Author: CWB News Department

Some weeks ago, way back in 2007, I said I’d deliver the second part of my column on the folks behind the extraordinary The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, which since has snagged two Golden Globes (best foreign language film, best direction). Alas, that story seemed to have fallen down a mystery rabbit hole located somewhere in the nether regions of my computer desktop. I’m now happy to report that I have dived down after it (sans diving bell, thankfully) and have retrieved the orphaned item. Apologies for the late rescue. It’s nice when filmmaking runs in the family. Somewhere…

Next week Border Crossings goes to the 58th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb. 7-17), better known as the Berlinale, to check out the films, parties, news, gossip… and that crashing sound of the dollar falling against the Euro. How bad is it? Well, let’s just say I’ll be hitting as many sponsored buffets and dinner parties as possible. I’ll tote along a tripod and Handycam to capture the festivities with a crew of one (yours truly), or maybe an unpaid friend/lacky to hold the camera once in a while. Production values will be in keeping with our budget, which is…

For the fifth time the international Francophone TV channel TV5MONDE, official partner of the Berlin International Film Festival, the Berlinale and the German-French Youth Office (FGYO) have asked German and French film fans to apply for the jury to award the prize “Dialogue en perspective”. Now the seven cineastes who will enjoy the Berlinale 2008 as jury members have been selected. At the end of this year’s Berlin International Film Festival they will present the prize “Dialogue en perspective” to their favourite film of the Berlinale section Perspektive Deutsches Kino. As in former years it was once again a challenge…

This year’s Luis Buñuel Retrospective will commence and conclude at the Volksbühne with two special presentations focusing on Buñuel’s famous directorial debut: his silent film Un chien andalou (France 1929) is to be screened four times, and each time it will be accompanied live by different works of contemporary music. On February 9, 2008, Un chien andalou will be shown alongside another masterpiece of surrealistic film, Jean Epstein’s La chute de la maison Usher (The Fall of the House of Usher, France 1928), on which Buñuel worked as assistant director. Both films will be presented in restored versions and accompanied…

January 2, 2008 (New York, NY) – Film Movement (www.filmmovement.com), announced that ADAM’S APPLES, a black comedy from Denmark & Burkina Faso/French Drama, DREAMS OF DUST will be available on DVD beginning Tuesday, January 8, 2008.The DVD will be available at Film Movement (www.filmmovement.com), and also through major retailers such as Blockbuster, Amazon, Netflix and at Passion River Films (www.passionriver.com).Adam’s Apple is the story of Ivan is an insanely optimistic preacher who takes in convicts to help around the remote, rural church he ministers to. His current charges are a psychotic Saudi immigrant addicted to robbing gas stations and an…

Legendary 20 time Emmy winner Phil Donahue comes to Palm Springs Int’l Film Festival with his National Board of Review Award Winner for Best Doc 2007 and Best Doc Audience Winner (Toronto/Hamptons Fests) Body of War; New Korean master Lee Chang-Dong brings his Cannes Best Actress winning feature Secret Sunshine (official Oscar entry from Korea); young Serbian Srdjan Golubovic directs suspenseful neo-film noir The Trap (official Oscar entry from Serbia); Milcho Manchevski, previous Oscar nominee for Before the Rain, unveils his supernatural, sexy, revealing work in Shadows (official Oscar entry from Macedonia).Body Of WarDirected by Ellen Spiro & Phil Donahue…

Ask Julian Schnabel what drove him to make his current feature The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, based on the memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby, and this is what he offers:“I wanted this film to be a tool, like his book, a self-help device that can help you handle your own death. That’s why I did it.”As explanations for movies go, this has to rank as one of the least sanguine in film history. A primer for the bitter end? Definitely not the kind of quote you’d stick on a movie marquis to drive up box office. But then, who really…

Tehran Times – The Iranian film “10+4” by Mania Akbari shared the Best Director Award with the Argentinean film “XXY” by Lucia Puenzo at the 12th International Film Festival of Kerala which was held from December 7 until 14 in India. 10+4 features the character Mania, a woman suffering from cancer, and depicts how the illness ultimately affects her life. The film’s psychological theme is the discovery of hope even at times of utter despair. Celebrated Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi was amongst the members of the gala’s jury. The films competed in several sections entitled Competition (restricted to films produced…

The German director and producer Peter Sehr will be jury president of the award “Dialogue en perspective” at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival. In 2008, the independent jury prize will be awarded for the fifth time to a film in the Berlinale section Perspektive Deutsches Kino. It will also be the fifth year of the partnership between the Berlin International Film Festival and the francophone TV channel TV5MONDE, which is awarding the prize in co-operation with the German-French Youth Office (FGYO). One special feature of the award is that the jury will consist of seven German and French film…

Before the outdoor screening of Nassiri’s ambitious 12-minute film, “Love Sees No Color” Wednesday night in Century City, CWB’s James Ulmer had a chance to speak with Cher, whose own Cher Charitable Foundation donates funds to various charities and causes. She shared her reactions to the film and, most revealingly, about the current American political scene and presidential contenders. James also talked to Nassiri at the same event. (Nassiri’s interview follows Cher’s interview)James: How did you come to meet Nassiri? Cher: I met him because of Adam. Adam runs my foundation and Adam had seen the film and thought that…