Shadi Abdel Salam (1930–1986)
CAIRO ~ Though Martin Scorsese had to cancel his visit to Egypt at the last moment, his presence was strongly felt at the Cairo International Film Festival here on Wednesday night when the classic version of The Mummy was screened.
If it hadn't been for Scorsese this Egyptian classic might have just crumbled into obscurity, as has much of this country's history
But as the result of financial support from the Martrin Scorsese...
CAIRO ¬ The joke going around Cairo today is that the Algerian Tribute in the city's international film festival will be withdrawn if the Algerian football team beats Egypt in this Saturday's crunch game.
It is only a joke, but the fact is that even the most ardent of Egypt's film buffs are focused on the crucial world cup qualifier that will see one or the other country through to the World Cup finals in South Africa next year.
Punters have commented that the orga...
THE CAIRO International Film Festival (CIFF) celebrates its 33rd edition this year from November 10 to November 20.
In its long history of successes, last year's triumph would be a hard act to follow. Never before had the festival attracted so many international stars. But the organizers say that this year promises to equal and perhaps even surpass last year's event.
The CIFF 2009 enjoys the fine backdrop of 100 years of a distinguished film history. It is undoubtedly the oldest a...
THE DATES of the third edition of Thailand’s Phangan Film Festival (PFF) have now been fixed for 12-14 February 2010, with approximately 20 films scheduled for screening over three evenings.
PFF's themes are Nature and Spirit, and although there are no restrictions on genre or style, submitted films must relate to one or both festival themes.
The festival is looking for films that explore spiritual traditions as well as films that focus on environmental subjects such as climate,...
WITH around 100 movies screening over 10 days, the 7th World Film Festival of Bangkok is set for November 6 to 15, 2009 at Paragon Cineplex, opening with the new independent Thai drama “Jao Nok Krajok” (“Mundane History”) and closing with Jamaican rhythms in an outdoor screening of the documentary “Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae”.
“The seventh year of the World Film Festival of Bangkok could be recognized as the seventh heaven of film lovers,” says festival director Krie...
THE August screening in Bangkok of Stefan Haupt's "A Song for Argyris" is still on my mind, even though a month has gone by and I have seen more than 20 movies since.
Haupt is of Swiss-German extraction which makes this documentary all the more extraordinary, because it tells the true story of terrible atrocities committed by the Nazis during their occupation of Greece in WWII.
Haupt lives in Zurich and wasn't in Bangkok for the screening, but he is on record as ack...
THE ONGOING publicity surrounding the insults being traded by Werner Herzog and Abel Ferrara over whether “The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans” is a remake of Ferrara’s 1992 original or not, maybe of interest to the industry, and particularly to film critics, but is of little interest to movie-goers.
Both versions tell the story of a drug-addled cop trying to solve a case of murder, but the interpretation is as different as chalk from cheese.
Herzog, more highly thou...
THERE will be a special "Swiss focus" at this year's World Film Festival (WFF) Bangkok which runs November 6 - 15. In the past, the WFF showcased several new Swiss movies each year, but this year will take things one step further, thanks to support from "SWISSFILMS".
In addition to five new Swiss movies - four features and one documentary - there will also be a retrospective with six movies by one of Switzerland's best-known directors, Alain Tanner.
...
THERE were many good lines in Chaplin's first "talking" movie, The Great Dictator. But the one that has stuck in my mind over the years comes from the final scene (or was it the penultimate scene) in which the barber is mistaken for Adenoid Hinkle and has to make a speech.
"We think too much, and we feel too little", says Charlot as he addresses the massed ranks of soldiers who have been rallied to hear a pro-Nazi anti-Jewish rant. ( no problem here for the programmer...
CAMBODIA's film and video festival is to be held this year at Kampot, a small attractive town about four hours drive south of the capital Phnom Penh.
Cambofest, the country's first internationally recognized independent movie festival, will commence its third season on 04 December, running
through 06 December, though the organisers say there may be a " sneak preview” on 03 December.
Film categories at the festival include: Fiction Features & Shorts * Doc Feat...
THERE are nine movies in the main competition of the Bangkok International Film Festival 2009: Across the River (Iran); Adrift (Vietnam); Altiplano (Belgium); Breathless (South Korea); Everyone Else (Germany); Huacho (Chile/ France/ Germany); I Killed My Mother (Canada); Inland (Algeria / France), and The Search (China).
Across the River, by the prolific US-based Iranian director Abbas A. Motlagh, has barely been shown outside Iran, but is bound to attract attention here. In ...
BANGKOK ~ With just two weeks to go before the start of the annual Bangkok International Film Festival on September 24, the film selection is now complete and details are being added daily to the festival website. It looks like another great line-up.
The artistic director of the festival, Yongyoot Thongongboon, has pointed to five films in particular that he says should not be missed. They are J’ai Tue Ma Mere (I killed My Mother) by 20-year-old Canadian director Xavier Dolan; the Germ...
Bangkok International Film Festival 2009 (September)
THREE weeks to go, and the countdown has begun for the Bangkok International Film Festival 2009 (BIFF’09). This year’s festival, starts on September 24 and will screen more than 80 feature films before the final night and the Golden Kinnaree Awards ceremony on September 30.
