Director and documentarian Mark Hartley scores both a film history and comedy success with this ‘wild, untold’ account of the 1980s film studio that was both revered and despised by everyone who had contact with it. The ‘cast list’ of interviewees is encyclopedic, everybody has a strong opinion, and some of them don’t need four-letter words to describe their experience!
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
On a double bill with
Machete Maidens Unleashed!
Blu-ray
Umbrella Entertainment (Au, all-region
2014 / Color / 1:77 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date April 4, 2017 / Available from Umbrella Entertainment / 34.99
Starring: Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus, Al Ruban, Alain Jakubowicz, Albert Pyun, Alex Winter, Allen DeBevoise, Avi Lerner, Barbet Schroeder, Bo Derek, Boaz Davidson, Cassandra Peterson, Catherine Mary Stewart, Charles Matthau, Christopher C. Dewey, Christopher Pearce, Cynthia Hargrave, Dan Wolman, Daniel Loewenthal, David Del Valle, David Paulsen, David Sheehan, David Womark, Diane Franklin, Dolph Lundgren, Edward R. Pressman,...
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
On a double bill with
Machete Maidens Unleashed!
Blu-ray
Umbrella Entertainment (Au, all-region
2014 / Color / 1:77 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date April 4, 2017 / Available from Umbrella Entertainment / 34.99
Starring: Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus, Al Ruban, Alain Jakubowicz, Albert Pyun, Alex Winter, Allen DeBevoise, Avi Lerner, Barbet Schroeder, Bo Derek, Boaz Davidson, Cassandra Peterson, Catherine Mary Stewart, Charles Matthau, Christopher C. Dewey, Christopher Pearce, Cynthia Hargrave, Dan Wolman, Daniel Loewenthal, David Del Valle, David Paulsen, David Sheehan, David Womark, Diane Franklin, Dolph Lundgren, Edward R. Pressman,...
- 4/8/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
This year we are seeing many films from Mena, that is an acronym for the Middle East and North Africa. More commonly called “Arab” cinema, (though the term is inaccurate because several countries in the region are not actually “Arab”) the films of this region are winning many awards and garnering much interest worldwide.
More than 10 Arab films participated in the Berlinale’s Forum and Forum Expanded programs this year, in addition to the ones which participated in the Official Competition (“Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” from Tunisia and “A Dragon Arrives!” by Mani Haghighi from Iran). This makes an especially remarkable year for Arab cinema’s presence in Berlin.
The Forum focus on Arab cinema, represented with films from Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia highlights mostly young directors whose works explore both the past and present of their homelands.
The films included: “A Magical Substance Flows into Me” by artist Jumana Manna (Palestine), “Akher ayam el madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” (Egypt) by Tamer El Said (international sales by Still Moving), documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each” (Lebanon) by Maher Abi Samra (Isa: Docs & Film), “Barakah yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah” (Saudi Arabia) by Mahmoud Sabbagh and Manazil (Isa: Mpm), “Bela abwab”/ “Houses without Doors” by Syrian-Armenian director Avo Kaprealian. Of course the 46th Berlinale Forum also screens films from European, Latin American and Asian directors.
The Tunisian film in Competition “Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” by Mohamed Ben Attia, won the Best First Feature Award and its leading man, Majd Mastoura, received the prestigious Silver Bear for Best Actor for his role as Hedi. Attia’s debut feature film is a thoughtful love story about identity and independence in Tunisian society. It is being sold internationally by Luxbox.
Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel won the Silver Bear Jury Prize for Short Film for “ A Man Returned”, a 30-minute portrayal of a young refugee struggling to make a life for himself in Lebanon’s Ain El-Helweh camp, being sold internationally by 3.14 Collectif. He previously made an award-winning documentary about his own experience as a refugee. The short film was also selected as the Berlin Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards.
The Ecumenical Jury awarded the Forum Prize to Saudi filmmaker Mahmoud Sabbagh for his well-received romantic comedy “Barakah Yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah”, a social commentary on the lives of young people in Saudi Arabia. It shared the prize with Danish production “Les Sauteurs”/ “Those Who Jump” – a film that also highlights the plight of Europe-bound refugees.
Egyptian filmmaker Tamer El-Said’s feature film “Akher Ayam El-Madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” won the Caligari Film Prize. The film looks at a young filmmaker’s struggle to complete a film about Cairo. It was the only Egyptian film to participate in the 2016 Berlinale Forum.
