Like many of its counterparts worldwide, the Guadalajara Int’l Film Festival (Ficg), Mexico’s largest film festival, faced the quandary of whether to go online, reschedule or cancel altogether because of the pandemic.
It opted for a rescheduled hybrid 35th edition which would serve those either unable or afraid to travel and those without an internet connection in Mexico.
“We struck a deal with Canal 44 to have them air some of our films,” said festival director Estrella Araiza, who is adamant that despite the challenges and complications, the film community will prevail in the end. “We have to believe in cinema,” she declared. Outdoor screenings and restricted indoor cinema screenings are on the schedule while most of the master classes and conferences are online.
Ficg was pushed from its traditional March dates to the fall, where it’s now been running over Nov. 20-27.
Its inauguration on Friday Nov.
It opted for a rescheduled hybrid 35th edition which would serve those either unable or afraid to travel and those without an internet connection in Mexico.
“We struck a deal with Canal 44 to have them air some of our films,” said festival director Estrella Araiza, who is adamant that despite the challenges and complications, the film community will prevail in the end. “We have to believe in cinema,” she declared. Outdoor screenings and restricted indoor cinema screenings are on the schedule while most of the master classes and conferences are online.
Ficg was pushed from its traditional March dates to the fall, where it’s now been running over Nov. 20-27.
Its inauguration on Friday Nov.
- 11/22/2020
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Industry programme Nebulae was online this year.
Projects from Canada, Argentina and Portugal were the winners the Arché Awards of Doclisboa’s industry platform Nebulae. They were presented in a virtual award ceremony on Sunday evening (November 1).
The Rtp Award for the best project in the editing or first- cut stage went to Sofia Brockenshire’s Canada-Argentina project The Dependents which is based on the diaries of a Canadian immigration officer detailing 30 years of his service in Latin America and Asia.
The award sees broadcaster Rtp pay €25,000 for the TV rights for Portugal and the Portuguese-speaking African countries.
The jury was comprised of Mandy Chang,...
Projects from Canada, Argentina and Portugal were the winners the Arché Awards of Doclisboa’s industry platform Nebulae. They were presented in a virtual award ceremony on Sunday evening (November 1).
The Rtp Award for the best project in the editing or first- cut stage went to Sofia Brockenshire’s Canada-Argentina project The Dependents which is based on the diaries of a Canadian immigration officer detailing 30 years of his service in Latin America and Asia.
The award sees broadcaster Rtp pay €25,000 for the TV rights for Portugal and the Portuguese-speaking African countries.
The jury was comprised of Mandy Chang,...
- 11/2/2020
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
‘Gagarine’ duo Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh win best director award.
Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese’s This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection has won the Golden Athena for best film at the Athens International Film Festival in Greece.
Along with the top award, which includes a cash prize of €2,000, the film picked up the newly-created Europa Film Festivals Award at the ceremony on Sunday (October 4).
This Is Not A Burial… was shot entirely in the director’s native Lesotho and centres on an 80-year-old widow who finds new purpose when her village is threatened with forced resettlement. It...
Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese’s This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection has won the Golden Athena for best film at the Athens International Film Festival in Greece.
Along with the top award, which includes a cash prize of €2,000, the film picked up the newly-created Europa Film Festivals Award at the ceremony on Sunday (October 4).
This Is Not A Burial… was shot entirely in the director’s native Lesotho and centres on an 80-year-old widow who finds new purpose when her village is threatened with forced resettlement. It...
- 10/6/2020
- by Alexis Grivas
- ScreenDaily
Fresh from its triumphant win for Best Feature-Length Documentary at Idfa in Amsterdam, Cuban docu “In a Whisper” (“A Media Voz”) makes its market debut at Ventana Sur where it screens on Wednesday Dec. 4.
Picked up by Brazil-based Habanero Film Sales prior to Idfa, “In a Whisper” is a moving auto-ethnographic documentary about two childhood friends who, as part of the Cuban diaspora, find themselves far away from home and on divergent paths. Docu had its world premiere on Nov. 23 at Idfa where it received a standing ovation, according to Habanero’s Alfredo Calviño.
Co-directors Heidi Hassan and Patricia Perez, best friends since meeting at a pool at the age of 7, are now in their early 40s. Both studied at Cuba’s prestigious International Film School of San Antonio de los Baños (Eictv) before emigrating to Europe, Hassan to Switzerland and Perez to Spain. “We started exchanging video letters, using...
Picked up by Brazil-based Habanero Film Sales prior to Idfa, “In a Whisper” is a moving auto-ethnographic documentary about two childhood friends who, as part of the Cuban diaspora, find themselves far away from home and on divergent paths. Docu had its world premiere on Nov. 23 at Idfa where it received a standing ovation, according to Habanero’s Alfredo Calviño.
