*Rufus Sewell photographed by James Van Alden, courtesy of CIFF*

Rufus Sewell does his thing at this year’s Cairo International Film Festival: "I’m not nearly as rock and roll as I used to think..."

E. Nina Rothe December 21, 2020

Since “virtual is the new black” as Cairo Industry Days Head Aliaa Zaky so perfectly pointed out in a Facebook post, I got to interview Rufus Sewell on Zoom while the actor was in Cairo — with the hustle and bustle of a film festival happening all around him. As a journalist who specializes in interviews, I have to say that I’ve never interviewed anyone like Sewell. Funny, insightful, but also ready to steer me in the right direction when I went wrong. While replaying it to write it out, I found the interview fascinating and heard myself not so much in the driver’s seat, as I’m accustomed to during a Q & A, but rather enjoying a passenger’s side ride into the life, love and career of one of the most charismatic actors of our time.

Lesson in Sincerity: Sir Christopher Hampton receives Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's Cairo International Film Festival

E. Nina Rothe December 4, 2020

Oscar-winning writer Sir Christopher Hampton has the wonderfully modest aura about him. Despite being an awardee of one of the most coveted prizes in the world, a celebrated screenwriter and playwright, the perfect translator of the works of two of the most notable French authors of contemporary times, Hampton is humble.

Tilda Swinton on Learning from Her Children, Four-Legged Wisdom and Cinematic Friendships

E. Nina Rothe November 5, 2020

Today, on November 5th 2020 Tilda Swinton turned 60. Wrap your head around that little boys and girls. Sixty! And she looks absolutely flawless IRL. So, I celebrate her agelessness by posting an interview from Cannes 2017 when I got to sit next to her majestic beauty and fell in awe of her class.

Paradise is a talk with the Maestro: Resharing my interview with Andrei Konchalovsky

E. Nina Rothe September 13, 2020

Is Paradise always a great place, for all?

We use the word “paradise” loosely in our everyday lives, to describe an idyllic place where we spent our summer vacation, or the word’s more common counterpart “heaven” to talk about a feeling of bliss after a great meal or an intense yoga class. But can the concept of paradise be used to create a hell on earth for some?

Charisma Personified: An interview with Ali Suliman of Venice Days title '200 Meters'

E. Nina Rothe September 6, 2020

Just what makes a great actor? Some will say it’s about possessing a combination of beauty and talent, some will point to acting skills and the ability to embody different characters, while others yet will mention that elusive word, “charisma” which can transform a performance into a work of art.

Meet Ali Suliman.

My ambivalence about Abel Ferrara, this year's Jaeger-LeCoultre Prize Winner at the Venice Film Festival

E. Nina Rothe September 5, 2020

These days, there is much talk about Abel Ferrara and his collaboration with Saint Laurent. The American filmmaker’s latest is produced by the Maison and will world premiere Out of Competition at the 77th Venice Film Festival. There Ferrara will also receive the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker 2020 prize, an award “dedicated to a personality who has made a particularly original contribution to innovation in contemporary cinema.”

*Luca Marinelli, photo courtesy of the Venice International Film Festival, La Biennale del cinema*

Three questions with Italian actor Luca Marinelli -- currently seen in 'The Old Guard' on Netflix

E. Nina Rothe July 13, 2020

From the first shot of Luca Marinelli in the Venice Film Festival competition title 'Martin Eden' it's obvious that the camera loves him. In person, Marinelli is humble and kind, with the same magnetically beautiful blue eyes that make watching his latest performance so pleasing. He is also a man who doesn't miss an opportunity to use his platform, in this case winning the best actor prize in Venice, to highlight the issues of our great big world.

*Nanni Moretti, left, in a scene from ‘We Have a Pope’*

Politics and an Atheist’s Pope: Nanni Moretti in the Spotlight, Part Two

E. Nina Rothe May 17, 2020

A couple of days ago I revisited my profile of Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti from 2012. Today I want to share the interview that took flying across the oceans and organizing with patience and care to secure.

Splendido Cinema: Nanni Moretti in the Spotlight

E. Nina Rothe May 15, 2020

Back in 2012, I met Nanni Moretti in his office, and the meeting changed my life. Forever. Moretti has that power, to change the course of things with his cinema. I’d watched ‘We Have a Pope’ in Abu Dhabi and not long after, I decided I needed to meet him face to face. In person, he was what he is in the movies. Nothing more, nothing less. Cranky, at times mean, and then, once I’d slammed my fist onto his desk because he wasn’t paying attention to my questions, he became a talkative, kind and attentive interview.

Irrfan Khan, why did you go? The world is uglier today...

E. Nina Rothe April 29, 2020

Now, in the moment when we would have needed him most, Irrfan Khan has left us. He’s gone. He had been ill for the last couple of years and yet, just as with all those we deeply love and are deserving of that love, his passing was unexpected. Unwarranted. Unwanted. HIs words won’t get us out of this funk now.

Illustrator Eduard Erlikh: What Fashion Dreams Are Made Of

E. Nina Rothe March 29, 2020

Do you believe in magic? I do, because I have experienced it inside the home of master illustrator Eduard Erlikh.

