Author: CWB News Department

The Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury headed by Jane Campion and including Maji-da Abdi, Nicoletta Braschi, Nandita Das and Semih Kaplanoğlu, has awarded the 2013 Cinéfondation Prizes during a ceremony held in the Buñuel Theatre, followed by the screening of the winning films. The Cinéfondation Selection consisted of 18 student films, chosen out of nearly 1 550 entries coming from 277 film schools around the world.“The Jury were unanimous in their choice for the awarded films and want to congratulate the filmmakers for the excellence and maturity of their cinematic voices.”First Prize:NEEDLE directed by Anahita GhazvinizadehThe School of the Art…

Young German director, Katrin Gebbe, is in the running for the Caméra d’or with Tore Tanzt (Nothing Bad Can Happen) about the face-off between Tore, a youth who belongs to a Christian punk movement called the Jesus Freaks and Benno, who sets out to undermine his beliefs. -How did your film come about?Katrin Gebbe: Tore Tanzt is based on a true story I came across in the media. I don’t know why, but something about it grabbed me. Because it was so brutal, poetic pictures immediately popped up in my head. I felt there was a big story to tell,…

Hiner Saleem fights for the rights of Kurds, which explains why the action of My Sweet Pepperland takes place at the border between Iran and Turkey. The story unfolds in an isolated village where Baran, a Kurdish independence war hero who has just arrived, falls in love with Govend, a charming school teacher with twelve brothers who are a little over protective. Their love story seems jeopardised. Golshifteh Farhani plays a lead part in My Sweet Pepperland.-How did your film come about?Hiner Saleem: After my last film Si tu meurs, je te tue which was shot in the heart of…

The Consulate General of Italy, Los Angeles, the Italian Cultural Institute, Los Angeles and the Italian Film Commission have annpunced the Italian movies at the 2013 at LA FILM FEST on June 13 & 23. Amarcord Saturday June 15 th at 12:30 PMDIRECTV Theater/Regal 9Tickets $13.00Released Italy (1973), Running time: 123 mins, In Italian with English subtitlesDirected By: Frederico Fellini, Producer: Franco Cristaldi, Screenwriters: Federico Fellini, Tonino Guerra, Cinematographer: Giuseppe Rotunno, Editor: Ruggero Mastroianni, Cast: Magali Noël, Ciccio Ingrassia, Nando Orfei, Bruno Zanin, Pupella Maggio, Gianfilippo Carcano, Armando Brancia, Music: Nino Rota”The title of Federico Fellini’s Oscar-winning 1973 movie is…

Jamel Debbouze and Tewfik Jallal carry the lead roles in the first film by Mohamed Hamidi: Homeland (Né quelque part). This Algerian odyssey, partially autobiographical, will be presented at the Festival de Cannes as a Special Screening intended for an audience of secondary school students.Mohamed Hamidi, a former journalist and co-founder of the Bondy Blog, has been working on this film since 2004. Apart from a few details, Homeland is his own story. Like him, the character Farid, (Tewfik Jallal) does not know much about Algeria, his country of origin. To save his father’s house, he has to go to…

The world of European cinema converges at Cannes, with an EU prize for Thomas Vinterberg, two conferences, an award of state honours and an international agreement between France and Croatia. This year’s winner of the European Union’s Prix MEDIA is Thomas Vinterberg’s project Kollectivet (The Commune), which tells the story of a Danish community in the 1970s. Last year the prize, which rewards projects with strong European potential, was awarded to the Le Passé by Asghar Farhadi, which is In Competition this year. European Commissioner for Culture Androulla Vassiliou handed the prize to the Danish film-maker and his producer Sisse…

Asghar Farhadi, in Competition with The Past, held his press conference surrounded by his cast – Tahar Rahim, Bérénice Bejo, Ali Mosaffa, Pauline Burlet – and his producer, Alexandre Mallet-Guy. He took the time to respond at length and in detail to each question. Selected highlights.On working with the actors, the rehearsals and the language barrier:Tahar Rahim: Asghar Farhadi has a very special way of working, very precise, down to the tiniest detail, and yet as a result of the rehearsal work and the sharing it involved, you end up feeling free. Bérénice Bejo: We worked with a translator, and…

Today, May 18, 2013, Like Father, Like Son will be screened in competition section. What does being a father mean? This is the question Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda asked himself for his new film in Competition: Soshite Chichi Ni Naru (Like Father, Like Son). A personal look at paternity involving a normal Japanese family.Since his very first film Maborosi in 1995, family relationships have provided a backdrop to the work of Kore-eda who sees himself as Hiroshi Shimizu’s successor. In 2004 he focused on the bonds between siblings in Nobody Knows, the true story of four children abandoned by their…

Presented by American Cinematheque, in collaboration with Consulate General of the Republic of Croatia in Los Angeles, Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, HAVC – Croatian Audiovisual Center, with support from E.L.M.A. (European Languages and Movies in America)Only months after the Lumiere Brothers dazzled Paris with their tiny magical moving pictures, cinema arrived in the Croatian capital of Zagreb on October 3, 1896. Ever since, the Croatian film industry has persevered, and neither political, societal nor financial hurdles were able to silence the voices of Croatian filmmakers. Deeply rooted in the country’s national literature, Croatian films reflect Central European attitudes…

After five days in five locations and 40 films shown to diverse audiences in Los Angeles, the South East European Film Festival, SEEfest 2013 concluded Monday night at UCLA’s Bridges Theater in Los Angeles with Turkish film PRESENT TENSE in a double bill with a short from Switzerland WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE. Both films explore the theme of people desiring to live a better life in another culture, yet pulled back into their own. Directors Belmin Söylemez and Cosima Frey delighted the audience in the Q&A with Turkish filmmaker and guest moderator Atil Inac discussing the obligatory melancholia…