BERLIN — If European film festivals were a dinner party, Netflix would be that cousin no one really likes because he chews too loudly and keeps asking you what kind of car you’re driving now. But he keeps getting invited anyway because he’s got a case of Valserrano Rioja Crianza sitting at home and isn’t stingy with the sharing. And at the party known as the 69th edition of the Berlin Film Festival, Netflix is now getting people particularly riled up. The Berlinale, as the festival is called, is held every February and, along with other important European film festivals…
Author: World Cinema Reports' Editors
ASKED about the movie we’d just seen, one patron suggested there was ‘a lot to digest’ – wow, did she get that one right. When you’ve seen the main characters eat their fair share of worms, maggots and assorted bugs, you might find things hard to digest. Or even keep down. Border is that kind of movie; whatever that kind of movie is. As director Ali Abbasi makes clear, he’s no genre guy and this is no genre film. You could try horror, crime, romance, myth, but you’d be more or less missing the point – whatever the point is.…
Over the course of the month of February, the Bundy Museum of History and Art will be hosting a social justice film series, sponsored by the Broome-Tioga Green Party at the Bundy Museum Annex. The films being shown are “Requiem for the American Dream” on Feb. 7, “Frederick Douglass and the White Negro” on Feb. 14, “Sorry to Bother You” on Feb. 20 and “Trudell” on Feb. 28. The Broome-Tioga Green Party is a chapter of the Green Party of New York. The Green Party, largely a left-wing group, selects films that provoke questions relevant to their causes such as…
Every year Neda Nobari Foundation, a prestigious non profit organization that supports social justice in arts and culture, casts its spotlight on six people as game changers in the field of social justice.According to the NNF site: “Each year the Neda Nobari Foundation is privileged to work with brilliant and innovative individuals at the intersection of education, social justice, and grassroots activism. These change-makers each in their own way are pioneering new approaches that ignites a transformative potential critical inour 21st century world. Yet they rarely receive the acknowledgement they deserve.” Bijan Tehrani, Founder and Editor in Chief of Cinema…
The camera accompanies a man down several stories in a rickety elevator. As he leaves the building, we stay inside, watching through cracked, dirty glass as he kicks a car and attacks a woman wearing a chador. We can’t quite hear or see what’s happening—is this the wife who’s been trying to catch him out in an affair with their neighbor? A group of bystanders gets involved, and we glide helplessly back up in the elevator, watching the dramatic climax slide out of reach. That’s a scene from an early film by the Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, Fireworks Wednesday (2006). It’s also a signature…
At just 25, her documentary short has been nominated for an Oscar. Iranian-American filmmaker Rayka Zehtabchi’s ‘Period. End of Sentence’ is about women and menstruation in a village in Hapur district, on the edges of the National Capital Region, before and after a local activist sets up an outfit to make and distribute low-cost sanitary napkins. “The back story of how I got involved in this project is fascinating,” says Zehtabchi. “This movement was initiated by a group of 12- to 14-year-old school girls of Oakwood High School in Los Angeles, with their high school English teacher, Melissa Berton, after…
The best African movies are proof that the continent of Africa is rich with diversity especially in terms of culture. This rich diversity brings along various aspects that characterise African movies from different parts of the continent. The African film scene is a great homage to a very remarkable collection of top-rated movies. These movies range from twisted tearjerkers, classic comedies to quite chilling actions of crime drama. Africa is not shortchanged when it comes to a fantastic cinema filled incredible talents. Without a single doubt, the African movies listed below are a must watch. 1. Tsotsi Gavin Hood directs…
WINSTON-SALEM — Celebrating its 21st season, the RiverRun International Film Festival will take place April 4 to 14, bringing about 160 screenings to Winston-Salem and Greensboro. Based in Winston-Salem, RiverRun is an Academy Award-qualifying festival in two categories: Documentary Short and Animated Short. In April 2018, RiverRun was named by Moviemaker magazine as one of the “Top 50 Film Festivals Worldwide Worth the Entry Fee.” More recently, in January, USA Today named RiverRun one of the “10 amazing film festivals worth traveling for.” RiverRun is evaluating more than 1,600 films that were submitted for consideration. The 2019 festival lineup will…
The 69th Berlin International Film Festival is set to begin this week, on February 7, 2019, and will last for ten days until February 17. The Berlinale is one of the major events of the year in European cinema, along with Cannes and Venice. The festival hosts the European Film Market, which is the world’s second-largest film market. This year the Berlinale sets itself apart from other festivals, and, in fact, award ceremonies, as it will showcase a good proportion of films directed by women. While the Academy Awards decided to nominate no women in the categories of Best Film…
The seventh Chennai International Documentary and Short Film Festival, that kick-starts on Wednesday, will set some new highs this year. Organised by Goethe Institut, along with Marupakkam, the city-based cinema collective, the festival lasting five days will offer an interesting line-up for film aficionados. Curated by Amudhan RP, the festival director as well as the founder of Marupakkam (established in 1996), the festival will screen around 35 documentaries and 15 short films from across India and countries like Germany, Spain, Russia, Israel, China, and Italy. “We have chosen contemporary films that are made over the past two years. Since I curate…