Author: World Cinema Reports' Editors

A gay conversion therapy drama and harrowing child slave rescue documentary topped the 2018 Sundance Film Festival Awards, held Saturday in Park City, Utah. Desiree Akhavan’s “The Miseducation of Cameron Post” took the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. dramatic competition. It stars Chloe Grace Moretz as a young girl in ’90s who is caught kissing another female student and shipped off to conversion camp by her guardians. It costars Jennifer Ehle, Sasha Lane and John Gallagher Jr. Derek Doneen’s “Kailash” took the Grand Jury Prize in the U.S. Documentary competition. It follows the real-time rescue operation to free child…

GOTEBORG, Sweden  — The world’s largest anniversary celebration of a single filmmaker – Ingmar Bergman, born in 1918 – which was launched last year by the Ingmar BergmanFoundation, will open its 2018 program at the Göteborg Festival with several of his films in the screening schedule, seminars dealing with his work and special events during the Jan. 26-Feb. 5 festival in the southern Swedish city. The Göteborg celebrations are fitting.  “Ingmar Bergman was one of the greatest directors in film history,” says Jonas Holmberg, the Göteborg Festival’s artistic director. Bergman was also honorary chairman of the Göteborg Film Festival from 1994 to…

It seems like a periodic ritual now, in this age. Any film that becomes popular or celebrated beyond a certain point invites ‘think pieces’ from the contrarians or even worse, allegations of plagiarism. La La Land was accused of upholding white supremacy stereotypes… right after it earned a record 14 nominations at last year’s Oscars. Closer home, Amit Masurkar’s Newton after earning unanimous acclaim and becoming India’s official entry to the Oscars, was accused of copying an Iranian film Secret Ballot. Even though the producer of the Iranian film himself dismissed any similarities between the two films. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=XFYWazblaUA And now, it’s Guillermo del Toro’s The…

‘White Rabbit,’ ‘Skate Kitchen,’ and ‘Shirkers’ are inventive female-driven stories of defiance and identity. Sundance Film Festival is often marked by movies that chart the struggle of individual expression. Three female-driven films in this year’s line up keep this tradition alive in portrayals of distinctive young women who strive to grow into their respective voices and form their very own, accepting friendship circles along the way. The stories told in Shirkers, White Rabbit and Skate Kitchen range from dark, mysterious accounts of personal history to hopeful and inspirational tales. What they have in common is defiant women leading their journey…

TALLINN: A total of 21 Estonian films premiered in cinemas in 2017 and two of them made it to the top ten. The Dissidents, directed by Jaak Kilmi and produced by Taska Film, ranked 2nd with 85,306 admissions and over 480,000 EUR gross, while Swingers, directed by Andrejs Ekis and produced by Platforma Film, ranked 7th. It is the films targeted specifically at the domestic market that break records. Both Swingers and Class Reunion, directed by René Vilbre and also produced by Taska Film, which made history in the Estonian cinema in 2016 with the highest admissions and box office since the restoration of independence, were remakes of…

This year marks the 25th anniversary of this festival, established by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and Rice Cinema. Screenings take place at both venues and at Asia Society Texas Center. Following the 2017 presentation of Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman, which went on to win the Academy Award for best foreign language film, this year’s selections include Breath, Iran’s submission for the 2018 awards. It is one of several narratives by and about young Iranian women, and, like Tehran Taboo, features the innovative use of animation. 24 Frames, the mesmerizing, experimental last film by the internationally celebrated Abbas Kiarostami…

“Global Flicks,” a festival of six award-winning international films, will be presented on Wednesdays, Feb. 7 to March 14, in the Playhouse Theatre of the McAninch Arts Center at College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd. in Glen Ellyn. Now in its 22nd year, “Global Flicks” is co-sponsored by COD’s Academic Affairs office (Field and Experiential Learning/Study Abroad) and the McAninch Arts Center. The films will be shown at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. Films are shown in their original language with English subtitles, and each screening concludes with a moderated discussion of the…

On Sunday March 11th at 4 PM at Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust there will be a film screening and discussion with Director Philippe Mora with his film, Monsieur Mayonnaise, chronicling Philippe’s father’s clandestine role in the French Resistance during World War II and his mother’s miraculous escape en route to Auschwitz. Monsieur Mayonnaise is an artist’s epic adventure into his Jewish family’s Resistance to Nazi oppression, revealing an incredible secret past. French Australian artist and Award winning film-maker, Philippe Mora, adopts a Film Noir persona to tell his family’s story. He also packs his paints and easel, as…

The nominees for the Best film not in the English language at BAFTA 2018 was announced today. The five nominees are, Elle, First They Killed My Father, The Handmaiden, Loveless and The Salesman. Elle is a  psychological thriller film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by David Birke, based on the novel Oh… by Philippe Djian. Djian’s novel was released in 2012 and received the Prix Interallié (National Literary Award).[4] The film stars Isabelle Huppert as a businesswoman who is raped in her home by a masked assailant and decides not to report it due to her past experience with police. https://youtu.be/H-iBBgcp7PY First They Killed…

Tara Violet Niami is an award winning, internationally exhibited Australian-Iranian American cinematographer and photographer. Tara’s solo exhibition,TARA VIOLET NIAMI: SELF REFLECTIONS- 2008-2018 of 10 years of her self portraiture at The Lodge. Her self portraits are visually cinematic explorations of vulnerability, inner darkness, and how it feels to be caught in a dream. You can view her work at www.taravioletniami.com In high school Tara won the national gold medal in the Scholastic awards as well as silver medals for her photography, and then won first place in the Spotlight Awards for photography in Southern California. Tara received a BFA in…