Lebanese filmmaker Maher Abi Samra’s documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each”, a look at the legal system that controls the lives of Lebanon’s foreign domestic workers, won the Peace Film Prize.
“Zinzana”/ “Rattle the Cage” director, Majid al Ansari, from the Arab Emirates, was honored with Variety’s Mid-East Filmmaker of the Year Award at the Berlinale. The film is the first genre movie of its kind produced in the UAE. It was financed and produced by Abu Dhabi’s ImageNation. It is repped for Us by Cinetic and international sales are by Im Global.
Projects “Mawlana”, based on Ibrahim Issa’s best-selling novel and shortlisted for the Arabic Booker Prize and director’s Mohamed Yassein’s “Wedding Song” based on Naguib Mahfouz’s novel, the Nobel Prize Winner for Literature were being promoted at the Arab Cinema Center at the Market. Reflecting a decadent Egypt from the 1970s, “Wedding Song” is one of the largest TV productions in the Arab World in 2016.
“Theeb”, a Jordanian Epic about Bedouins, is the Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It played in Venice. International sales agent Fortissimo has licensed it to Film Movement for U.S., ABC for Benelux, New Wave for U.K., As Fidalgo for Norway, Jiff for Australia, trigon-film for Switzerland. Mad Solutions is handling the Middle East. “Ave Maria” a 14-minute Palestine satirical short is the Academy Award nomination for Best Short Fiction and is being sold internationally by Ouat Media. “ The Idol” (Palestine) played Tiff 2015 and other top fests and has sold widely throughout the world through Canada-based international sales agent Seville. Not since Elia Suleiman won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for “Divine Intervention” has a Palestinian film director made as much of an impact as “The Idol” director Hany Abu-Assad whose “Paradise Now” and “Omar” both went to the Academy Awards.
Kudos for much of the success of Arab cinema go to Mad Solutions, the Cairo, Abu Dhabi and New York based marketing and distribution company for its marketing and social media strategies as well as its release of “Theeb”, “Zinzana” and “Ave Maria”. It also helped create the Arab Cinema Center which was launched last year at the Berlinale and Efm.
In all, 20 Mena films played in the Festival and Market this year.
And what of that other small country in the region called Israel (and/ or Palestine) which is not included in the term Mena? While Israeli films that showed in Berlin received international praise, they will never show in any of the Arab countries and are sometimes boycotted by international film festivals who succumb to censorship tactics.
Most of the larger Israeli features go to Cannes, Venice and Toronto; “Afterthought” went to Cannes, “Mountain” to Venice, “Barash” to San Sebastian”, “Wedding Doll” to London and “A.K.A. Nadia” to Talinn Black Nights Film Festival. In Berlin many are screened as German Premieres.
What Israeli films have won acclaim lately? Is it possible that our hero, Katriel Schory, head of the Israel Film Fund, whose stand for true art has earned him Israeli government censure at home (A prophet is never honored in his own land) and fame abroad with new countries striving to create national cinema, is being eclipsed by the growth of “Arab” cinema?
“Sandstorm” directed by Elite Zexer (international sales by Beta) made its way to Panorama from its world premiere in Sundance where it won the Best Actress Award for Palestinian actress Lamis Ammar’s portrayal of a young Bedouin woman forced to choose between modern freedom or traditional societal strictures within an arranged marriage.
Panorama also screened “Junction 48” (international sales by The Match Factory) which received international praise and audience acclaim. The Israeli-Palestinian hip-hop movie by Israeli-American filmmaker, Udi Aloni, was supported by the Israel-based Rabinovich Foundation. The story is about Kareem who lives in a mixed Jewish-Arab crime-ridden ghetto outside Tel Aviv. He deals drugs and lives dangerously until he discovers hip-hop and decides to express his life as a Palestinian youth along with young singer Manar. Palestinian and Israeli musicians drive this music movie and for Aloni, just seeing the film made, and then shown at the Berlin Film Festival proves its success.
“Suddenly a group of people just choose to make a film and the film is extremely professional. It’s very important that this bi-national energy can create high quality stuff, the high quality is almost the symbol of the resistance. We should not even have to tell the story about the issue. The fact that we could create it is amazing,” Aloni told Euronews.
Thirty-seven-year-old Arab-Israeli rapper Tamer Nafar plays the lead role, and has known the 56-year-old Aloni for some time. “We have been on the same demonstrations, in the parties since 2000, so we live in each other’s world. He has been to my concerts many times, he directed a video clip, I was in his movies as a producer a few times. It’s not about an old generation and new generation, it’s just about creating the right generation,” he said. “He has that gift of being a good story teller and director but he gives us the stage, no, he doesn’t give us a stage, we are building a stage together… he has his own perspective but we are all on the same level,” said actress Samar Qupty. The struggle for equal rights for Palestinians or Arab Israelis inside Israel is at its crux.