On a particularly chilly NYC afternoon, I step into his building after the chaos of downtown, and then out of his private elevator. I'm instantaneously transported to another world: a minimalistic, fairy-tale land where things harmoniously sit where they belong, objects in different shades of pigment blend in creative and complimentary combinations and space does not appear to be at the typical premium it is in the Big Apple.

"Love and Other Feelings": Stephen Miller featured at the Hidden Cabaret in the Secret Room

E. Nina Rothe February 11, 2020

It takes a lot to make New Yorkers come out on a chilly, rainy February school night. Yet the Secret Room, a cool, copper piped themed club in a basement on Eighth Avenue, just steps away from Times Square, was jam packed this past Monday night. Everyone was buzzing with excitement as we waited to watch and listen to the talents that would assemble on stage to perform “Love and Other Feelings at the Hidden Cabaret”.

I was there to watch Stephen Miller’s return to the stage, after 20 years spent on the producing side and in academia. Miller is a wondrous man with a taste of sequin jackets that highlight his tall frame. His boyish smile and confident stance complete the magic of this performer who was clearly born to be on a stage. The Hidden Cabaret proved that.

A Conversation with Stanley Tucci about his 'Final Portrait'

E. Nina Rothe February 5, 2020

Sitting down with Stanley Tucci naturally turned into a highlight of my 2017 Berlinale festival experience but I have to say his beautifully shot and sublimely acted film ‘Final Portrait’ keeps finding new nooks and crannies inside my thoughts and now, even a permanent place in my heart.

*Filmmaker Rithy Panh in Qatar, photo courtesy of the Doha Film Institute*

“Cinema has a responsibility”: An interview with Rithy Panh

E. Nina Rothe February 1, 2020

Meeting Cambodian documentary filmmaker Rithy Panh in Doha, during their annual Qumra event, was a real treat for someone who believes in the power of cinema with a conscience. Apart from the Doha Film Institute's wonderful meeting of talents held within the Souq Waqif and inside the Museum of Islamic Art each March and now in its fifth edition, Panh's presence felt historic. He was a Qumra Master in 2017, came back to teach a short documentary lab at the Institute in the summer of 2018, and now is back as a Mentor -- patiently watching works in progress and meeting with filmmakers to share his wisdom.

Sending healing vibes to Khaled El Nabawy -- The Actor and the Activist

E. Nina Rothe January 22, 2020

Back in 2012, I met Egyptian superstar Khaled El Nabawy at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival. He was there with an Arab-American co-production and we sat down with his director and co-star during a sun filled afternoon, in an empty coffee shop inside the Emirates Palace hotel. It was an otherworldly moment that heralded the start of a beautiful friendship.

*Sir Patrick Stewart at the Dubai International Film Festival, photo by Getty Images courtesy of DIFF*

The Ultimate Sir Patrick Stewart: To boldly go where no journalist has gone before

E. Nina Rothe January 16, 2020

It is obvious upon first meeting him that Sir Patrick Stewart is a man of contradictions. The young boy born in Mirfield who grew up in a poor household in Jarrow fraught with domestic violence is now an elegant gentleman at once stoic and kind. His proper Queen’s English is what one notices at once, making all attempts by this journalist to sound intelligent in his presence invalid. And yet Stewart admits that in his youth “you wouldn’t have understood me if you heard me talk, I spoke with not just an accent — we had a dialect, so we used other words as well.” He proceeds to make an example which of course, sounds like he’s speaking a foreign tongue, not even English anymore.

Listen to the full interview with 'Star Trek: Picard' star Patrick Stewart

E. Nina Rothe January 16, 2020

He is the officially retired Professor X from the Wolverine series, Captain Picard in ‘Star Trek’ and now the CBS spin-off ‘Star Trek: Picard’. He has been a Shakespearean actor as well as Poop Daddy in ‘The Emoji Movie’ — I guess you could call Sir Patrick Stewart versatile.

Angels and no regrets: An interview with Lebanese Oscar-winning composer Gabriel Yared

E. Nina Rothe January 12, 2020

In 2016 I caught up with Academy Award winning composer Gabriel Yared. This year, at the Rome Film Festival, I was awed by his background music for ‘Judy’ — the film which might garner Renee Zellweger an Oscar. His notes take us, the audience, through the later part of Judy Garland’s life and into her inner struggles. They are subtly unobtrusive, just as a background score should be. And that’s the genius of Yared’s work. Please read on for the original interview, published in the HuffPost.

“I’m Constantly Not on the Right Side of History”: An interview with Chloé Zhao

E. Nina Rothe January 11, 2020

This month, the Criterion Channel is programming ‘Songs My Brothers Taught Me’, the debut feature by wondrous filmmaker Chloé Zhao. I got to interview her in Cannes for her second feature ‘The Rider’ and it was published originally on the HuffPost. Here it is now, a bit shortened and re-edited. And don’t forget to watch ‘Songs My Brothers Taught Me’ on January 15th.

Rachid Bouchareb at Berlinale 2016: "Peace Should Be a Subject Taught in Schools"

E. Nina Rothe January 3, 2020

I find that there is a leitmotif running through three-time Oscar nominated filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb’s work. It’s the idea that peace is fragile, no matter how idyllic the setting of your life, there could always be something threatening to invade it, to destroy the status quo.

In-depth interviews and casual chats with the personalities and influencers of today, yesterday and tomorrow.