Co-directors Heidi Hassan and Patricia Perez, best friends since meeting at a pool at the age of 7, are now in their early 40s. Both studied at Cuba’s prestigious International Film School of San Antonio de los Baños (Eictv) before emigrating to Europe, Hassan to Switzerland and Perez to Spain. “We started exchanging video letters, using...
- 11/29/2019
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) has crowned its 2019 award winners. The respected doc event named Heidi Hassan and Patricia Pérez Fernández’s In A Whisper as best feature-length documentary. The pic, which centers on two emigrated Cuban filmmakers whose passion for film, friendship, and freedom reunites them after years apart, takes a $22,000 prize. This year, for the first time at Idfa, three new awards were presented in the competition for feature-length documentary: best directing went to Mehrdad Oskouei for his film Sunless Shadows; the best editing and cinematography prizes went to Sander Vos and Maasja Ooms respectively for their work on Punks. Elsewhere, Lucy Parker won the best first appearance award for her film Soldiarity, the Fipresci Award was given to Alyx Ayn Arumpac for Aswang, and the award for best mid-length doc went to Jalal Vafaei for Anticlockwise. Victoria Mapplebeck won the Idfa DocLab Award for Digital...
- 11/28/2019
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s hard to explain the cycle of emotions prompted by permanently leaving one’s home country to someone who has never had to do it. Pangs of guilt, loyalty, resentment and yearning chase each other in turn, oblivious to the fact that your motherland is returning no feelings in kind. Eventually, enough time passes that you realize you’re nostalgic for a place that doesn’t exist anymore: You’ve both grown, and your country, as it belonged to you and you to it, is fixed only in your memory. That continuing ache is articulated with lovely, delicate precision in “In a Whisper,” who know it all too well: Heidi Hassan and Patricia Pérez Fernández, childhood friends from Cuba whose paths have diverged in the larger confusion of Europe.
As such, “In a Whisper” is not just a story of immigrant alienation, but of intimate personal estrangement, as Hassan...
As such, “In a Whisper” is not just a story of immigrant alienation, but of intimate personal estrangement, as Hassan...
- 11/28/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Other winners were the Iranian-Norwegian co-production Sunless Shadows and the Dutch movie Punks, among others. Filmmakers Heidi Hassan and Patricia Pérez Fernández have emerged as the winners in the category of Best Feature-length Documentary with In a Whisper (Spain/France/Switzerland/Cuba) at the 31st edition of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Idfa), which runs from 20 November-1 December. The awards ceremony took place at the Eye Film Museum in Amsterdam. Hassan and Fernández were awarded €20,000 for their film, which looks at their relationship as Cuban filmmakers who rediscover their shared passion for film, friendship and freedom. This year, the main competition also included awards for Best Director, Best Editing and Best Cinematography. Sunless Shadows (Iran/Norway) by Iranian filmmaker Merhdad Oskouei was awarded the €2,500 financial prize for Best Director. Sander Vos was acknowledged for his editing on Punks (Netherlands), as was the movie’s director and cinematographer, Maasja Ooms,...
- 11/28/2019
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Directors Heidi Hassan and Patricia Pérez Fernández were the winners of the Idfa Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary with “In a Whisper,” a film that focuses on two emigrated Cuban filmmakers reunited by their passion for film, friendship and freedom.
The jury, which comprised Claire Simon, Mila Turajlić, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Gaston Kaboré, and Rima Mismar, described the film as “a magical, original, and risk-taking cinematic endeavor,” which embodied “a refreshing expression of womanhood; an ode to loss; a celebration of friendship, will, and vulnerability; a reclaiming of hope and passion; and a piercingly honest cinematic dialogue.”
Iranian docmaker Mehrdad Oskouei won the award for directing for his subtly devastating film “Sunless Shadows,” which focuses on young women serving time for the murder of a male relative. The jury was very impressed by the director’s “approach to a pressing subject which he skilfully turns into a metaphor for a whole country.
The jury, which comprised Claire Simon, Mila Turajlić, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Gaston Kaboré, and Rima Mismar, described the film as “a magical, original, and risk-taking cinematic endeavor,” which embodied “a refreshing expression of womanhood; an ode to loss; a celebration of friendship, will, and vulnerability; a reclaiming of hope and passion; and a piercingly honest cinematic dialogue.”
Iranian docmaker Mehrdad Oskouei won the award for directing for his subtly devastating film “Sunless Shadows,” which focuses on young women serving time for the murder of a male relative. The jury was very impressed by the director’s “approach to a pressing subject which he skilfully turns into a metaphor for a whole country.
- 11/27/2019
- by Damon Wise and Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
UK director Lucy Parker’s investigative work Solidarity wins best first appearance prize for debut features.
Cuban directors Heidi Hassan and Patricia Pérez Fernández’s joint autobiographical documentary In A Whisper has won the €20,000 Idfa award for best feature-length documentary.