Panorama Documents screened “Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?” directed by Tomer Haymann and Barak Heymann co-directed by Alexander Bodin Saphir and being sold by Austria’s Autlook. Forum showed “ Inertia” by Idan Haguel being sold by Oration Films’ Timothy O’Brian of the U.S., and “Between Fences” by Avi Mograbi, being sold by Docs & Film’s Daniela Elstner of France. Culinary Cinema showed “Café Nagler” by Mor Kaplansky and Yariv Barel is being sold internationally by Go2Films.
Teddy 30 (the retrospective of Teddy Award winners over the past 30 years) honored Dan Wolman’s 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim”. Berlinale Shorts screened Rotem Murat’s “Winds Junction” from Sapir College which also holds international rights; Generation 14 Plus screened “Mushkie” by Aleeza Chanowitz from the Jerusalem San Spiegel Film School, being sold by Cinephil. Seven other films were sold in the market by various sales agents.
One of the very special events I attended at the Berlinale this year was the Shabbat Dinner, held the first Friday in the Festival and hosted by Nicola Galliner, Founder and Force of the Berlin Jewish Film Festival. There was a table full of Jews: the new Director of the Jerusalem Film Festival, Noa Regev, PhD; Jay Rosenblatt, Program Director of San Francisco’sJewish Film Institute and its former Director, Peter Stein, now the Senior Programmer of Frameline, San Francisco’s Lgbtq Film Festival; Judy Ironside, the Founder and President of UK Jewish Film and of the sixth edition of the Geneva and Zurich Jewish Film Festivals, the new young director of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, Ariana Cohen-Halberstam who recently moved from the New York Jcc to Boston, the prolific Israeli director, filmmaker Dan Wolman whose new film will soon be out and whose 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim” was part of the Teddy 30th Anniversary Retrospective held by the Berlinale Panorama.
Talk was about films, about politics including gender politics, about our concerns, (we Jews are better worriers than warriors) and just plain gossip.
Now if my readers will excuse my interjecting myself into this article:
It is my opinion that the region of the world called the Middle East, and the three major monotheistic religions of the world whose origin is there had better learn to do more than merely co-exist peacefully if we are to see peaceful and fruitful consequences which will set the world back upon its proper axis.
Art breaks down borders; it is subversive rather than observant of the exigencies of ever changing governments. It creates new perspectives and breaks down old ways of seeing. What I call “Cinema” is Art. Other movies may simply entertain and not aspire to more or they may propagate dogmas, but Art serves no master; it is not tethered; it is freedom of expression which should be honored with freedom to travel.
More than 10 Arab films participated in the Berlinale’s Forum and Forum Expanded programs this year, in addition to the ones which participated in the Official Competition (“Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” from Tunisia and “A Dragon Arrives!” by Mani Haghighi from Iran). This makes an especially remarkable year for Arab cinema’s presence in Berlin.
The Forum focus on Arab cinema, represented with films from Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia highlights mostly young directors whose works explore both the past and present of their homelands.
The films included: “A Magical Substance Flows into Me” by artist Jumana Manna (Palestine), “Akher ayam el madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” (Egypt) by Tamer El Said (international sales by Still Moving), documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each” (Lebanon) by Maher Abi Samra (Isa: Docs & Film), “Barakah yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah” (Saudi Arabia) by Mahmoud Sabbagh and Manazil (Isa: Mpm), “Bela abwab”/ “Houses without Doors” by Syrian-Armenian director Avo Kaprealian. Of course the 46th Berlinale Forum also screens films from European, Latin American and Asian directors.
The Tunisian film in Competition “Inhebek Hedi”/ “Hedi” by Mohamed Ben Attia, won the Best First Feature Award and its leading man, Majd Mastoura, received the prestigious Silver Bear for Best Actor for his role as Hedi. Attia’s debut feature film is a thoughtful love story about identity and independence in Tunisian society. It is being sold internationally by Luxbox.
Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel won the Silver Bear Jury Prize for Short Film for “ A Man Returned”, a 30-minute portrayal of a young refugee struggling to make a life for himself in Lebanon’s Ain El-Helweh camp, being sold internationally by 3.14 Collectif. He previously made an award-winning documentary about his own experience as a refugee. The short film was also selected as the Berlin Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards.