The movies have been selected by the Thai Film Directors Association and this year will be shown in two world-class venues – the SF World Ci...
A BRILLIANT selection of exciting, original and artistic films from all over the world will be presented at the 6th World Film Festival of Bangkok from October 24 to November 2, 2008. The programme includes classics from veteran directors and work by upcoming young bloods who bring fresh ideas to the screen.
More than 70 films will cover different societies, cultures, history and politics. They will also present the personal visions and ideas of directors through the language of cin...
BANGKOK ~ News that the Bangkok International Film Festival (BIFF) will indeed be run again this year was greeted enthusiastically by film-buffs in Thailand yesterday (Tuesday 29 July 2008), following months of indecision on the part of the owners of the event.The budget will be smaller, a lot smaller than at its peak two years go, but that isn't worrying aficionados who simply want to get to see the best of the latest indie feature films from the region and elsewhere around the world.BIFF wi...
Inaugural Phuket Film Festival Rocks to Close with 'Across The Universe' The Phuket Film Festival (PFF) ended its week long inaugural run Saturday with Julie Taymor's 'Across The Universe.' The closing movie, from Sony Pictures Entertainment, which utilizes live action plus animation and psychedelic digital effects was a fitting end to the pre-tsunami 2004 conceived international film festival. Screening 40 movies from 15 different countries and hosting film-makers from 16 of its production...
Coppola, Emir Kusturica to attend Antalya Film Festival The 44th edition of the Antalya Film Festival will host Francis Ford Coppola and Emir Kusturica as its “Honour Guest"s” within the 3rd International Eurasia Film Festival, the international section of the festival. Francis Ford Coppola will pay his first visit to a film festival held in Turkey, attending the Turkey premiere of his feature “Youth Without Youth” adapted from Mircea Eliade’s novel. Coppola’s return to...
The 3rd International Eurasia Film Festival, curtain-raiser for Turkey's 44th Antalya Film Festival, is all set to open on October 19 and will feature a showcase of much-acclaimed recent films of international origin. Displaying the latest productions and hosting their performers and directors at Antalya, the Eurasia Film Festival covers a line up of highly praised films produced during the last two years. Awards of US$75,000 and US$25,000 will be granted to the “Best Film” and the ...
Opener a Great success and More to Come at Bangkok International Film FestivalFriday 20 July 2007The 2007 Bangkok International Film festival got off to a grand start last night when stars from both Thailand and all corners of the globe converged on SF World Cinema at CentralWorld, in the centre of Bangkok.CentralWorld, the newest and biggest shopping and entertainment arena in Southeast Asia, played host to the glitz and glamour event of the year. The longest red carpet possible was rolled out ...
Jury Members
Golden Kinnaree
1. Christian Jeune France Cannes Film Festival
2. Peggy Chiao Taiwan Filmmaker
3. Gary Dartnall USA Producer
ASEAN Films in Competition
1. Chuck Stephens USA Film Critic
2. Yon Fan Hong Kong Filmmaker
3. Bina Paul India Kerala Film Festival
International Shorts Competition
1. John Badalou Indonesia Producer
2. Namrata Joshi India Film Critic
3. Somkiat Wituranit Thailand Filmmaker
...
The Golden Kinnaree Awards is among the intergral components of the Bangkok International Film Festival. The design of the statue, by Thai national artist Preecha Thaothong, signifies principles, rationality and inspiration.This figure of a half-human half-bird derived from the ancient mythology referred to in Buddhism and Hinduism. The structure design is also based on Thai number “nine” which symbolizes the reign of His majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej (King Rama IX), who celebrates his 80t...
The Bangkok International Film Festival is held annually since 2003 by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, a Royal Thai Government agency, in Bangkok, Thailand. Each year, the festival showcases more than a hundered of feature and short films, representing some of the best and the brightest in the current international cinema through its various programme sections. The festival focuses on the works by emerging filmmakers throughtout Asia, and in particular those of the Southeast Asian region. The...
In what way is this year’s KolKota festival, the 11th, different from previous years?
We have continued with the same components within the previous structure but regarding film selection we have become more serious, we are looking at more cerebral films, giving better cerebral exercise to our audiences. Our Pedro Almodovar retrospective is an example of this. And in the international section there are several lesser known directors but we have given preference to them because of their crea...
BANGKOKIANS are due to get a special pre-festival screening of the classic Robert Wise Academy Award© winning film, West Side Story, on Sunday, February 12 (2006).
The movie will be shown free of charge on outdoor screens set up in public areas outside the massive new Siam Paragon retail and entertainment complex which will be used as the centre for the upcoming Bangkok International Film Festival (Feb 17 - 27).
The screening will feature musical performances of songs from West Si...
THE 10th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) gets under way this evening (Friday December 09, 2005) with the promise of record-breaking attendance following a new surge of interest in pure cinema here.
Officials told filmfestivals.com they expect last year’s figure of 6,300 delegates to be surpassed, despite the fact that the budget for organizing, running and promoting the festival has remained more or less the same for the past three years.
Some 180 titles, including 1...