In the film, the two filmmakers and childhood friends, who lost contact with one another after they emigrated to different countries in Europe, reconnect via video letters and share their experiences in their adoptive homes.
The feature-length competition jury consisted of filmmakers Claire Simon, Mila Turajlić, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Gaston Kaboré, and Rima Mismar.
They praised In A Whisper as a...
Cuban directors Heidi Hassan and Patricia Pérez Fernández’s joint autobiographical documentary In A Whisper has won the €20,000 Idfa award for best feature-length documentary.
In the film, the two filmmakers and childhood friends, who lost contact with one another after they emigrated to different countries in Europe, reconnect via video letters and share their experiences in their adoptive homes.
The feature-length competition jury consisted of filmmakers Claire Simon, Mila Turajlić, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Gaston Kaboré, and Rima Mismar.
They praised In A Whisper as a...
- 11/27/2019
- by 1100380¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Brazil-based Habanero Film Sales has snagged the international sales rights to “In a Whisper” (A Media Voz), a moving autoethnographic documentary about two childhood friends who, as part of the Cuban diaspora, find themselves far away from home and from each other. Docu had its world premiere on Saturday at Idfa where it received a standing ovation, per Habanero’s Alfredo Calviño.
“I need you back in my life,” says one as they begin to send each other videos, delving into their struggles with homesickness, finding work, partners, motherhood and most importantly, the siren call of cinema, of making films. “The Cuba you miss no longer exists,” says another as she implores the other to move forward with her life.
Co-directors Heidi Hassan and Patricia Perez, best friends since meeting at a pool at ages 7, are now in their early 40s. Both studied at Cuba’s prestigious International Film School...
“I need you back in my life,” says one as they begin to send each other videos, delving into their struggles with homesickness, finding work, partners, motherhood and most importantly, the siren call of cinema, of making films. “The Cuba you miss no longer exists,” says another as she implores the other to move forward with her life.
Co-directors Heidi Hassan and Patricia Perez, best friends since meeting at a pool at ages 7, are now in their early 40s. Both studied at Cuba’s prestigious International Film School...
- 11/25/2019
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
The 32nd International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) opened Wednesday with gender parity, inclusion, and young talent front and center.
Twenty-one year-old Canadian-Vietnamese director Carol Nguyen — whose short “No Crying at the Dinner Table” screens at the festival — kicked off the evening, reflecting Idfa’s commitment to young talent and women filmmakers. Nguyen said that she was optimistic about the position of women in film.
“Within the last few years alone, we have seen a rise of diverse representation in mainstream media,” Nguyen said. “Society and our audiences are more conscious than ever about the lack of gender and racial parity in film. Film festivals have even set gender parity goals for themselves. We are all demanding it.” Nguyen added that there is still a lot more work to be done, and that everyone must act together to achieve parity.
In his opening speech, Orwa Nyrabia, Idfa’s artistic director,...
Twenty-one year-old Canadian-Vietnamese director Carol Nguyen — whose short “No Crying at the Dinner Table” screens at the festival — kicked off the evening, reflecting Idfa’s commitment to young talent and women filmmakers. Nguyen said that she was optimistic about the position of women in film.
“Within the last few years alone, we have seen a rise of diverse representation in mainstream media,” Nguyen said. “Society and our audiences are more conscious than ever about the lack of gender and racial parity in film. Film festivals have even set gender parity goals for themselves. We are all demanding it.” Nguyen added that there is still a lot more work to be done, and that everyone must act together to achieve parity.
In his opening speech, Orwa Nyrabia, Idfa’s artistic director,...
- 11/20/2019
- by Damon Wise and Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The festival unveiled its complete selection and this year’s jury members during a press conference earlier this week. Earlier this week, the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) announced the full programme of its 32nd edition, set to run from 20 November-1 December. The event will be opened by Mehrdad Oskouei’s Sunless Shadows, an Iranian-Norwegian co-production that explores the secluded world of five young women living in a small juvenile detention centre. This year, the feature-length competition will host 12 world or international premieres, with a strong focus on humanist filmmaking taking centre stage. The European productions and co-productions selected include Jørgen Leth’s I Walk (Denmark), Heidi Hassan and Patricia Pérez Fernández’s In a Whisper (Spain/France/Switzerland/Cuba), Kivu Ruhorahoza’s Europa, “Based on a True Story” (Rwanda/UK/Switzerland), Valentina Pedicini’s Faith (Italy), Laura Herrero Garvín’s La Mami (Mexico/Spain) and Maasja Koms’s Punks...
- 10/25/2019
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Shoring up artistic director Orwa Nyrabia’s commitment to showcasing more women’s stories and platforming more women’s voices, Idfa has announced that this year’s festival features the highest percentage of female filmmakers in the event’s 31-year history: 64% of competition titles and 47% of the total program.