The Ecumenical Jury awarded the Forum Prize to Saudi filmmaker Mahmoud Sabbagh for his well-received romantic comedy “Barakah Yoqabil Barakah”/ “Barakah Meets Barakah”, a social commentary on the lives of young people in Saudi Arabia. It shared the prize with Danish production “Les Sauteurs”/ “Those Who Jump” – a film that also highlights the plight of Europe-bound refugees.
Egyptian filmmaker Tamer El-Said’s feature film “Akher Ayam El-Madina”/ “In the Last Days of the City” won the Caligari Film Prize. The film looks at a young filmmaker’s struggle to complete a film about Cairo. It was the only Egyptian film to participate in the 2016 Berlinale Forum.
Lebanese filmmaker Maher Abi Samra’s documentary “Makhdoumin”/ “A Maid for Each”, a look at the legal system that controls the lives of Lebanon’s foreign domestic workers, won the Peace Film Prize.
“Zinzana”/ “Rattle the Cage” director, Majid al Ansari, from the Arab Emirates, was honored with Variety’s Mid-East Filmmaker of the Year Award at the Berlinale. The film is the first genre movie of its kind produced in the UAE. It was financed and produced by Abu Dhabi’s ImageNation. It is repped for Us by Cinetic and international sales are by Im Global.
Projects “Mawlana”, based on Ibrahim Issa’s best-selling novel and shortlisted for the Arabic Booker Prize and director’s Mohamed Yassein’s “Wedding Song” based on Naguib Mahfouz’s novel, the Nobel Prize Winner for Literature were being promoted at the Arab Cinema Center at the Market. Reflecting a decadent Egypt from the 1970s, “Wedding Song” is one of the largest TV productions in the Arab World in 2016.
“Theeb”, a Jordanian Epic about Bedouins, is the Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. It played in Venice. International sales agent Fortissimo has licensed it to Film Movement for U.S., ABC for Benelux, New Wave for U.K., As Fidalgo for Norway, Jiff for Australia, trigon-film for Switzerland. Mad Solutions is handling the Middle East. “Ave Maria” a 14-minute Palestine satirical short is the Academy Award nomination for Best Short Fiction and is being sold internationally by Ouat Media. “ The Idol” (Palestine) played Tiff 2015 and other top fests and has sold widely throughout the world through Canada-based international sales agent Seville. Not since Elia Suleiman won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival for “Divine Intervention” has a Palestinian film director made as much of an impact as “The Idol” director Hany Abu-Assad whose “Paradise Now” and “Omar” both went to the Academy Awards.
Kudos for much of the success of Arab cinema go to Mad Solutions, the Cairo, Abu Dhabi and New York based marketing and distribution company for its marketing and social media strategies as well as its release of “Theeb”, “Zinzana” and “Ave Maria”. It also helped create the Arab Cinema Center which was launched last year at the Berlinale and Efm.
In all, 20 Mena films played in the Festival and Market this year.
And what of that other small country in the region called Israel (and/ or Palestine) which is not included in the term Mena? While Israeli films that showed in Berlin received international praise, they will never show in any of the Arab countries and are sometimes boycotted by international film festivals who succumb to censorship tactics.
Most of the larger Israeli features go to Cannes, Venice and Toronto; “Afterthought” went to Cannes, “Mountain” to Venice, “Barash” to San Sebastian”, “Wedding Doll” to London and “A.K.A. Nadia” to Talinn Black Nights Film Festival. In Berlin many are screened as German Premieres.
What Israeli films have won acclaim lately? Is it possible that our hero, Katriel Schory, head of the Israel Film Fund, whose stand for true art has earned him Israeli government censure at home (A prophet is never honored in his own land) and fame abroad with new countries striving to create national cinema, is being eclipsed by the growth of “Arab” cinema?
“Sandstorm” directed by Elite Zexer (international sales by Beta) made its way to Panorama from its world premiere in Sundance where it won the Best Actress Award for Palestinian actress Lamis Ammar’s portrayal of a young Bedouin woman forced to choose between modern freedom or traditional societal strictures within an arranged marriage.
Panorama also screened “Junction 48” (international sales by The Match Factory) which received international praise and audience acclaim. The Israeli-Palestinian hip-hop movie by Israeli-American filmmaker, Udi Aloni, was supported by the Israel-based Rabinovich Foundation. The story is about Kareem who lives in a mixed Jewish-Arab crime-ridden ghetto outside Tel Aviv. He deals drugs and lives dangerously until he discovers hip-hop and decides to express his life as a Palestinian youth along with young singer Manar. Palestinian and Israeli musicians drive this music movie and for Aloni, just seeing the film made, and then shown at the Berlin Film Festival proves its success.
