My fifth and last day at the cinematic wonderland that is DIFF consisted of three documentaries. The films are very diverse - two were made by Western filmmakers and the third one is by an Iranian who was stopped from filming his latest film and this doccie was smuggled out of Iran on a flash drive hidden in a cake! I kicked off my day with Semisweet: Life in chocolate that focuses on 4 different stories about chocolate - the top chocolatier in France, a spiritual couple's chocolates fro...

KVIFF 47, AWARDS AND COMMENTS, A TALE OF FOUR WOMAN by Alex Deleon   SUSAN SARANDON AT KARLOVY VARY The 47th Karlovy Vary Film Festival closed shop on Saturday July 7 with the customary gala awards ceremony and a screening of Woody Allen's "To Rome With Love" in the vast 1,500 seat Grand Hall (Velky Zal) of the Thermal Hotel. This was followed by the usual swanky closing reception at the stately Hapsburg era Hotel Pupp (Pronounced "poop&quo...

KVIFF CAPSULE REVIEWS by Alex Deleon   The competition film “Zabic Bobra" (To Kill a Beaver) by Polish director Jan Jakub Kolski is a grisly psychological drama that tries to show what it is like inside the head of a returning professional soldier who cannot readjust to everyday life. Kolski, 56, has been described as a master of Polish “magical realism” and is certainly one of the few directors of his generation who can be called an auteur. At his press conference Kolski said �...

If you are talking about Iranian film, the first thing on your mind are films about Iranian divorce, gender issue and very bad position of women in the countries like Iran. But film Ephemeral Weddings/Noces ephémères by Reza Serkanian is not about the position of women in this culture. It is about women, customs and mentality all together. I say women because the film discusses love and women in the focus via Iranian customs. Colorful representation of Iranian film director Reza Serkanian gi...

The Australian based Asia Pacific Screen Awards will showcase four nominees and winners of the November 2011 awards ceremony at the Beijing International Film Festival this month. A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin, Islamic Republic of Iran), Academy Award and Golden Globe winner and the 2011 Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) Best Film recipient, will join Australian box office sensation Red Dog as two of four APSA 2011 nominees and winners to be showcased to Chinese audiences at the 2012 ...

              Among 28 international films and two shorts programs, presented in the 41st edition of New Directors/New Films series few would qualify as belonging to traditional genre films or reflecting Hollywood imprinted market oriented productions. To the contrary, the selection committee from the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art picked first or second feature films from relatively unknown directors identifying new trends in directorial and them...

 The FIFF is delighted to unveil the names of the five personalities who will make up the International Jury, which will award the Regard d’Or – the Grand Prix du Festival International de Films de Fribourg. The Jurors are Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi, Bangladeshi director Golam Rabbany Biplob, French film critic and producer Jacky Goldberg, Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof and Swiss musician and composer Franz Treichler.  The winner will be chosen amongst twelve films from non-Europ...

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...

FINAL SELECTION OF IN RETROSPECT: 60 YEARS OF FESTIVAL FILMS 5 – 11 MARCH Perth Festival is delighted to announce the final selection of In Retrospect: 60 Years of Festival Films. In celebration of our 60th Festival we have selected seven films from those which have screened at the Festival since its beginning in 1953. One film from each decade was selected to screen for one night only from Monday, 5 March and one Australasian film will screen on Sunday, 11 March. Perth Festival Arti...

The viewers of Kaunas International Film Festival 2011 selected their favourite film –“How much does your building weigh, Mr. Foster?” by two Spanish directors Norbert López Amado and Carlos Carcaso. In second place was Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki film “Le Havre” followed by the Italian work “Ten winters” in the third place. The public also noted and enjoyed the award winning “A Separation” by Asghar Farhadi from Iran (Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival...

The Red Carpet Award Ceremony of the 4th Airtel Jaipur International Film Festival 2012 was conducted in the evening at The City Palace. During the formal Closing Ceremony, musical concert and cultural dance programs were organized. During the award ceremony, the film actor Om Puri, Princess Diya Kumari, all the members of jury, Hollywood producer Leslee Udwin, festival director Hanu Roj, as well as cinema dignitaries from around the world was present. In total 24 awards were presented in the ...

  A SEPARATION (Iran, 2011) by director Asghar Farhadi Nominated for an Oscar for ‘Best Foreign Language Film’, A SEPARATION has been stunning audiences since its open at the 2011 Berlinale last February. Most recently, it screened at the 23rd Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF 2012). Bank employee Nader (played by Peyman Moadi) wants to stay in Iran but his wife Simin (Leila Hatami) wants to leave. A traditionalist stuck in the past and unable to leave his be...

  A SEPARATION (Iran, 2011) by director Asghar Farhadi Nominated for an Oscar for ‘Best Foreign Language Film’, A SEPARATION has been stunning audiences since its open at the 2011 Berlinale last February. Most recently, it screened at the 23rd Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF 2012). Bank employee Nader (played by Peyman Moadi) wants to stay in Iran but his wife Simin (Leila Hatami) wants to leave. A traditionalist stuck in the past and unable to leave his be...

With Mike Leigh serving as Jury President, the International Jury will decide who will receive the Golden Bear and Silver Bears as well as the Alfred Bauer Prize of the 2012 Berlinale Competition. The other members of the International Jury will be Anton Corbijn, Asghar Farhadi, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jake Gyllenhaal, François Ozon, Boualem Sansal and Barbara Sukowa. Mike Leigh (Jury President) Mike Leigh has made a name for himself as one of the most outstanding filmmakers of auteur cinema and...

          Author Film Festival FAF 2011 opened Israeli film director Eran Kolirin whose film Replacement hits the direct competition program of festival this year and is known as the award-winning author of film couple years back The Band's Visit. Author Film Festival FAF in Belgrade, Serbia, 30-5th of December began with the film Shame directed the British director and visual artist Steve McQueen. McQueen’s film Shame awarded at the b...

Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) delivered the keynote address at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), 2011 held today. Senator Dodd addressed an audience of diplomats, state government ministers, APSA filmmakers, and business leaders at Queensland's Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia. Introducing Senator Dodd, US Ambassador to Australia Jeffrey Bleich, said: "Commercial achievement is a worthy objective, but what fi...

The Spanish film "Los pasos dobles" directed by Isaki Lacuesta received the Golden Shell award at the 59th San Sebastian Film Festival.                                        Last night and for the first time live during the closin gala, we received attonished the news of the palmares. Jury and critics not always coincide so that most of the awards came as a surprise. Here they are! the 59th San Sebastian Film F...

Up & Away! Attendance Climbs at 6th Annual MV International Film Festival; New Film Center Is Next ProjectSeptember 20, 2011 (Vineyard Haven, MA)-It's a wrap! The sixth annual Martha's Vineyard International Film Festival, organized and executed by the all-volunteer Martha's Vineyard Film Society, packed over 30 films from 6 continents into 4 vibrant days. "The festival grows each year," says Society founder and Festival director Richard Paradise. "We're still counting but we sold an estimated 3...