These two films got big audience responses last week at the AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles.   “Pina,” a 3-D documentary about the legendary German choreographer Pina Bausch, starts with her re-envisioning of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” as a thrilling discovery of female sexuality. The film jumps—you cannot gently segue away from “Rite”—into other dances she choreographed, along with brief interviews with her dancers. When Wenders voices that this is no...

  Even as one waits eagerly for French director Luc Besson's fictional film on Burmese freedom fighter Aung Sang Suu Kyi,'The Lady', with Maggie Cheung playing the lead,  a new, real-life docu film on Burma's most famous political leader 'Lady of No Fear' has won applause at many Human Rights Festivals, and will now do the rounds of many  international film festivals around the world .  Infact, it's told that Luc  Besson studied this  docu at length, before he began his ...

THE INTERNATIONAL ROME FILM FESTIVAL will run October 27 – November 4 2011    Luc Besson’s The Lady will open the sixth edition of the International Rome Film Festival, running this year from October 27 to November 4 at the Auditorium Parco della Musica. The film, presented out of competition, recounts the political and personal odyssey of Aung San Suu Kyi (played by Michelle Yeoh), the Burmese pacifist and human rights activist who has militated against the dictatorship in her ...

FIFDH- FROM MARCH 7TH TO MARCH 16TH10 DAYS OF MOBILIZATION, DEBATES AND FILMS AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS OFF THE UN COUNCIL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS A FREE PLATFORM"A film, a subject, a debate" to condemn the violations of human rights in particular in China, in Russia, in Darfur and, in Burma; to react against the rise of populisms in Europe and to throw into the limelight the role of women in the fight against impunity. Films premieres include: Calle Santa Fe, co-presented by the International Fi...

An outspoken supporter of Burma's Buddhist monks who are challenging the country's military government in the current wave of protests, actress Jane Birkin, will arrive in Rio de Janeiro this weekend - where her film Boxes will be seen in the Festival do Rio film festival - and call on Brazil's government and people to join the worldwide demand for an end to the violence and killing that is presently being witnessed in Rangoon.   Birkin will hold a press conference Monday (October 1) at 14:00 B...

An outspoken supporter of Burma's Buddhist monks who are challenging the country's military government in the current wave of protests, actress Jane Birkin, will arrive in Rio de Janeiro this weekend - where her film Boxes will be seen in the Festival do Rio film festival - and call on Brazil's government and people to join the worldwide demand for an end to the violence and killing that is presently being witnessed in Rangoon. Birkin will hold a press conference Monday (October 1) at 14:00 Braz...

Vaclav Havel presents his own prize to “Total Denial” at the One World Int’l Human Rights FestivalMilena Kaneva’s feature documentary, “Total Denial” has been awarded the Vaclav Havel humanitarian award in Prague, presented by the poet, playwright and former president of the Czech Republic himself. “Total Denial” tells the story of Ka Hsaw and his ongoing struggle to save the Karen tribes people of Burma. Great cultures have always been built on the backs of slaves. Unfortunatel...

International PEN (London) and One World Human Rights Film Festival (Prague)Fourteen Nobel Literature Laureates are joining Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic and renowned playwright, and Jiri Grusa, acclaimed Czech writer and President of International PEN to urge Senior General Than Shwe of the Burmese Military Junta to immediately release Nobel Peace Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other imprisoned Burmese writers. Burmese writers serving long sentences include 74-year-old...