by Alex Deleon
On the heels of the 2012 Berlinale, forming a kind of coda to the busy week preceding, four unusual pictures from Iran were presented in this extra special Persian package, one each evening starting Sunday, at the Babylon Theater in Rosa Luxemburg Square.
The Babylon located just west of Alexander Platz in what used to be Communist East Berlin, is one of the oldest movie theaters in Berlin and is now a protected architectural monument. It is also one of the regular Be...
2010 Success for the first edition of Industry DaysAugust 9th was the final day of the highly successful and well-attended first edition of the Festival del film Locarno’s Industry Days.900 "industry" accredited delegates attended the three days of screenings and meetings reserved for film professionals, of whom 242 were buyers from countries all over the world. First time participants included the American sales companies IFC and Visit Films, as well as Mongrel Media (Canada), 6 Sales (Spain...
The awards for the 2010 Open Doors Factory, the Festival’s co-production lab that is organised with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), were announced on Tuesday August 10. The 2010 session was devoted to cinema from Central Asia. 12 projects, selected out of 114 applications from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, participated in the Open Doors Factory, organised with the collab...
Moving into its final 5 days, the Locarno Film Festival, set in the beautiful mountain city in southern Switzerland, has announced its first set of awards for its 65th edition. The awards for the 2010 Open Doors Factory, the Festival’s co-production lab that is organised with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), were announced on Tuesday, August 10.
The 2010 session was devoted to cinema from...
Moving into its final 5 days, the Locarno Film Festival, set in the beautiful mountain city in southern Switzerland, has announced its first set of awards for its 65th edition. The awards for the 2010 Open Doors Factory, the Festival’s co-production lab that is organised with the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), were announced on Tuesday, August 10.
The 2010 session was devoted to cinema from Ce...
Berlinale World Cinema Fund: Latest Jury decisions and WCF-Spotlight in South AfricaAt the 12th session of the World Cinema Fund (WCF) jury on July 4, three new film projects were selected for production funding.Since its establishment in October 2004, the WCF has awarded production and distribution funding to a total of 73 projects chosen from 1275 submissions from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Central and South East Asia, and the Caucasus. All of the WCF films completed so far have s...
Feuding Anthropologists, an Elephant who got away, The abuse of Vlast, and Rich space cadetsThis year's LA Film Festival had a particularly strong slate of documentaries.and the following are a few mini-reviews of the creme-de-la-creme. "SECRETS OF THE TRIBE" compiled and directed by Brazilian filmmaker José Padilha, is a very thought-provoking documentary focusing on the interference of academic anthropologists in the life of an extremely primitive tribe in the Amazon jungle, the Yanomami, in...
Three films funded by the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (WCF) have been invited to the Festival de Cannes: Loong Boonmee Raleuk Chaat (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives) by Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul will be screening in the Competition. In October 2008, the WCF-Jury recommended funding this film project. Its German partner is Match Factory.
Another WCF-funded film, The Light Thief by Aktan Abdykalikov from Kyrgyzstan (German partner: Pallas Films), will be screeni...
A group of very lucky Russian filmmakers will have the double opportunity of impressing North American audiences and industry professionals via a unique program sponsored by CEC ArtsLink. The not-for-profit organization has partnered with the Sundance Film Festival to co-host a group of four independent Russian filmmakers in the US from January 20 to February 2. Their award-winning short films will have a North American premiere screening in New York. The filmmakers will then continu...
Following Greater China in 2009, the Locarno International Film Festival’s co-production lab Open Doors 2010 will focus on countries in central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kirghizistan, Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan and Turkmenistan.Organised with support from the Swiss Foreign Ministry’s Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the aim of the Open Doors is to assist the directors and producers of the projects selected to find co-production partners, particularly in Europe, and to be able to make their...
This year the Iranian Film Festival will move to a new location: ‘De Fabriek' in Zaandam. Here, a wide audience can once again become acquainted with everything the Iranian cinema has to offer. But not only the festival's location changes this year: the themes of its movies will also expand and deepen. For instance, there will be special attention for Iranian hiphop, 30 years of Islamic Revolution, ánd we will take an interesting look beyond Iran's borders in Central Asia. The Iranian Film ...
This year the Iranian Film Festival will move to a new location: ‘De Fabriek’ in Zaandam. Here, a wide audience can once again become acquainted with everything the Iranian cinema has to offer. But not only the festival’s location changes this year: the themes of its movies will also expand and deepen. For instance, there will be special attention for Iranian hiphop, 30 years of Islamic Revolution, ánd we will take an interesting look beyond Iran’s borders in Central Asia. The Iranian F...
17th Annual Jewish Film FestivalApril 16-26The NW Film Center and the Institute for Judaic Studies present the 17th annual Portland Jewish Film Festival. This year's films, while they express specific Jewish experiences, resonate beyond their cultural settings and speak to experiences and issues that confront our common humanity.
This year's Festival is co-sponsored by the Jewish Review with individual program support from Cedar-Sinai, Neveh Shalom, Mittleman Jewish Community Center, Port...