“Reaching a fairer representation was much easier than it seemed to be,” noted Nyrabia. “We only had to keep our goal in mind. The outstanding films that found their way to us this year was a humble reminder that we are in the presence of exceptional female filmmakers.”
The festival opens with the world premiere of Mehrdad Oskouei’s “Sunless Shadows,” which depicts five young Iranian women complicit in the murders of abusive husbands, fathers, or brothers-in-law. Oskouei’s film competes in the Feature-Length Documentary Competition alongside Jørgen Leth’s “I Walk”; Heidi Hassan and Patricia Pérez Fernández’s “In a...
“Reaching a fairer representation was much easier than it seemed to be,” noted Nyrabia. “We only had to keep our goal in mind. The outstanding films that found their way to us this year was a humble reminder that we are in the presence of exceptional female filmmakers.”
The festival opens with the world premiere of Mehrdad Oskouei’s “Sunless Shadows,” which depicts five young Iranian women complicit in the murders of abusive husbands, fathers, or brothers-in-law. Oskouei’s film competes in the Feature-Length Documentary Competition alongside Jørgen Leth’s “I Walk”; Heidi Hassan and Patricia Pérez Fernández’s “In a...
- 10/24/2019
- by Damon Wise
- Variety Film + TV
Festival brass say 64% of competition titles directed by women, representing record 47% of total programme.
The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) has unveiled the line-up for its 32nd edition, which is set to take place from Nov 20-Dec 1.
At present, 64% of the festival’s competition titles are directed by women, representing 47% of the total programme - the highest in the festival’s history.
Idfa will open with the world premiere of Mehrdad Oskouei’s Sunless Shadows, about five young Iranian women who are all accomplices in the murder of their abusive husbands, fathers, or brothers-in-law.
The flagship 12-strong Best Feature-Length Documentary competition line-up includes I Walk,...
The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) has unveiled the line-up for its 32nd edition, which is set to take place from Nov 20-Dec 1.
At present, 64% of the festival’s competition titles are directed by women, representing 47% of the total programme - the highest in the festival’s history.
Idfa will open with the world premiere of Mehrdad Oskouei’s Sunless Shadows, about five young Iranian women who are all accomplices in the murder of their abusive husbands, fathers, or brothers-in-law.
The flagship 12-strong Best Feature-Length Documentary competition line-up includes I Walk,...
- 10/23/2019
- by 1101184¦Orlando Parfitt¦38¦
- ScreenDaily
Festival brass say 64% of competition titles directed by women, representing record 47% of total programme.
The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) has unveiled the line-up for its 32nd edition, which is set to take place from Nov 20-Dec 1.
At present, 64% of the festival’s competition titles are directed by women, representing 47% of the total programme - the highest in the festival’s history.
Idfa will open with the world premiere of Mehrdad Oskouei’s Sunless Shadows, about five young Iranian women who are all accomplices in the murder of their abusive husbands, fathers, or brothers-in-law.
The flagship 12-strong Best Feature-Length Documentary competition line-up includes I Walk,...
The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) has unveiled the line-up for its 32nd edition, which is set to take place from Nov 20-Dec 1.
At present, 64% of the festival’s competition titles are directed by women, representing 47% of the total programme - the highest in the festival’s history.
Idfa will open with the world premiere of Mehrdad Oskouei’s Sunless Shadows, about five young Iranian women who are all accomplices in the murder of their abusive husbands, fathers, or brothers-in-law.
The flagship 12-strong Best Feature-Length Documentary competition line-up includes I Walk,...
- 10/23/2019
- by 1101184¦Orlando Parfitt¦38¦
- ScreenDaily
Festival brass say 64% of competition titles directed by women, representing record 47% of total programme.
The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) has unveiled the line-up for its 32nd edition, which is set to take place from Nov 20-Dec 1.
At present, 64% of the festival’s competition titles are directed by women, representing 47% of the total programme - the highest in the festival’s history.
Idfa will open with the world premiere of Mehrdad Oskouei’s Sunless Shadows, about five young Iranian women who are all accomplices in the murder of their abusive husbands, fathers, or brothers-in-law.
The flagship 12-strong Best Feature-Length Documentary competition line-up includes I Walk,...
The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) has unveiled the line-up for its 32nd edition, which is set to take place from Nov 20-Dec 1.
At present, 64% of the festival’s competition titles are directed by women, representing 47% of the total programme - the highest in the festival’s history.
Idfa will open with the world premiere of Mehrdad Oskouei’s Sunless Shadows, about five young Iranian women who are all accomplices in the murder of their abusive husbands, fathers, or brothers-in-law.
The flagship 12-strong Best Feature-Length Documentary competition line-up includes I Walk,...
- 10/23/2019
- by 1101184¦Orlando Parfitt¦38¦
- ScreenDaily
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