Author: World Cinema Reports' Editors

In September 2010 Bíó Paradís rose like a cineplex-phoenix from the ashes of Regnboginn (The Rainbow), a cinema which in 1977 became Iceland’s first multi-screen movie theatre. Bíó Paradís is a part of Europa Cinemas, a network of movie theatres which focuses on European films non-native to the country, as well as cinematic education for children. Aside from that, Bíó Paradís also gives Icelandic filmmakers an opportunity to screen their short films and documentaries. The Art House cinema, which operates as a non-profit organisation, has put effort into improving accessibility. They raised money through a crowdfunding site to make the…

A look at the docs competing in the World Cinema selection at Sundance 2019, with topics including the impeachment of former Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, and a family fleeing the Taliban. Advocate (Isr-Can-Switz) Dirs. Rachel Leah Jones, Philippe Bellaiche Advocate profiles veteran Israeli human-rights lawyer Lea Tsemel as she defends a minor accused of attempted murder, and reflects on a past case in which she defended her activist husband from a charge of treason against the state. Co-director Jones previously played in Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary competition with her 2012 film Gypsy Davy, on which Bellaiche — here making his…

MUBI announced today its January and February release slate of films and curated series from both emerging talent and acclaimed directors from across the globe. These two months, MUBI celebrates the season of Sundance with a selection of titles from past years of America’s premiere indie fest, as well as the upcoming Berlin and Rotterdam film festivals with several of the best entries these two European heavyweights have played host to in recent years – from Nobuhiko Ôbayashi’s Hanagatami to the exclusive online premiere of Sergei Loznitsa’s Victory Day. https://youtu.be/YRmHRFwQZBk Complementing the ongoing series of works by the groundbreaking filmmaker Jean Rouch, MUBI offers…

If there was one through line in the IFC’s first (and hopefully not last) annual Iranian Film Festival New York, it would be the idea of artistic stasis—of artists either incapable or not allowed to create. Many of the films are self-reflexive examinations of filmmaking within Iran’s notoriously tightly-censored industry, while in others writers struggle to conquer seemingly insurmountable writer’s block. But beyond the confines of the creative industry, we find families paralyzed by internal divisions or trapped within desperate socio-economic circumstances. Regardless of their differences, the films featured represent both the current art cinema Iran gained international fame for…

The Bafta-nominated composer of If Beale Street Could Talk said the growing diversity in Hollywood “is one of the most powerful and exciting things that’s happening in film today”. Nicholas Britell wrote the score for Barry Jenkins’s drama, which tells the story of a young African American mother-to-be desperately trying to clear her partner’s name after he is wrongly charged. On Tuesday, Britell was nominated for a Bafta for best original music for his work on the film, in a category also containing Spike Lee’s white supremacist tale BlacKkKlansman. If Beale Street Could Talk director Barry Jenkins has been nominated for…

This year, the UCLA Institute of American Cultures and its four ethnic studies centers — American Indian Studies Center, Asian American Studies Center, Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, and Chicano Studies Research Center — are celebrating five decades of increasing understanding of the changing social and cultural realities in America. The yearlong celebration will open with a film festival on Feb. 1, featuring thought-provoking and entertaining films made by UCLA alumni that tackle cultural and social justice issues from unique perspectives. Q&A sessions with the films’ writers, directors and producers will follow, and participants are welcome to enjoy ethnic food, entertainment…

It was the most politicized movie year since World War II. Hollywood confused propaganda with entertainment, and film goers were offered little choice between indoctrination and discovery. The only great films were the re-releases of Visconti’s 1973 Ludwig and Cocteau’s 1949 Les Parents Terribles, beacons from a more stable past. The Visconti was visually lavish and psychologically penetrating, an empathic look at the Bavarian King whose personal aspirations contrasted the political dictates of his social position — a surprisingly timely epic about private ethics. The Cocteau, an ingenious domestic farce, traced the young generation’s foundering to the selfish folly of its immediate forebears…

Burbank, CA – January 2nd,, 2019: Today, Cinema Without Borders and Palm Springs International Film Festival  announced jury members and the seven nominees for GoE Bridging The Borders Award at 2019 Palm Springs International Film Festival selected by Palm Springs International Film Festival Programmers. The Bridging The Borders Award at the 2019 Palm Springs International Film Festival will be given to the most successful film in bringing the people of our world closer together. Cinema Without Borders’ jury members to decide the 2019 winner of the GoE Bridging The Borders Award are: Rakhshan Banietemad Rakhshan Banietemad, born in 1954 Tehran, began…

“Fatherless” and “This Is Not a Pipe”, two plays staged by Mohammad Mosavat in Tehran in 2017, took first place at the 17th edition of the Iranian Theater Critics Awards on Thursday. “Fatherless” tells the story of a wolf that becomes the partner of a goat living with her kids Shangul, Mangul and Habbeye Angur. The goat tries to make the wolf forget his identity and he does so. But the kids want to become wolves now. “This Is Not a Pipe” inspired by a painting of the same name from Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte is about two brother…

The 20th Anniversary Scandinavian Film Festival L.A. (SFFLA) will be in residence at the Writers Guild Theater 135 S. Doheny in Beverly Hills January 5, 6, 19 20 with “top films from the top of Europe” featuring “Oscar” submissions and other current films from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and with BalticFilmExpo@SFFLA–Baltic neighbors Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. www.sffla.net The festival has become a highlight of the “film season” run up to awards season culminating in the Oscars. The festival has been called “Nordic film’s ‘home away from home’ in the film capital of the world.” The annual residency has created…