Emergency statement from filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi… “My younger brother, Behrouz Ghobadi, disappeared more than two weeks ago, and I have learned he has been detained by Iranian authorities and accused of acting against national security. My family and I are certain he is innocent and incapable of such actions. We are extremely concerned about his well-being and ...

                              photo by Vanessa McMahon   Interview with Bahman Ghobadi During the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi was honored for his great oeuvre of films. Five of his films- ‘A Time for Drunken Horses’, 2000; ‘Turtles Can Fly’, 2004; ‘Half Moon’, 2006; ‘No One Knows About Persian Cats’,...

                              photo by Vanessa McMahon   Interview with Bahman Ghobadi During the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi was honored for his great oeuvre of films. Five of his films- ‘A Time for Drunken Horses’, 2000; ‘Turtles Can Fly’, 2004; ‘Half Moon’, 2006; ‘No One Knows About Persian Cats’,...

                              -OFFICIAL 53rd TIFF PRESS RELEASE- BAHMAN GHOBADI PRESS CONFERENCE 53rd TIFF   Iranian filmmaker of Kurdish ethnicity Bahman Ghobadi gave a press conference Sunday, November 4, 2012, in the context of the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Festival director Dimitri Eipides attended. This year’s edition of the festival is hosting a tribute to the work...

by Alex Deleon for <filmfestivals.com>  Bahman Ghobadi       RHINO SEASON is Ghobadi's first film since he fled Iran        The stars of Rhino Season (from left) Behrouz Vossoughi, Monica Bellucci, Bahman Ghobadi, Belcim Bilgin and Arash Labaf IRANIAN CINEMA BRAIN DRAIN CONTINUES With Bahman ...

  In this awards season, where the industry unveils prizes for some of the world's wealthiest and most pampered celebrities, can we not find a small prize for a filmmaker with almost unimaginable courage? I am referring to Bahman Ghobadi, the Iraqi filmmaker who has been forced to leave his native country because of a crackdown by the government over "unauthorized" filmmakers. As another example of its repressive agenda, the Iraqi government made a Christmas Day announce...

14th International Film Festival of Kerala 2009 (Trivandrum, India 11th -18th December, 2009)    Indonesian film "Fishing Platform" directed by Ravi Bharwani and Iranian film "About Elly" directed by Asghar Farhadi jointly won the prestigious golden crow pheasant award for best feature film at 14th edition of International Film Festival of Kerala 2009 [11-18 December,2009] which was held in south Indian city of Trivandrum. "True Noon", a Tajik film di...

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival that ended on Sunday brought more than 260 films to viewers. Films from 75 different countries were screened in nine Estonian cities. For the first time films were also shown in Tallinn's brand new cinemas Artis and Cinamon.    Interview with Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival Drector Tiina Lokk by Bruno Chatelin Hi Tina What did the audience take from this year's edition? "Most popular films were „Girl with a Dragon Tatto...

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival that ended on Sunday brought more than 260 films to viewers. Films from 75 different countries were screened in nine Estonian cities. For the first time films were also shown in Tallinn’s brand new cinemas Artis and Cinamon.Most popular films were „Girl with a Dragon Tattoo“ (Sweden, Niels Arden Oplev), „Imaginarium of doctor Parnassus” (Great Britain, Terry Gilliam), „Machan” (Sri Lanka, Uberto Pasolini), „Bright Star” (Great Britain, Jane C...

13th PÖFF's competition programme EurAsia awarded German-Israel drama „Ajami".             Best Baltic film award goes to Lithuanian film „Vortex".              Scandar Copti (Palestine) and Yaron Shani (Israel) realistic street-story „Ajami" was awarded as best Eurasian film. The film tells a story of a poor Arab district Ajami in Tel Aviv and its c...

13th PÖFF's competition programme EurAsia awarded German-Israel drama „Ajami". Best Baltic film award goes to Lithuanian film „Vortex". Scandar Copti (Palestine) and Yaron Shani (Israel) realistic street-story „Ajami" was awarded as best Eurasian film. The film tells a story of a poor Arab district Ajami in Tel Aviv and its colorful population that consists both Arabs and Jews. Best Eurasia film award was given in PÖFF for the sixth time. Gran...

  ENTER THE VOID (Gaspar Noe, France)  The main event here at POFF, the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, which is entering its final weekend, is the Eurasia International Competition, a mix of 21 films hailing from Europe and Asia. The films on view have been acclaimed at other film festivals on the circuit and are making their Eastern European or Baltic Premieres at the event. As a whole, this is an astonishing survey of current trends in world cinema. European titles ...

1953 La Guerra de Dios by Rafael Gil Spain 1954 Sierra maldita by Antonio del Amo Spain 1955 Giorni d'amore by Giuseppe de Santis Italy 1956 Il ferroviere by Pietro Germi Italy 1957 Oh! Sabella (La nonna Sabella) by Dino Risi Italy 1958 Le coeur au poing by Charles Binamé France 1959 The Nun's Story by Fred Zinnemann United States 1960 Romeo, Juliet a Tma by Jiri Weiss Czechoslovakia 1961 One-Eyed Jacks by Marlon Brando United States 1962 Arturo's...

Highlights from yesterday include; •    The Surprise Film – Michael Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story” introduced by Sandra Hebron •    Footage from the Brightwide presents... A special screening of No One Knows About Persian Cats, featuring interviews with director Bahman Ghobadi and the Brightwide fonder Colin Firth. •    Cracks premiere featuring interviews with Eva Green, Jordan Scott, Imogen Poots, Juno Temple and Ridley Scott •    Interview with Producer ...

Also coming are new films by Woody Allen, Ang Lee, Jim Jarmusch, Bahman Ghobadi, Bong Joon-ho and Johnnie To, among other directors. North American director Quentin Tarantino will open the Zabaltegi-Pearls section with his latest movie. Inglourious Basterds. This film, winner of the Best Actor Award for Christoph Waltz at Cannes, will be screened on the first day of the 57th edition on Friday, 18 September. Zabaltegi-Pearls, the showcase for movies feted at the big int...