Author: CWB News Department

12 Years a Slave, the Best Picture at the 86th Academy Awards, is a 2013 British-American historical epic drama film and an adaptation of the 1853 memoir of the same name by Solomon Northup, a New York State-born free negro who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C. in 1841 and sold into slavery. He worked on plantations in the state of Louisiana for twelve years before his release. The first scholarly edition of Northup’s memoir, co-edited in 1968 by Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon, carefully retraced and validated the account and concluded it to be accurate.This is the third feature film…

Tonight, The Great Beauty, the Italian film directed by Paolo Sorrentino, received the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Other nominees for the Best Foreign language Film Award were The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium), The Hunt (Denmark), The Missing Picture (Combodia) and Omar (Palestine) The Great Beauty (La Grande Bellezza)Cast: Toni Servillo, Carlo Verdone, Sabrina Ferilli, Carlo Buccirosso, Iaia ForteJournalist Jep Gambardella has charmed and seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades. Since the legendary success of his one and only novel, he has been a permanent fixture in the city’s literary and social circles, but when…

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kamran Shirdel’s films have been censored, banned and celebrated for documenting hidden parts of Iranian society — the plight of Tehran’s prostitutes, the desperation of female prisoners, and the reality behind false heroes.Now he’s visiting the U.S. for the first time, speaking about his art and what it took to make it as a socio-political documentary filmmaker, first under the Shah then under Islamic rule.Shirdel, 75, began filming poor and working-class Iranians in the 1960s. Early documentaries such as “Women’s Quarter” established Shirdel as an uncompromising artist — and got him fired from a job in the…

Berlinale 2014: Crystal Bears and the Awards by the Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung (Federal Agency for Civic Education) in Generation 14plusThe members of the Youth Jury in Generation 14plusSimon KalmbachLuca KokolKarla LaitkoLeonie Mo MunderPaula NoackNicola ScholzFlorian StündelAwards:Crystal Bear for the Best Film: 52 Tuesdaysby Sophie Hyde, Australia 2013The situation is exceptional but familiar. This year’s winning movie is both suprising and touching. It is a movie about family and the quest for identity, and despite all the conflicts, the protagonists stay connected through their love to each other. The moving story is presented in a fascinating structure and convinces with…

ShortsHD™, the world’s only Short Movie Channel in high definition (www.shorts.tv), working with Magnolia Pictures, will open “The Oscar® Nominated Short Films 2014” in over 250 theaters across the United States, Canada and Europe on Friday January 31, 2014, with more than 400 theatres slated to screen the films during its theatrical release. In its 9th year, “The Oscar® Nominated Short Films” showcase the Live Action, Animation and Documentary nominees as three separate theatrical events. This will be the only opportunity for audiences to watch the nominated shorts prior to the 86th Academy Awards® ceremony on Sunday, March 2, 2014.…

The Fifteenth Anniversary Scandinavian Film Festival L.A. continues at the Writers Guild Theater, Beverly Hills over thia weekends: January 25-26, 2014. The yearly showcase of Nordic films and filmmakers, launched in 2000, screens the year’s Scandinavian films submitted to the Academy as nominees for Best Foreign-Language Film as well as other current feature, documentary, and short films.In 2014 the new BALTIC FILM EXPO @SFFLA brings cinematic offerings from the three Baltic nations – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.Festival Program for the first weekend (January 25-26) Saturday January 25 10:30 THE HOUR OF THE LYNXI Lossens Time, Denmark, 2013, 92 min., Søren…

The Fifteenth Anniversary Scandinavian Film Festival L.A. comes to the Writers Guild Theater, Beverly Hills over two weekends: January 18-19, 25-26, 2014. The yearly showcase of Nordic films and filmmakers, launched in 2000, screens the year’s Scandinavian films submitted to the Academy as nominees for Best Foreign-Language Film as well as other current feature, documentary, and short films.In 2014 the new BALTIC FILM EXPO @SFFLA brings cinematic offerings from the three Baltic nations – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.Festival Program for the first weekend (January 18-19) Saturday January 18XL10:30 amEx-family man, avid womanizer, heavy-drinking, parliamentarian, Leifur, is forced to go into…

Tonight, January 12, The Great Beauty from Italy won Golden Globes award for The Best Foreign Film. Other nominees were Blue is the Warmest Color (France, The Hunt (Denmark), The Past (Iran)and The Wind Rises (Japan). The Great BeautyFor decades, journalist Jep Gambardella has charmed and seduced his way through the glittering nightlife of Rome. Since the legendary success of his only novel, he has been a permanent fixture in the city’s literary and elite social circles. But on his sixty-fifth birthday, Jep unexpectedly finds himself taking stock of his life, turning his cutting wit on himself and his contemporaries,…

Academy announces the Short List for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. The nine films selected for the short list are: Belgium: “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” Directed by Felix van Groeningen, Bosnia and Herzegovina: “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker,” Directed by Danis Tanovic, Cambodia: “The Missing Picture,” Directed by Rithy Panh. Denmark: “The Hunt,” Directed by Thomas Vinterberg, Germany: “Two Lives,” Directed by Georg Maas, Hong Kong: “The Grandmaster,” Directed by Wong Kar-wai, Hungary: “The Notebook,” Directed by Janos Szasz, Italy: “The Great Beauty,” Directed by Paolo Sorrentino, and Palestine: “Omar,” Directed by Hany Abu-Assad.The nominations…

IN BLOOM directed by Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross is Georgia’s Oscar Entry for the Best Foreign Language Film Award.Early nineties, in Tbilisi, the capital of the newly independent Georgia after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The country is facing violence, war on the Black Sea coast (Abkhazia) and vigilante justice that plagues society. But for Eka and Natia, fourteen-year-old inseparable friends, life is just beginning to unfold – in the street, at school, with friends or older siblings. Although they are already dealing with male dominance, early marriage and disillusioned love, life is just beginning for these two…