“Suddenly a group of people just choose to make a film and the film is extremely professional. It’s very important that this bi-national energy can create high quality stuff, the high quality is almost the symbol of the resistance. We should not even have to tell the story about the issue. The fact that we could create it is amazing,” Aloni told Euronews.
Thirty-seven-year-old Arab-Israeli rapper Tamer Nafar plays the lead role, and has known the 56-year-old Aloni for some time. “We have been on the same demonstrations, in the parties since 2000, so we live in each other’s world. He has been to my concerts many times, he directed a video clip, I was in his movies as a producer a few times. It’s not about an old generation and new generation, it’s just about creating the right generation,” he said. “He has that gift of being a good story teller and director but he gives us the stage, no, he doesn’t give us a stage, we are building a stage together… he has his own perspective but we are all on the same level,” said actress Samar Qupty. The struggle for equal rights for Palestinians or Arab Israelis inside Israel is at its crux.
Panorama Documents screened “Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?” directed by Tomer Haymann and Barak Heymann co-directed by Alexander Bodin Saphir and being sold by Austria’s Autlook. Forum showed “ Inertia” by Idan Haguel being sold by Oration Films’ Timothy O’Brian of the U.S., and “Between Fences” by Avi Mograbi, being sold by Docs & Film’s Daniela Elstner of France. Culinary Cinema showed “Café Nagler” by Mor Kaplansky and Yariv Barel is being sold internationally by Go2Films.
Teddy 30 (the retrospective of Teddy Award winners over the past 30 years) honored Dan Wolman’s 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim”. Berlinale Shorts screened Rotem Murat’s “Winds Junction” from Sapir College which also holds international rights; Generation 14 Plus screened “Mushkie” by Aleeza Chanowitz from the Jerusalem San Spiegel Film School, being sold by Cinephil. Seven other films were sold in the market by various sales agents.
One of the very special events I attended at the Berlinale this year was the Shabbat Dinner, held the first Friday in the Festival and hosted by Nicola Galliner, Founder and Force of the Berlin Jewish Film Festival. There was a table full of Jews: the new Director of the Jerusalem Film Festival, Noa Regev, PhD; Jay Rosenblatt, Program Director of San Francisco’sJewish Film Institute and its former Director, Peter Stein, now the Senior Programmer of Frameline, San Francisco’s Lgbtq Film Festival; Judy Ironside, the Founder and President of UK Jewish Film and of the sixth edition of the Geneva and Zurich Jewish Film Festivals, the new young director of the Boston Jewish Film Festival, Ariana Cohen-Halberstam who recently moved from the New York Jcc to Boston, the prolific Israeli director, filmmaker Dan Wolman whose new film will soon be out and whose 1979 film “Hide and Seek”/ “Machboim” was part of the Teddy 30th Anniversary Retrospective held by the Berlinale Panorama.
Talk was about films, about politics including gender politics, about our concerns, (we Jews are better worriers than warriors) and just plain gossip.
Now if my readers will excuse my interjecting myself into this article:
It is my opinion that the region of the world called the Middle East, and the three major monotheistic religions of the world whose origin is there had better learn to do more than merely co-exist peacefully if we are to see peaceful and fruitful consequences which will set the world back upon its proper axis.
Art breaks down borders; it is subversive rather than observant of the exigencies of ever changing governments. It creates new perspectives and breaks down old ways of seeing. What I call “Cinema” is Art. Other movies may simply entertain and not aspire to more or they may propagate dogmas, but Art serves no master; it is not tethered; it is freedom of expression which should be honored with freedom to travel.
- 3/6/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Films include Shepherds and Butchers with Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il.
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer who faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself, in a case...
- 1/21/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Films include Shepherds and Butchers, starring Steve Coogan; Don’t Call Me Son from Anna Muylaert; and a documentary about a director and actress who were kidnapped by Kim Jong-il and forced to make films.
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...
The Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed the selection for this year’s Panorama strand, comprising 51 films from 33 countries. A total of 34 fiction features comprise the main programme and Panorama Special while a further 17 titles will screen in Panorama Dokumente.
A total of 33 films are world premieres, nine are international premieres and nine European premieres. The 30th Teddy Award is also being celebrated with an anniversary series of 17 films.
