The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) is a rich source of the best in international film, and fans of Iran’s ceaselessly productive and always interesting cinema industry can count on finding Persian film gems at DIFF 2008—including a film with a Dubai connection.
Morality and family life concern director Majid Majidi, whose award-winning The Song of Sparrows is Iran’s entry for the 2009 Academy Awards. Innocent Karim works at an ostrich farm outside of Tehran, leading a simple a...
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With the screening of Iranian film ‘The Song of the Sparrows’, directed by Majid Majidi, curtains came down on the 39th International Film Festival of India on December 2nd 2008. Director Sergei Dvortsevoy bagged the best film award with the Golden Peacock and a cash award of 40 lakh for the Kazakhstan film ‘Tulpan’. The Director also got the Most Promising Director Award for the film. The award comprises the Silver Peacock and a cash award of Rs. 15 lakh. Tulpan is a cinematic triumph...
Director “Sergei Dvortsevoy” bagged the best film award with the Golden Peacock in IFFI-Goa 2008, The Special Jury Award has gone to Sri Lankan actress “Malini Fonseka”With the screening of Iranian film ‘The Song of the Sparrows’, directed by Majid Majidi, curtains came down on the 39th International Film Festival of India on December 2nd 2008. Director Sergei Dvortsevoy bagged the best film award with the Golden Peacock and a cash award of 40 lakh for the Kazakhstan film ‘Tulpan...
Two War Films, "Cold Tears", 2004, and "Night Bus", 2007. The war between Sadam Hussein's Iraq and the Islamic Republic of Iran lasted nearly a decade, from 1980 to 1988, and was treated as a kind of side-show in the western press, but it was the main event in that part of the world and has provided fodder for countless Iranian films ever since. Two of these were presented in the current survey. Dated 2004 and 2007 these films show that nearly 20 years down the line this war is still far from a ...
Ten films by nine directors, veterans and promising newcomers, most of them recent productions, give insight into contemporary Iran at this festival organized in collaboration with the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Hungarian National Film Archive. All films will be screened in the original version with English subtitles and simultaneous Hungarian translation through ear-phones. November 20, 6:30 p.m.So Close So FarThis admirable film changes your ideas about God by showing the ...
The Iranian Film Week in Budapest opening film, "Kheili Dour, Kheili Nazdik", (Very far, very near), 2OO5, directed by Sayyed Reza Mir-Karimi, was one of the best of the lot and also the longest with a running time of 12O minutes. A middle-aged neurosurgeon (played by the charismatic actor Masoud Rayegany) comes back to Teheran on the eve of the Persian New Year after a long stay in the west to spend the holidays with his teenage son, an avid student of astronomy. You can see that he feels a l...
In conjunction with the Iranian embassy the Örökmogó Filmmuseum, which is the outlet for the Hungarian Film Archive and presents a selection of international films all year round, is presenting a ten film survey here of recent Iranian film productions in what amounts to a mini Iranian film festival. The survey includes two slightly older films from the years 1992 and 1999, but the remainder are all films made after the turn of the millenium, primarily those released since 2004. Ever since t...
The 31st Starz Denver Film Festival (SDFF) will honor an outstanding and wide array of talented film artists during the 11-day festival which kicks off November 13 and runs through November 23. Actor Bill Pullman will receive the Festival's prestigious John Cassavetes Award while Richard Jenkins will be presented with the Excellence in Acting Award. Additionally, SDFF will pay tribute to cinematographer Wally Pfister, Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi and Swiss filmmaker Thomas Imbach for their ...
A new Filmmaker Award has been announced that will be given to emerging filmmakers at a series of upcoming film festival events. The International Film Guide Inspiration Award, presented by Wallflower Press (www.wallflowerpress.co.uk), the largest independent film book publisher in the UK, and the Criterion Collection (www.criterion.com), the leading distributor of classic world cinema, is a unique prize of film books, reference guides and film DVDs designed to provide emerging filmmakers at the...
Turkish female filmmaker Yeşim Ustaoğlu's latest feature "Pandora'nın Kutusu" (Pandora's Box) won the Golden Shell for Best Film at Spain's San Sebastian Film Festival, which wrapped up its 56th edition Saturday.French actress Tsilla Chelton has also received one of two best actress awards for her role as Nusret in "Pandora's Box,".Iranian filmmaker Samira Makhmalbaf's Two-Legged Horse has won the Special Jury Prize of the San Sebastian International Film Festival.Makhmalbaf's 200...
On April 5th, the 27th iteration of the International Istanbul Film Festival runs kicks off its 15-day run, screening 200 feature films in 20 categories. Festival-goers seeking alternatives to the flickering dark will find a robust program of seminars, workshops, concerts, exhibitions and parties. The Festival culminates on April 20th with the coveted Golden Tulip Award for the International Competition, juried by an elite force of cinema professionals led by cinematographer Michael Ballhaus. Fe...
