Interview with English/Turkish Cypriot actor Akin Gazi, the hot new face of BIG cinema ('The Devil's Double', 2011; 'Black Gold' 2011; and now 'Zero Dark Thirty', 2012). Look out for this up and coming mega talent. He has already been on the side of buses in Qatar... Will UK be next? Read our up close and personal interview below.
ME: How did you get into acting and when did you know that you want to act?
AKIN: When I was a child I loved spending time in my imaginat...
The Slovenian film ‘A Trip’ (‘Izlet’, 2011) by writer/director Nejc Gazvoda will represent Slovenia at the 2013 Oscars. Out of all international films contending for the ‘Foreign Film’ category, only one will win for 'Best Foreign Film'. The 85th Academy Awards will take place Feb. 24, 2013.
'A Trip' has received nominations and awards at international film festivals the world over. It won ‘Best Screenplay’ by Nejc Gazvoda, ‘Best Acting&r...
OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE FROM 'Sally Fischer Public Relations'
“TRASHED” (2012) screened Saturday, September 29 at 9:00PM at the Apollo Piccadilly Cinema in London
Academy Award-winning actor Jeremy Irons and Academy Award-winning composer Vangelis attended screening
“TRASHED” HITS PICCADILLY AND TAKES JEREMY IRONS ON A JOURNEY OF DISCOVERY, DISBELIEF AND HOPE
London, UK: Candida Brady brings her hot topic film "TRASHED" to the Raindance Film Festiva...
Award winning Iraqi film maker Koutaiba Al-Janabi's debut feature film, Leaving Baghdad, about the brutal Saddam Hussein regime, shown through the story of the everyday person, who gets caught up in the turbulances of the country's politics. The film provokes the question of guilt, conscience, collaboration, escape. Universal questions, that were asked in connection with Nazi Germany, with the communist regimes, with ...
Dreamboat British actor Dominic Cooper (MAMMA MIA!, AN EDUCATION) steps up to leading man stature in THE DEVIL’S DOUBLE, a harrowing and unsettling portrait of the consequences of complete and corruptible power. The film tells the true and truly sickening story of Uday Hussein, the power-mad and sadistic son of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein whose personal reign of terror gave him free reign to kill, rape and maim at will. In order to protect his personal security, he forces a former c...
At a film festival that totals more than 250 feature films (not to mention an additional 250 features in the accompanying European Film Market), one can only skim the surface of an event as wide-ranging as the Berlinale. Film choices are often based on schedule availability....grabbing a screening in between meetings or making sure one is awake to catch the early morning press screenings of the Competition program. In a sense, one only gets a random taste of the very far-flung program...
Director: Koutaiba Al-Janabi.
Leaving Baghdad is a road movie that follows Sadik, the personal cameraman to the leader Saddam Hussein, at the end of the nineties. Sadik is trying to escape the grip of the regime, being pursued from country to country, encountering smugglers and crooks on his journey. Sadik suffers from paranoia and constant fear. The Iraqi secret police are after him because he is carrying evidence of the atrocities committed by the regime. Sadik is dreaming to go to London, to join his wife who is, however, unwilling to help. In his despair and loneliness, Sadik writes letters to his son, Semir. These letters turn into a confession and reveal Sadik's past and the real reason for his fleeing , the endless waiting and his paranoia.
photo still of 'Tropa d'Elite 2' with actor Wagner Moura
-BERLINALE PRESS-
Panorama Special and Panorama Dokumente
The first is Brazilian filmmaker José Padilha's Tropa de Elite 2, which does not just take up his Golden Bear-winning film from 2008 again, but also shifts the perspective. A human rights activist in Brazil is elected district representative, yet he is the antithesis of the militia, police
and, above all, the political system. The second openin...
He may not walk away with the trophy for Best Director at this year's Oscar ceremonies, but David O. Russell's film THE FIGHTER will certainly go down for the count as one of the important cinema experiences of the year. A critical and box office success, THE FIGHTER has also revitalized the career of its iconooclastic director, who comes back after a seven year hiatus with a force that is sure to be felt for many moons to come. To celebrate this special moment and to explore his en...
On December 08, 2010, The Son of Babylon screened for a packed Olympia Theater in Thessaloniki. The majority stayed for a fascinating Q and A with visionary director Mohamed Al-Daradji
"Mohamed Al-Daradji, born in 1978 in Iraq, was recently awarded the title
of Middle East Filmmaker of the Year by Variety, a prestigious moniker
befitting the industrious and prolific director, producer and c
Today, December 10, 2010 marks the last day of screenings for the films in competition at the 51st Thessaloniki Film Festival. Films in competition are:1) David Michod's Animal Kingdom (2010) - Australia"Where do you fit? Where's your place and where do you belong? For J. Cody, the task of answering these questions will mean making the hardest decisions of his life." 2) Ari Bafalouka's Apnea (2010) - Greece"Everything’s quiet when you’re in the water. No ...
The Tribeca Film Festival - the renowned international film festival co-founded by Robert De Niro - has announced its program, which includes several films with French roots. Since its founding nine years ago, Tribeca has showcased a breadth of work from around the world. This year's films represent contemporary international filmmaking at its finest, bringing together fresh voices with established storytellers.