Notable titles include Shepherds and Butchers from South Africa, which is set toward the end of Apartheid and stars Steve Coogan as a hotshot lawyer faces his biggest test when he agrees to defend a white prison guard who has killed seven black men. What ensues is a charge against the death penalty itself...
- 1/21/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Other titles include Rebecca Miller’s Maggie’s Plan, starring Greta Gerwig, and David Farr’s The Ones Below, starring David Morrissey.Scroll down for full lists
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 11-21) has announced the first titles in Panorama – its strand that comprises new independent and arthouse films that deal with controversial subjects or unconventional aesthetic styles.
The initial features include three from the UK, with John Michael McDonagh returning to Berlin for the world premiere of War On Everyone.
The film, a satire centred on two corrupt cops in New Mexico, stars Alexander Skarsgård, Michael Peña, Theo James and Tessa Thompson.
McDonagh was previously in Panorama in 2011 with The Guard and 2013 with Calvary.
Also from the UK is David Farr’s The Ones Below, which revolves around a couple expecting their first child who discover an unnerving difference between themselves and the couple living in the flat below. Receiving its European...
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 11-21) has announced the first titles in Panorama – its strand that comprises new independent and arthouse films that deal with controversial subjects or unconventional aesthetic styles.
The initial features include three from the UK, with John Michael McDonagh returning to Berlin for the world premiere of War On Everyone.
The film, a satire centred on two corrupt cops in New Mexico, stars Alexander Skarsgård, Michael Peña, Theo James and Tessa Thompson.
McDonagh was previously in Panorama in 2011 with The Guard and 2013 with Calvary.
Also from the UK is David Farr’s The Ones Below, which revolves around a couple expecting their first child who discover an unnerving difference between themselves and the couple living in the flat below. Receiving its European...
- 12/17/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Israeli director Dan Wolman wrote an open letter to independent filmmakers in India urging them to revolutionize the distribution system. His second letter comes in response to the support and queries from Indian filmmakers.
F riends,
I want to first of all thank all the Indian independent filmmakers who wrote to me, supported and offered to get involved.
I want to report that from now on it’s not only words. We are moving ahead and forming our own distribution company.
On August 16, 40 independent filmmakers (and friends of the idea of a new distribution company owned by filmmakers), attended our first historical meeting at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque to discuss what will be the main tasks of our new distribution system. Here in brief are the most important points raised at the opening:
1. First, we need to gather and create our own reservoir of necessary information.
We need a list of the names,...
F riends,
I want to first of all thank all the Indian independent filmmakers who wrote to me, supported and offered to get involved.
I want to report that from now on it’s not only words. We are moving ahead and forming our own distribution company.
On August 16, 40 independent filmmakers (and friends of the idea of a new distribution company owned by filmmakers), attended our first historical meeting at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque to discuss what will be the main tasks of our new distribution system. Here in brief are the most important points raised at the opening:
1. First, we need to gather and create our own reservoir of necessary information.
We need a list of the names,...
- 8/26/2013
- by Dan Wolman
- DearCinema.com
Israeli director Dan Wolman writes an open letter to independent filmmakers in India. He makes a case for revolutionizing the distribution system and joining him in his endeavor to start independent filmmakers’ distribution company.
F riends,
We are at the very critical, dramatic and important period for independent filmmakers all over the world.
The digital revolution enables us to produce films relatively inexpensively and as a result much more films are being made, many of them daring, experimental, and creative.
But alongside this promising momentum, there is a disturbing aspect which calls for a radical change.
I travel a lot to film festivals all over the world and meet independent filmmakers at screenings, lectures and Master Classes which I conduct. Over and over I find that many of these filmmakers are upset and frustrated by the problems they encounter with the distribution of their films.
Today, the way distributors, cinemas...
F riends,
We are at the very critical, dramatic and important period for independent filmmakers all over the world.
The digital revolution enables us to produce films relatively inexpensively and as a result much more films are being made, many of them daring, experimental, and creative.
But alongside this promising momentum, there is a disturbing aspect which calls for a radical change.
I travel a lot to film festivals all over the world and meet independent filmmakers at screenings, lectures and Master Classes which I conduct. Over and over I find that many of these filmmakers are upset and frustrated by the problems they encounter with the distribution of their films.
Today, the way distributors, cinemas...
- 8/16/2013
- by Dan Wolman
- DearCinema.com
The Columbian film ‘Porfirio’ directed by Alejandro Landes and produced by Franciso Aljure has bagged the coveted Golden Peacock Award for the Best Film at the 42nd International Film Festival of India 2011, while the Silver Peacock Award for the Best Director went to Asghar Farhadi for his film ‘Nader and Simin-a Seperation’.
