The first Arpa International Film Festival was produced by AFFMA in 1997 with a mission to cultivate cultural understanding and global empathy, creating a dynamic forum for international cinema with a special focus on the work of filmmakers who explore the issues of Diaspora, exile and multi-multiculturalism. A strong emphasis is placed on ideals of independent thought, artistic vision, cultural diversity and social understanding.AFFMA was established in 1995. AFFMA has since become a bonafide art and film organization which could not have arrived at this auspicious occasion without the generous support of the Los Angeles film and art communities.THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER…
Author: Robin Menken
Robin Menken
Robin Menken Robin Menken lives in Los Angeles. She was the Artistic Director of the Second City Workshops, taught at UC Berkeley, USC, Barcelona\'s Ateneu and the Esalin Institute. She was Roberto Rossellini\'s assistant, and worked with Yevgeny Vevteshenku, Glauber Rocha and Eugene Ionesco. She sold numerous screenplays and wrote the OBIE winning The FTA SHow (touring with Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland and Ben Vereen.) She was a programming consultant and Special Events co-ordinator for numerous film festivals, including the SF, Rio, Havana and N.Y Film Festivals. Her first news outlet was the historic East Village Other.
This exciting new film series – a collaboration between Film Independent at LACMA and Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television–screens a selection of films that will provide an enticing glimpse at the movies, fiction and nonfiction, from this side of the globe. LACMA FIND programmer Elvis Mitchell and LMU’s Dean Steve Ujlaki traveled to Paris and the Fespaco festival to find the films. The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) is the largest African film festival, held biennially in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. ” As an originator of film, movies that reflected the social movements and mores–and…
Tu Seras Mon Fils” is one of the best French film released this year. (I also loved the infectious retro romcom “Populaire.”) Gilles Legrand (“Ridicule”) has crafted a stylish family drama, which feels like a throw back to the solid Hollywood or French Studio films of yore, a world often mined by French classicist Bertrand Tavernier. It’s as tense and engrossing as an old time psychological thriller, despite it’s glossy, sensual aesthetic.A clever script by Delphine de Vigan, Laure Gasparotto, and Gilles Legrand mines the sour world of familial disappointment and legacy. Its tart tone is reminiscent of Charles Spaak’s…
Writer-director Gregory Nava, actor Gael García Bernal, cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto and Gabriel Figueroa Flores will celebrate the life and career of the renowned Mexican cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa on Tuesday, September 17, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. The evening will feature an onstage discussion and excerpts from many of Figueroa’s greatest cinematic achievements. The program serves as a prelude to the exhibition “Under the Mexican Sky: Gabriel Figueroa – Art and Film,” co-presented by the Academy and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which will open at…
“The quiet but deep observation, understanding and love of the human race, which are characteristic of all his films, have impressed me greatly. … I feel that he is a giant of the movie industry. … Not to have seen the cinema of [Satyajit] Ray means existing in the world without seeing the sun or the moon.” – Akira KurosawaConsidered one of the foremost filmmakers of the 20th century, director Satyajit Ray (1921-92) established himself as a major force with his widely celebrated “Apu Trilogy” in the late 1950s. Ray wrote all the screenplays of his films, many of which…
Now in its sixth year and taking place September 8-11, the Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival (LABRFF) is recognized as the most prestigious Brazilian film festival outside Brazil. This year it has moved to it’s new home at Los Angeles Film School (6363 West Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90028.)Showcasing the best in new Brazilian cinema and providing the movie-loving public with access to some of the most critically and important Brazilian filmmakers, film industry professionals and emerging new talent by bringing them together in the heart of the entertainment capital of the world.The Festival features special programs including Filmmakers…
As a 70’s feminist, I have spent hours of the last decade in darkened theatres writhing in agony watching films detailing the oppression of women in fundamentalist societies (“Fill The Void”), religious cults (“Beyond the Hills”) and countless films about Muslim family honor killings. No matter how good the film’s brief is, I sit in impacted rage watching situations I cannot change. For me, these are “horror” films.”Wadjda”, shot by Saudi Arabia’s first female director, is a game changer. The small canvas film, redolent with warm observational touches, has some of the quiet charm of the equally hopeful “Monsieur Lazhar”…
The World 3-D Film Expo returns to the Egyptian Theatre from September 6-15, 2013. The ten-day festival will pay tribute to the 60th anniversary of what many film historians regard as the “Golden Age” of 3-D, and will include screenings of the John Wayne western HONDO, the Vincent Price horror film HOUSE OF WAX, Cole Porter’s musical KISS ME KATE, and sci-fi thriller IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE…and even later 3-D films, such as 1983’s JAWS 3-D. Lesser-known titles, such as THE FRENCH LINE with Jane Russell and film noir SECOND CHANCE with Robert Mitchum, will also be included. Actress…
Classic Film Lovers convene in Los Angeles for the 49th Cinecon Film FestivalThe annual Labor Day weekend festivities, which celebrate silent and early soundie films, draw film buffs, collectors, historians and memorabilia collectors from around the world. Stellar silent film accompanists are one of the weekend’s treats. Cinecon is highly regarded among film fans for screening the rare and unusual films of the silent and early sound era—films that seldom get seen on a big screen. Cinecon combs the major film archives and Hollywood studio vaults to select often forgotten gems that deserve a fresh look and reappraisal. At Cinecon…
Thomas Vinterberg’s harrowing drama “The Hunt” (“Jagten”), is one of two must see post-Dogme films currently in theatres Mads Mikkelsen, who won the Cannes Best actor award for his role, is breathtaking as the caring kindergarten teacher whose life is shattered by a child’s thoughtless accusation.A cross between the the McMartin preschool trial and Ibsen’s “An Enemy Of The People” (itself written to protest the furor his play “Ghosts” aroused) Tobias Lindholm (“Submarino”) and Thomas Vinterberg (“A Celebration”) script is a crafty thing, sensitive and infuriating in turn. “A Celebration” and like that career-making film, it digs under the surface…