The recent tragic events in Haiti have given an unexpected resonance to a new documentary on child sponsoring that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this past weekend. A SMALL ACT by Jennifer Arnold looks at the modern day phenomenon of Westerners sponsorship and adoption of third world children.
With the Haitian crisis generating hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from almost every nation of the world, often by exploiting images of ...
Egypt's The Traveler (Al Mosafer) with Omar Sharif to screen as Opening Night Gala
The Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) today unveiled the lineup of the feature-length narratives and documentaries that will compete for Black Pearl Awards worth over $1 million during the upcoming Festival. Presented by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, this year's MEIFF will run from October 8 to 17.
Peter Scarlet, the festival's new Executive Director commented, "...
Dieter Kosslick's comment that “Reality has actually surpassed fiction this year” fits rather well the 2009 edition of the Berlinale. Kosslick has directed the Berlinale since 2001 and helped to elevate it to rank with Cannes and Venice as one of three most important global film festivals. His take on the Berlinale as being political has often been criticized yet not detracted from the importance of the festival. The opening film THE INTERNATIONAL by Tom Twyker about the criminal activities...
Looking back over 30 years of Panorama Wieland Speck talks about interconnections between the films and their socio-political contexts: “We look in this treasure chest and are happy to discover that none of the themes we tackled then have lost their relevance today.” Alongside current feature and documentary films, this year’s programme includes historical Panorama films as well as all ten previous winners of the Panorama Audience Award. The consequences of globalisation are explored from ...
Catherine Breillat, Michael Winterbottom, Michael Glawogger, Lucía Puenzo, and Philippe LioretShortly before completing our selection for this year’s programme, it has become evident that genuinely independent cinema – in contrast to the independents of the major studios in the early 2000s – is at an advantage due to the economic crisis. In other words: cinema now promises to become more radical and audacious again, and hence more inspiring. This development can be seen not only in a new ...
Two-time Palme d’Or winner for When Father was Away on Business in 1985 and Underground in 1995, Emir Kusturica is once again showing a film in the Official Competition entitled Promise Me This. The action takes place in the Serbian countryside and centers on the promises made by Tsane (Uros Milovanovic) to his aging grandfather (Aleksandar Bercek): go over the three hills into the nearest town and sell their cow at the market there. With the money, Tsane must buy a religious icon and then any...
Déjà deux fois lauréat de la Palme d’Or pour Papa est en Voyage d’Affaires en 1985 et Underground en 1995, Emir Kusturica se lance à nouveau dans la Compétition avec ce film intitulé Promets-Moi. Comme le titre l’indique, l’histoire de ce long-métrage, dont l’action se déroule dans la campagne serbe, repose sur plusieurs promesses que Tsane (Uros Milovanovic) fait à son grand-père (Aleksandar Bercek) mourant : tout d’abord, celle de franchir les trois collines qui sépare...
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 29th CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (CIFF)MARCH 10-20, 2005Attendance of 43,000 (almost a 10% increase over last year)Biggest Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday attendance ever.Biggest single attendance ever on Saturday, March 19th – 5,584 breaking the record of 5,281 on the second Saturday in 2001 (the 25th anniversary).28 sold-out screenings105 feature films80 short subjects 50 countries of origin65 visiting filmmakers and other guests from around the worldOver ...