The Indian film ‘Adaminte Makan Abu’ won the Special Jury Award. Director of the film Salim Ahamed received the award which consists of a Silver Peacock, Certificate and a Cash Prize of Rs. 15 Lakhs.
The Best Actor award of Rs. 10 lakh went to the Israeli actor Sasson Gabay for his role in the film ‘Restoration’ whereas the Best Actress Award was won by Nadezhda Markina for her role in ‘Elena’.
The Iffi competition jury comprised of Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Laurence Kardish, Lee Yong Kwan, Tahmineh Milani and Dan Wolman. The festival concluded today with the screening of the English...
The Indian film ‘Adaminte Makan Abu’ won the Special Jury Award. Director of the film Salim Ahamed received the award which consists of a Silver Peacock, Certificate and a Cash Prize of Rs. 15 Lakhs.
The Best Actor award of Rs. 10 lakh went to the Israeli actor Sasson Gabay for his role in the film ‘Restoration’ whereas the Best Actress Award was won by Nadezhda Markina for her role in ‘Elena’.
The Iffi competition jury comprised of Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Laurence Kardish, Lee Yong Kwan, Tahmineh Milani and Dan Wolman. The festival concluded today with the screening of the English...
- 12/3/2011
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Shillong choir at Iffi Opening Ceremony
The 42nd International Film Festival of India was inaugurated in Goa on Wednesday evening. The Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni and Chief Minister of Goa Digambar Kamat were joined by Chief Guest Shah Rukh Khan, actress Rituparna Sengupta and Festival director Shankar Mohan among others, to light the ceremonial lamp.
Life Time Achievement award was conferred upon French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier. The event showcased an extempore painting by Vilas Nayak on Bertrand Tavernier followed by a screening of a two minute clip on the acclaimed filmmaker known for his works in world cinema.
The international jury comprising of filmmakers like Adoor Gopalakrishnan-the Chairman of the panel, Dan Wolman from Israel, Lawrence Kardish from USA, Lee Yong Kwan from the Busan Film Festival and Tahmineh Milani from Iran were felicitated by Rituparna Sengupta.
“Let Iffi become truly an international event- an...
The 42nd International Film Festival of India was inaugurated in Goa on Wednesday evening. The Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni and Chief Minister of Goa Digambar Kamat were joined by Chief Guest Shah Rukh Khan, actress Rituparna Sengupta and Festival director Shankar Mohan among others, to light the ceremonial lamp.
Life Time Achievement award was conferred upon French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier. The event showcased an extempore painting by Vilas Nayak on Bertrand Tavernier followed by a screening of a two minute clip on the acclaimed filmmaker known for his works in world cinema.
The international jury comprising of filmmakers like Adoor Gopalakrishnan-the Chairman of the panel, Dan Wolman from Israel, Lawrence Kardish from USA, Lee Yong Kwan from the Busan Film Festival and Tahmineh Milani from Iran were felicitated by Rituparna Sengupta.
“Let Iffi become truly an international event- an...
- 11/23/2011
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Shah Rukh Khan will be inaugurating the 42nd International Film Festival of India to be held at the pristine locales of Goa from the 23rd of November to the 3rd of December. The ten day festival will be spread across cultural locales like Kala Academy, Rabindra Bhawan and others and will bring the best of creative geniuses and celebrated auteur to a common platform which is aimed at making the festival the best in world. While the opening ceremony brings in the King of Bollywood, the closing ceremony will have the Southern Superstar Suriya best known for his super hit movies like Perazhagan, Vaaranam Aayiram and Kaakha Kaakha adding spice to the proceedings. The film festival will also see international celebrities like eminent French filmmaker Luc Besson and International actress Michelle Yeoh. The festival which is termed as the 'festival of change' seeks to bring in vast changes into the...
- 11/17/2011
- by Bollywood Hungama News Network
- BollywoodHungama
Shah Rukh Khan will be inaugurating the 42nd International Film Festival of India to be held at the pristine locales of Goa from the 23rd of November to the 3rd of December. The ten day festival will be spread across cultural locales like Kala Academy, Rabindra Bhawan and others and will bring the best of creative geniuses and celebrated auteur to a common platform which is aimed at making the festival the best in world. While the opening ceremony brings in the King of Bollywood, the closing ceremony will have the Southern Superstar Suriya best known for his super hit movies like Perazhagan, Vaaranam Aayiram and Kaakha Kaakha adding spice to the proceedings. The film festival will also see international celebrities like eminent French filmmaker Luc Besson and International actress Michelle Yeoh. The festival which is termed as the 'festival of change' seeks to bring in vast changes into the...
