in…

While the history of cinema is filled with flawed portrayals of disabilities this new era seems to have invited some ingenuity. “Sound of Metal” used brilliant sound design to show the deterioration and distortion of deafness. Similarly “Beyond the Wall” has an approach to blindness that feels thoughtfully constructed, taking us within what the protagonist can experience and a tangible sense of what he feels robbed of. https://youtu.be/WkBuaS-Xlgo The film, at first seems like it may be building to an art-house Iranian version of shlocky horror-pic “Don’t Breathe.” Leila (Diana Habibi), a desperate woman on the run, finds shelter in…

Prey is a Hulu original action/sci-fi movie and a prequel to the movies in the Predator franchise. Set 300 years in the past, this Predator origin story tells the tale of the very first alien encounter, threatening the lives of the Comanche Nation. Before there was Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger), there was Naru (Amber Midthunder)—a skilled and resourceful warrior leading the fight against a high-tech predator—leaving her no other choice but to hunt…or be hunted. https://youtu.be/wZ7LytagKlc The following is an interview with Claudia Castello, the Editor of the PREY Bijan Tehrani: How did you start as a film editor and what…

It may be Maša Marković’s first year as head of industry at the Sarajevo Film Festival, but for the long-time festival staffer, it’s business as usual. CineLink Industry Days has long been considered the leading industry hub for Southeast European film professionals and has played a critical role in shaping talent and expanding content and co-productions in the region. This year marks the 20th anniversary of its co-production market, which presents ten of the most promising feature film projects in development from the region and, says Marković, this year’s strand is better than ever. “We really focus heavily on the…

Here is the the list of the films selected for 78th Venice Film Festival Competition White Noise – Noah Baumbach (USA) (opening film) Il signore delle formiche – Gianni Amelio (Italy) The Whale – Darren Aronofsky (USA) L’immensità – Emanuele Crialese (Italy/France) Saint Omer – Alice Diop (France) Blonde – Andrew Dominik (USA) Tár – Todd Field (USA) Love Life – Kôji Fukada (Japan/France) Athena – Romain Gavras (France) Bardo, falsa crónica de unas cuantas verdades – Alejandro González Iñárritu (Mexico) Bones and All – Luca Guadagnino (USA/Italy) The Eternal Daughter – Joanna Hogg (UK/USA) Beyond the Wall – Vahid Jalilvand (Iran) The Banshees of Inisherin – Martin McDonagh (Ireland/UK/USA) Argentina, 1985 – Santiago Mitre (Argentina/USA) Chiara – Susanna Nicchiarelli (Italy/Belgium) Monica – Andrea Pallaoro (USA/Italy) No Bears – Jafar Panahi (Iran) All the Beauty and the Bloodshed – Laura Poitras (USA) Un Couple – Frederick Wiseman (France/USA) The Son – Florian Zeller (UK) Les Miens – Roschdy Zem (France) Les enfants des autres – Rebecca Zlotowski (France) Out…

Now reaching its 28th edition, the Sarajevo Film Festival (running 12-19 August) has announced its competition sections, where 51 films will vie for the Heart of Sarajevo awards. The individual competition sections — for feature, documentary, fiction short, and student work — will be composed of 21 world, seven international, one European, 21 regional, and one national premieres. The feature competition will number eight titles, down from 10 the previous year, and be split evenly between world and regional premieres as well as having a majority of female filmmakers. A Ballad by Aida Begić, the festival’s most notable Bosnian world premiere, is featured in this…

Filmmaker Sudha Kongara bagged the National Award under the Best Screenplay Category for Soorarai Pottru, which turned out to be a top winner. Sudha shares screenplay credits with Shalini Usha Nair. Her Directorial also won the Best Film Award. Besides, the film’s lead actors, Suriya and Aparna Balamurali have brought laurels by winning the Best Actor and Actress Awards, respectively. Soorarai Pottru’s composer GV Prakash was awarded for the Best Background Score. Speaking about her achievement, Sudha says, “I am on top of the world now. I feel like I have flown the 1 Rs flight, I feel what Captain…

Palm Springs International ShortFest has announced Freedom Swimmer (Australia/France/UK/Hong Kong) by Olivia Martin-McGuire, as the winner of 2022 MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award, presented by Cinema Without Borders and sponsored by MOZAIK Philanthropy.  Breakpoint (France) by Nicolas Panay received MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award Honorary Mention. This year’s award ceremony festival was held on June 26th at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs. Susan Morgan Cooper and Bijan Tehrani, two of the jury members, presented the award for this year’s MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Honorary Mention and award winner. The winner received a cash award of $2500 courtesy of MOZAIK…

ATABAI’ the latest film directed by Iranian women director Niki Karimi will open tomorrow, Friday June 10th at West LA, and Laemmle Royal ( 7:10 pm ) and Encino, Laemmle Town Center (7:20 pm) for one week. ATABAI is a middle-aged architect who’s been back from Tehran to his home village in Azerbaijan province. Due to his social class and ethnicity, he has gone through failure in love as a young university student. Since then, by bringing prosperity to his village, he has found respect and dignity among the ones who love him. Yet, his sister’s suicide after her forced…

The 28th edition of  Palm Springs ShortFest  International Film Festival will open on June 21st with in-person screenings at the Camelot Theatres (Palm Springs Cultural Center) and concludes on June 27th with screening of Best of Fest. Films will also be available to watch virtually July 1-10,2022. To learn more about the 2022 ShrtFest and MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award we had a conversation with Sudeep Sharma, ShortFest Interim Artistic Director: https://vimeo.com/717187259 Today, June 7th, 2022: Today, Cinema Without Borders announced jury members  for MOZAIK Bridging The Borders Award for  the 2022 Palm Springs International ShortFest Film Festival. The Bridging…