Author: CWB News Department

Thousands of Iranians, including artists, intellectuals, and others have attended the funeral ceremony in Tehran of the country’s top filmmaker, Abbas Kiarostami, who died last week at the age of 76.Kiarostami, the winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 for Taste Of Cherry, died in Paris, where he had been undergoing medical treatment.Despite the global attention on his work, Kiarostami did not receive official support in Iran, where his movies were rarely screened. Some at the memorial service held posters that said “First Welcome, Last Farewell” — a reference to the lack of official attention…

The Toronto International Film Festival, taking notice of the flurry of photos and videos posted to Instagram, has partnered with the Facebook-owned app to launch a digital shorts competition. The TIFFxInstagram Shorts Festival will see new and established filmmakers from around the globe invited to upload original 60-seconds-or-fewer film shorts, using Instagram. TIFF programmers will select 30 finalists to be showcased on the film festival’s website and an Instagram channel in August before a six-person jury selects a Judge’s Choice award winner. The video contest jury includes Selma helmer Ava DuVernay, filmmaker Xavier Dolan (Mommy), music video director Nabil Elderkin…

After years of surging growth, China’s box office experienced a 4.6 percent decline in the second quarter of 2016, with the first-half gain of 21 percent its lowest in years.A few months ago, it would have seemed inconceivable.China’s box office shrunk nearly five percent in the second quarter of 2016, according to leading local sources.Coming after a historic run of relentless growth, fueled by a nationwide cinema construction boom, the fall marks the Chinese theatrical market’s first year-on-year quarterly decline in over half a decade. In the first quarter of 2015, China’s box office expanded an astonishing 50 percent, hitting…

Celebrated Iranian director, whose Taste of Cherry won Cannes’ top prize in 1997, remained in the country after the Islamic revolution and continued to flourish.Abbas Kiarostami, the multi-award-winning Iranian director whose 1997 film Taste of Cherry was awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival, has died aged 76.“Abbas Kiarostami, who had travelled to France for treatment, has died,” reported the semi-official Isna news agency on Monday. Iran’s house of cinema confirmed the report, Isna said. Kiarostami had been diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer in March 2016, and had undergone a series of operations, including in Paris last month.Speaking to…

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif  – Panavision, the entertainment industry’s leading designer, manufacturer and rental provider of high-precision optics and camera systems, has announced the availability of PanaND filters. Representing the next-generation neutral density filters, they offer significant improvements in quality and consistency, so filmmakers can focus on achieving their creative goals. Full spectrum PanaND filters benefit from advancements in materials and manufacturing to deliver color neutrality very accurately. “Until now, cinematographers using traditional ND filters to control exposure have always had to deal with color shifting and optical performance degradation,” says Haluki Sadahiro, Panavision’s director of new product development. “Unlike traditional…

From May 7 to 14, film enthusiasts will enjoy a line-up of independent, art house, alternate, and diaspora films connected to the Indian subcontinent at the 16th New York Indian Film Festival. Organizers have in store 40 screenings (35 narrative, 5 documentary), all seen for the first time in New York City. In addition, the festival will also feature five programs of short films. The festival highlights various cinemas of India’s different regions. All the films are subtitled in English and some of the languages this year include Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Telegu, Assamese, Haryanvi and Urdu. This…

This Thursday morning, Mohamed Diab’s latest film ‘Clash’ (or ‘Eshtebak’) was selected for screening at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival. It will compete in Cannes’s ‘Un Certian Regard’ section. ‘Clash’ will be the sole representative film from Egypt to be played at the festival this year. Produced in 2016, the film, written and directed by Diab, explores the confrontations between pro and anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrators that emerged following the removal of president Mohamed Morsi from power on 3 July 2013. The film is set entirely inside an overcrowded police truck packed with both pro and anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrators detained during…

After taking home a number of prizes from previous festivals, ‘The Story of a Rainy Night’ (2014) has grabbed itself another. Atlas International Film Gmbh has awarded the Iranian short film with Best Cinematography. The film’s star, Mehdi Fard Ghaderi, also writes and directs. ‘The Story of a Rainy Night’ narrates the life of a lonely old man on his birthday and how his day changes upon the arrival of his family. Produced by the Iranian Young Cinema Society, a group that helps educate Iranian youth interested in fields of photography, animation, and film about the many aspects of production…

The 2016 Saudi Film Festival concluded Monday night in the Gulf coast city of Dammam, after four days of screenings and filmmaking workshops aimed at establishing a well-founded Saudi film industry.More than 50 Saudi screenplays, still awaiting production, and 70 Saudi films competed in four different categories for the festival’s Golden Palm Tree Awards, these are the top winning films.‘Kaman’ – Golden Palm Tree Award in Short Feature Film Category‘Kaman,’ directed by Saudi filmmaker Abd El-Aziz Al-Shelahi, was one of the films that made the strongest impressions at the festival. Its story revolves around a man who doesn’t listen to…

The film industry is overproduced, and it is hard to see, let alone find, a gem at any film festival. Bero Beyer, a producer by trade, and new director of the IFFR is aware of this issue. He intends to shed light on talent development, and reshuffled the program to fit a daily screening of a young cineaste from the Hivos Tiger.This competition includes eight filmmakers, all on their first or second feature. Among them, I place my bet on The Land Of The Enlightened by Pieter¬ Jan De Pue.Filmed on 16mm, Afghanistan has long been sought for by the…