- 11/17/2011
- by Bollywood Hungama News Network
- BollywoodHungama
Superstar Shah Rukh Khan will inaugurate the 42nd International Film Festival of India to be held here Nov 23-Dec 3..Shah Rukh will flag off the 42nd edition of the International Film Festival of India (Iffi) in Goa. He would formally inaugurate the 10-day extravaganza on Nov 23 at Ravindra Bhavan auditorium in Margao,. festival director Shankar Mohan said in a statement.The festival aims to be a one-stop-shop for cultural exchanges between Indian filmmakers as well as artists and cinema experts from several countries. More than 100 movies from 65 countries will be screened during the festival.While the film festival will be inaugurated by Shah Rukh, southern superstar Suriya, known for his movies like .Rakht Charitra., .Perazhagan. and .Vaaranam Aayiram. will bring the curtains down.The guest list of the festivals include eminent French filmmaker Luc Besson, Hollywood actress Michelle Yeoh, Laurance Kardish, Dan Wolman, Raima Sen, Dino Morea and Prem Chopra.
- 11/17/2011
- Filmicafe
The Goa Film Festival that was from the 22nd of November to the 2nd of December and I managed to attend the first five days. Unfortunately, I got sick just after the festival and couldn’t compile the report in time. Anyway, some of the films screened here will go on to be important during award season and since that’s around the corner, I figured I’d club my impression of the festival with reviews of the films, since I had foreshadowed some of the buzz. Please keep in mind that this is not blow-by-blow and a laundry list of films reviewed but an impression of one of the biggest Asian film celebrations and the many conversations and predictions I managed to collect.
Rewind
So, here I am at the International Film Festival of India in Goa, an anarchic carnival of cinema that is as much an index of...
Rewind
So, here I am at the International Film Festival of India in Goa, an anarchic carnival of cinema that is as much an index of...
- 1/12/2011
- by Kamayani Sharma
- The Moving Arts Journal
Dan Wolman's Tied Hands, the account of a mother and her son who is dying of AIDS, was named best feature film at the 12th annual Palm Beach International Film Festival, which wrapped Thursday.
Nicole van Kilsdonk was hailed as best feature film director for the comedy Johan, while the award for best screenplay went to Scott Dacko for The Insurgents, starring Henry Simmons, John Shea and Mary Stuart Masterson.
Two performers were recognized with an award for best performance in a feature film: Christopher Plummer for Man in the Chair and Gila Almagor for Tied Hands.
A special jury prize for best feature went to Maurice Richard/The Rocket. In addition the jury chose to recognize the cast of Adrift in Manhattan, which includes Heather Graham, William Baldwin, Dominic Chianese, Victor Rasuk and Graham Gremm with a special ensemble award for their "mesmerizing and haunting performances."
Ray McCormack's A Crude Awakening - The Oil Crash was named best documentary feature. Lawrence Walsh's Cold Kenya took the prize for best short film.
Audience choice awards were presented to Evan Lieberman's Kathie T., best feature film; Logan Smalley's Darius Goes West - The Roll of His Life, best documentary feature; and Ziv Alexandrony's And Behold, There Came a Great Wind, best short film.
Nicole van Kilsdonk was hailed as best feature film director for the comedy Johan, while the award for best screenplay went to Scott Dacko for The Insurgents, starring Henry Simmons, John Shea and Mary Stuart Masterson.
Two performers were recognized with an award for best performance in a feature film: Christopher Plummer for Man in the Chair and Gila Almagor for Tied Hands.
A special jury prize for best feature went to Maurice Richard/The Rocket. In addition the jury chose to recognize the cast of Adrift in Manhattan, which includes Heather Graham, William Baldwin, Dominic Chianese, Victor Rasuk and Graham Gremm with a special ensemble award for their "mesmerizing and haunting performances."
Ray McCormack's A Crude Awakening - The Oil Crash was named best documentary feature. Lawrence Walsh's Cold Kenya took the prize for best short film.
Audience choice awards were presented to Evan Lieberman's Kathie T., best feature film; Logan Smalley's Darius Goes West - The Roll of His Life, best documentary feature; and Ziv Alexandrony's And Behold, There Came a Great Wind, best short film.
- 4/27/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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