Christoph Terhechte has been a member of the International Forum of New Cinema’s selection committee since 1997 and directing the Forum since 2001.The Forum is widely considered as the most innovative artistic and political section of the Berlinale featuring experimental, avant-garde films and documentaries characterized by unconventional approaches and presenting new film makers. Terhechte added in 2006 ‘forum expanded’, a new component of the Forum exploring the emerging fusion of cinema...
By Anita FalusiIn my quest, to collect more information about the situation of Hungarian Cinema today, I came across a talented independent filmmaker, Madarász István. He was brought to my attention because even though he never went to film school his movies win award after award from the U.S. throughout Hungary to Spain. Recently, he even got a grant for pitching a new project to a 15 producer panel at the Central European Pitch Forum. I decided to ask him; what is the secret to be a successf...
Thursday, January 24----------The explosion and recent box office clout of documentary features is very much a worldwide phenomenon. No longer tethered to television, many more non-fiction films are making a splash on the big screen. The poster boy for this movement is most probably Michael Moore, whose trifecta of BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, FAHRENHEIT 911 and this year’s nominated SICKO, were film phenomena in their own right, often outpacing Hollywood features and hyped indie dramatic gems. ...
The International Film Festival Rotterdam announces the Competitions’ Juries of the 37th edition, that will open on January 23. The full line up of both the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition and the Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films 2008 will be announced Tuesday January 8. The Jury of the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition for first or second feature films consists of: • Ms. Renata Litvinova, Russia, filmmaker, film producer and actress• Ms. Tiziana Finzi, Switzerland, Deputy Director...
Ron Holloway :(Guest of honor of Belgrade’s New Author Film Festival 2007) -On Internet it is said you are an expert for German film, you live in Berlin for very long time?-I have been writing my dissertation of cinema on Dryer or Bergman and I was very happy when I got my first job and I was said that I could go anywhere Eastern from Berlin, not only German Cinema and everywhere Eastern from my territory (USA). And, first of all, German Cinema at time was in the revolution. I just arrived to ...
CineMart has selected 39 projects out of a record number of 550 entries. The 25th edition of the first and largest co-production market for low and medium budget feature films includes projects by Abbas Kiarostami, Sophie Fiennes, Cristi Puiu, Jafar Panahi and Alex van Warmerdam. CineMart 2008 further presents new projects by former Rotterdam competition filmmakers Koen Mortier (EX DRUMMER) and Pia Marais (THE UNPOLISHED). Films launched at CineMart and now in official Rotterdam 2008 selection a...
All Roads in Iran...First look...Due to some unexpected connection issues we were unable to provide real-time updates to you from the field. Alas, now that we have returned, a retrospective. Everything you may have heard about the extent of Iranian hospitality is true. As special invited guests of the first ever Cinema Verite Iranian International Documentary Film Festival, the whole notion of VIP has taken on new meaning. From the moment we were able to clear customs, we were treated ...
Monday, July 30------- With Iran very much in the news in the United States these days (mostly negative), it is a kind of act of artistic defiance for courageous film distributors to bring to the American public another view of the "axis of evil". Those in the know have long realized that Iranian cinema is among the most poetic, visually magnificent and humanistic.....a far cry from the way most Americans are taught to think of the country and its citizens. A new addition to the rost...
When I told friends from home that I planned to come to Cannes to intern with the film festival, they were all jealous, but especially my friends who went to film school: working at a film festival is a film student’s dream, and not only have I now interned here in Cannes, but I have also volunteered at the Toronto International Film Festival. These two experiences have shown me a lot, not only about the film industry, but about the festival circuit and the vast differences ...
Iranian Director Samira Makhmalbaf and her father, filmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf held a press conference today, Friday, May 18, 2007 at the All Suites Hotel, Cannes. The filming of her latest feature, Two-Legged Horse, came to a halt when a bomb exploded on-set in Afghanistan on March 28, 2007. The explosion killed one horse and injured six members of the cast and crew. ...
The 2007 New York Arab & South Asian Film Festival presented by Alwan for the Arts, opene in New York City Feb 23rd and runs through March 4th. Programmed by a diverse group of visual artists, political and cultural activists, writers and filmmakers, this year the Festival offers many ground breaking films and programs, unique cultural slants, as well as many cinematic “firsts”, which include:• First Saudi Arabian Feature film to be shown in US - Shadow of Silence, by Abdullah Al Muheisen...
MIFF board has selected to spot the light on two of the leading cinema production countries in the world. The section named EU Dialogue will focus the attention every year on a different country of European cinema. For the first edition MIFF selected France. The section will count 10 films. Some of the films admitted to this section are: The box office animated hit “Azur et Asmar” directed by Michel Ocelot, “Indigenes” directed by Rachid Bouchareb which represents France in the Osca...
Wednesday, January 10----Narrative films from the European continent are among the most anticipated in the World Cinema Competition: Drama competition at the Sundance Film Festival, which opens next week. Of the sixteen films to be presented in the program section, eight are European productions or co-productions with other nations. The strong presence of European films, and the introduction of new film talents, will have industry executives keeping a watchful eye on Europe during the 10 day ...
