Author: World Cinema Reports' Editors

Two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Asghar Farhadi’s psychological thriller “Everybody Knows,” starring Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Ricardo Darin, is set to open the 71st Cannes Film Festival, Variety has learned. “Everybody Knows” (“Todos Lo Saben”) will mark only the second Spanish-language film to open Cannes, following Pedro Almodovar’s “Bad Education,” which kicked off the festival in 2004. It is also one of the few openers in recent memory not in either English or French. The festival will likely make an official announcement about the selection of “Everybody Knows” as the opening night film either later Wednesday or in the coming days.…

 A documentary on Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar-winning drama “The Salesman” is scheduled to premiere in Tehran in the near future. “About the Salesman” directed and produced by Vahid Sedaqat and Tahmineh Monzavi will be screened at the Art and Experience Cinemas, which are dedicated to screening art films, Farhadi has announced on his Telegram channel. The documentary shows how the idea of making the film began to form and how the various stages of production were completed. Top film critics such as Godfrey Cheshire, Peter Bradshaw, Fabio Ferzetti, Philippe Rouyer, Michel Ciment, and Hushang Golmakani also speak about the acclaimed movie…

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The 42nd annual Cleveland International Film Festival will open next week, featuring 214 feature films and 253 shorts representing 72 countries. But the number Director of Programming Mallory Martin is most proud of is the percentage of female directors coming to CIFF, which runs Wednesday, April 4, through Sunday, April 15,  at Tower City Cinemas and other neighborhood screening locations: 108 short films and 79 feature films are directed by women. That’s 43 and 37 percent, respectively. “That’s well above the industry norm,” said Martin during a film festival preview at their Ohio City offices last month. In…

If ever there was a film that needed to do well, ‘Cake’ is it. And not because it is a brilliant film made with great skill, but because its failure would be a sad indictment of the taste of Pakistani filmgoers. It would mean that years and years of bad cinema has dumbed the country’s viewers down to a level that they are unable to appreciate a genuinely original, technically sound and emotionally astute film. It would also mean that the celebration of resurgent Pakistani cinema has been miserably inconsequential. The Pakistani film industry and the resurgence of Pakistani cinema…

Multiple Oscar-nominated filmmaker Christopher Nolan, known for “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight”, says he is interested to watch and know more about Indian cinema. On a visit to India to create awareness about celluloid films in the digital era, Nolan, at an interaction with select media here, asked if he watched any Indian films, said: “I have watched some Indian cinema, not enough thoughabut enjoyed them very much. I want to watch more of them.” The “Insomnia” maker, who landed here on Friday after his quick trip to Delhi, interacted with many iconic personalities of Bollywood including Shah Rukh…

Moviegoers have already been asked a huge sacrifice by countless activist critics and journalist to support a movie like Marvel’s Black Panther. People were nearly corralled and forced into the theater to pad the numbers for Black Panther so that Social Justice Warriors could hail it as a success. Well, it turns out that being charitable toward Hollywood’s diversity machine isn’t enough; Forbes contributor Scott Mendelson practically begs on his proverbial hands and knees for people to support bad diversity movies. So why are Social Justice Warriors now asking – no, demanding – people see bad diversity movies? Well, according to Mendelson, supporting…

Cultural entrepreneur Vera Mijojlic, the founder and director of the South East European Film Festival in Los Angeles, was among five women who were honored at West Hollywood’s 23rd annual Women in Leadership Awards event on Wednesday, April 28. The Award was presented to her by Jamie Adler, designer and business leader, and daughter of Phyllis Morris. “This award is a recognition for the entire SEEfest team which makes the festival possible, and I share it with all of them,” says Mijojlic. “I am personally honored to receive the award named after a pioneering business woman, Phyllis Morris, who was a trailblazer and a…

The music industry has seen its fair share of format changes over the past decade.  But it’s hard to imagine, for example, an album not receiving a Grammy because it isn’t available in record stores. Which is sort of what’s happening in the movie world.  Now, one of the most prestigious film festivals — the Cannes Film Festival — has decided to ban Netflix movies from receiving awards.  The reason is that they aren’t distributed into traditional theaters. In effect, Cannes is declaring that a movie is not worthy of an award because it’s viewed on a different-sized screen. Cannes Film…

 Iranian documentary filmmaker Kamran Shirdel was recently awarded the Italian Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI. This is the first class Order of Merit of the Italian Republic awarded for contributions in the fields of literature, music, economy, public service, social, philanthropic, and humanitarian activities. Shirdel received the award during a ceremony held at the Italian Embassy here in Tehran. Documentarian Shirdel is the first Iranian filmmaker who has received the Italian medal. “Kamran Shirdel is no doubt the father of Iran’s modern cinema, especially in social documentary cinema. He has played a major role in introducing and promoting Italian neo-realism.…

Shahab Hosseini, who deservedly won recognition for his intense performance in Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman, offers a nuanced study in acting minimalism with this melancholy portrait of a man living in exile in London, never quite beyond the reach of his own troubled past. It’s a feature debut for Iranian artist-turned-writer-director Mitra Tabrizian, whose background in still photography perhaps explains the crepuscular cinematography. https://youtu.be/4ObR4sCxrBo Hosseini plays Gholam, a taciturn immigrant who works as a minicab driver by night and mechanic by day in a garage owned by kindly Mr Sharif (eminent Iranian actor Behrouz Behnejad). At the cafe run by his…