Some of the films in the selection have French ties. From Kim Chapir...
In a first for the Berlinale, a film from Iraq had its world premiere last evening in the Panorama section. SON OF BABYLON, co-written and directed by Mohamed Al-Daradji, is a stirring drama about coming to terms with tragedy and moving forward despite the burden of personal loss. Filmed in stark poetic set pieces, the film follows the journey of a Kurdish grandmother and her precocious grandson as they travel (mostly on foot) to discover the fate of the boy's father, who has been miss...
The inaugural Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) announced today it will open with a special screening of director Mira Nair's “Amelia,” a thrilling account of legendary aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart starring two-time Academy Award® winner Hilary Swank and Golden Globe® winner Richard Gere. Organizers also revealed the 32 films that will comprise the rest of the Festival’s film slate. 12 of the films have roots in the Middle East and the balance is a diverse selection of acclaimed title...
The inaugural Doha Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF) announced today it will open with a special screening of director Mira Nair's “Amelia,” a thrilling account of legendary aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart starring two-time Academy Award® winner Hilary Swank and Golden Globe® winner Richard Gere. Organizers also revealed the 32 films that will comprise the rest of the Festival’s film slate. 12 of the films have roots in the Middle East and the balance is a diverse selection of acclaimed title...
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, "...
A scarcity of Mexican production and the absence of exhibition platforms prompted Sarah Hoch Delong to establish the festival Expresion en Corto eleven years ago which she has helmed ever since. As a publicly funded film festival, Expresion en Corto had a primary focus on short films. By 2008 it has morphed into one of the most important Latin American fests offering a comprehensive program with productions drawn from seventy countries. Several features distinguish Expresion en Corto. For once ...
War zone filmmaking: Going into battleBy Kellie SouthanSo you’re an independent filmmaker and you’ve got it pretty tough. Filmmaking is an expensive business, and you have to tell your story with a limited budget. Worse, you’ve got to fight tooth and nail to find the revenue in the first place. If you work long and hard enough, you might finish your project on schedule and then it’s up to you to promote it, get it seen, take it to festivals, find a distributor and garner support. Not exa...
Sunday, June 17-------At the risk of being a moth-eaten cliche, the term "fog of war" is now routinely used to describe a state where political, strategic and moral choices in areas of conflict become shaded by the exigencies of human response to violence and an abandonment of an ethical compass that determines policy and behavior. This "fog of war" has certainly descended on the chaos that is now unfolding in the Middle East, both in the five-year conflicts in Afghanistan...
The 9th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival - Images of the 21st Century (March 16-25, 2007)TRIBUTES TO DIRECTORSThe 9th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival - Images of the 21st Century, taking place within the context of the year-round activities of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, will be holding three tributes to important documentary directors. Barbara Kopple, Jon Alpert and the couple Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar will honour the Festival with their presence. A representative se...
Sixteen films will compete in the Official Selection of the San Sebastian International Film Festival from 21st-30th September.John Boorman, Bahman Ghobadi, Carlos Sorin, Tom DiCillo, Agnieszka Holland, Marion Hänsel, Nick Broomfield and Hirozaku Kore-eda are some of the accomplished directors whose new movies will compete for the Golden Shell and other official awards at San Sebastian.The Official Selection will be rounded off with two out-of-competition screenings: the latest creation by Lars...
The 8th edition of Encounters South African International Documentary FestivalJohannesburg: Nu Metro Hyde Park 14 July – 23 July 2006Cape Town: Nu Metro V & A Waterfront 21 July – 6 August 2006Every year Encounters brings to South African audiences ‘factional’ films. Films that often contradict popular beliefs, but that still allow people to make up their own minds about what is happening in the world – the intimate, the political, the musical, the personal. This year, Encounter’s 8t...
BEST OF BAGHDAD – THE RESURRECTION OF IRAQI CINEMAat the 26th CAMBRIDGE FILM FESTIVAL (6th–16th July 2006, Cambridge Arts Picturehouse)www.cambridgefilmfestival.org.ukIraqi Cinema has had a chequered history – from all-singing all-dancing melodramas of the 40s to lavish vanity projects funded by Saddam Hussein in the 80s to total extinction during the Gulf Wars. Now amidst the tensions of the occupation the resuscitation of Iraqi Cinema has gradually begun, heralding a new phase in the slo...
After months of receiving and reviewing submissions, the South by Southwest Film Conference & Festival (SXSW Film) announces the lineup of feature films for this year's event. The lineup includes over 40 world and U.S. premieres, set to be unveiled March 11-19, 2005 in venues throughout Austin, TX.The following is the lineup of features for SXSW 2005. NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION:CAVITEDir: Ian Gamazon and Neill Dela Llana; Cast: Ian Gamazon, Dominique Gonzalez.An American citizen visiting his ...
Somewhere between a case of the butterflies and fourteen sucks In its second year, the Berlinale’s youth film competition 14plus is again heading for a great start with a fantastic programme. “The success of the new competition was awesome“, section head Thomas Hailer exclaimed, “and we’re eager to put all our energies into making this one even better.” As well as the Children’s Jury and the Youth Jury, the 28th Kinderfilmfest’s International Jury has also been appointed: Sayoko ...
