Author: CWB News Department

Amid the flood of new sorts of artificial intelligence (AI) that have seemingly altered the digital landscape as we know it, it’s not unfathomable to be a little nervous about the future of other frontiers, particularly the realm of arts. Uncanny, AI-generated images and videos crowd every social media feed; large language models (LLM) like ChatGPT run rampant in academia and elsewhere, composing swaths of written content within seconds; and what feels like every major corporation is shoving AI down the throats of their consumers. As a student in the humanities, I’ve felt a little helpless, watching all these new…

Mehrnoush Aliaghaei is a writer/producer who grew up in Iran and immigrated to the United States after finishing high school. Mehrnoush received her B.A. from the University of California–Berkeley, where she majored in Film Studies and Comparative Literature. She subsequently worked in film distribution and exhibition at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. She has been pursuing her M.F.A. in Filmmaking at Columbia University in New York. She has written three feature length scripts and a pilot for a TV series, as well as produced several short films. She is currently developing her first feature film, Where the Wild…

What happens when the boundaries between fiction and reality blur, not only on screen, but also during filmmaking itself? In Fiction & Reality – Vice Versa, journalist and filmmaker Ronald Glasbergen sits down with Iranian director Farshad Hashemi, actress and landlady Mahboube Gholami and cinematographer Davood Malik Hosseini to understand the layers of their acclaimed film Me, Maryam, the Children, and 26 Others. Nominated for the Tiger Competition and premiering at the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in 2024, Hashemi’s film is a successful and clever cinematic experiment, in which the boundary between documentary realism and fiction blurs. The film, shot…

On the 7th of December 2024, the multi-awarded composer Kris Bowers (Green Book, Space Jam: A New Legacy, Bridgerton, The Color Purple…etc) talked about The Wild Robot score in an event organized by the Academy of Scoring Arts at the First Baptist Church of Glendale, Los Angeles. The event is part of the inside score sessions of this association. https://youtu.be/WnE51QfRxvE?si=FynM48o6qaF4vtIs The Academy of Scoring Arts is a non-profit organization based in Los Angeles founded by Ron Jones in 2009 and whose aim is to promote and study film scores and composers by doing events, seminars and interviews. The event was moderated by the current president of ASA, composer Reuven…

The 75th Berlinale has been brought to a close by the traditional awards ceremony held at the Berlinale Palast, which saw the triumph of Dag Johan Haugerud’s Dreams (Sex Love) , the winner of this year’s Golden Bear. The gala was hosted by Luxembourgish actor, director and producer Désirée Nosbusch. She first invited on stage Tricia Tuttle, the German gathering’s new director, who admitted to being both “exhausted and full of joy, and excited about next year’s edition”. She also revealed that 330,000 tickets had been sold during the festival. After a round of applause dedicated to the victim of the Shoah Memorial attack that unfolded…

German film director Wim Wenders, known for his impactful storytelling and creative filmmaking, discussed the power of cinema in shaping history during a masterclass held on Friday. Wenders highlighted how movies serve as a historical catalog, crucial for a civilized future amid global attempts by governments to rewrite historical narratives. The 79-year-old filmmaker revealed his aspirations to create a film centered around peace, expressing the challenges of adapting stories to fit the ever-changing global landscape. He reflected on his early influences, including Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu, which inspired his works such as ‘Tokyo-ga’ and ‘Perfect Days.’ Wenders, whose career spans…

The film industry in Iran operates under the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance that requires directors to submit their synopsis or screenplay for approval before production and their completed picture for a screening permit. The political landscape in this country with a rich cinematography has changed between periods of relative openness and strict control, as moderate and hardline governments have alternately loosened and reinforced censorship. However, this type of state control is not the only problem in the industry, as Mehrnoush Alia shows in her feature debut “1001 Frames”. 10 years after her awarded short “Scheherazade”, she expands on the topic…

Italy has produced many of the most celebrated films of all time, and the history of Italian cinema has influenced directors and actors worldwide. However, knowing where to start with Italian films can be hard. Many of the greatest Italian movies have long run times and are connected to larger artistic movements, which can make them feel daunting. But they don’t have to be. The greatest Italian films transport viewers to Italy with beautiful visuals, solid social commentary and Italian wit. While not all movies about Italy are truly Italian films (sorry, Under the Tuscan Sun and The Godfather 2 technically aren’t Italian films…

MEXICO CITY, Feb 20 (Reuters) – The chief executive of streaming giant Netflix (NFLX.O), opens new tab on Thursday announced a $1 billion investment to produce some 20 films and TV series in Mexico annually over the next four years. Speaking at President Claudia Sheinbaum’s morning press conference in Mexico City, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos said he looked forward to entering more partnerships with producers in the Latin American nation. Sheinbaum said the investments in the film industry should produce many jobs beyond immediate production needs, such as hospitality for actors and crew members, fashion designers and also spur tourism. “It’s an…

Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s performance is too reel and too real. Maybe it’s because this is Black History Month that the complete Oscar lock-out of Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths seems so wrong. (It almost hurts more than the dismissal of Better Man.) Hard Truths was also overlooked for the Image Awards given by the NAACP, which is equally troubling. Both omissions reveal the worst about contemporary film culture. This isn’t simply a matter of actress Marianne Jean-Baptiste’s being ignored (despite already winning most of the season’s critics’ prizes). Fact is: Mainstream opinion has degraded. It would be an exaggeration to frame the Oscar and NAACP inadequacies as injustice;…