The American actor may have said something during the press conference about his good friend Julian Sands, also featured in the film Malkovich is promoting at this year's Berlinale, but during our interview the tragedy of the actor who has gone missing felt like a looming presence, unspoken and indescribable.
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An interview with Aamir Khan for 'Laal Singh Chaddha', the Indian Forrest Gump
"We have such a large and healthy audience of our own in India, the fact is that none of the filmmakers have really felt the need to reach out to a world audience," Aamir Khan told me in 2010, "and when I say really felt the need, I mean filmmakers in Argentina perhaps, or in France or Germany, different parts of the world, don't have such big and healthy audiences of their own and so they come from a situation where they really need to reach out to a world audience and an audience in the West."
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"The digital revolution has brought democracy to filmmaking": Spike Lee speaks
Thirty years after Lee's film 'Malcolm X' was the first ever international production to film in Mecca, the filmmaker returned to Saudi Arabia, to bring his film full circle and inspire film lovers in the Kingdom.
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"If only there was a Palestinian Superman": An interview with Sayed Kashua
Sayed Kashua is a Palestinian writer who pens his work in Hebrew and whose latest projects include a film helmed by an Israeli filmmaker and a TV series airing on Israeli kids TV -- but don't call the man a bridge-builder, not to his face anyway!
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"The language of cinema is universal": Damian Kocur's 'Bread and Salt' in Cairo
Before the film received one more award, this time at the Cairo International Film Festival, I sat down with the Polish filmmaker to talk cinema, inspiration and what constitutes the best soundtrack of all to him in a film.
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Photo by © Yani
Hany Abu-Assad talks 'Huda's Salon', Arab women audiences & the theme of betrayal
In his latest film, Palestinian auteur Hany Abu-Assad does what he does best -- tackles betrayal and draws us a story made in human shades of grey.
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A still from ‘Until Tomorrow’ which world premiered at Berlinale in 2022
Ali Asgari talks 'Until Tomorrow' and filmmaking in Iran
Don’t think of this film as your ordinary Western world garden variety torment, as Asgari's oeuvre usually involves two individuals dancing a dance of impossibilities with the authorities of Tehran, trying to navigate a world that makes one's humanity a challenge.
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Darren Aronofsky at El Gouna FF gives a masterclass in personal filmmaking
The American filmmaker talked about inspiration, meeting one's heroes and making personal films the audience wants to watch, at a great masterclass in Egypt. in 2021.
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A still from the short ‘Maya at 24’ by Lynne Sachs
"Lynne Sachs: Between Thought and Expression" and why you cannot miss her MoMI retrospective
All the great filmmakers have been artists of the lens. If you think about Hitchcock, Truffaut, Wilder, Kazan, Visconti, Fellini and endless more that make up our collective cinematic heritage, they constructed their work like one long sequence of aesthetics — sight and sound.
Lynne Sachs is no exception.
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Julia Vysotskaya in a still from ‘Dear Comrades!, photo by Sasha Gusov, Courtesy of NEON
Watch 'Dear Comrades!'... and some Andrei Konchalovsky wisdom will be your gift in return
So, if I had to explain why Andrei Konchalovsky’s films appeal so deeply to me, what would I say? That his women characters are always the entree in his films and often his male roles seem like the parsley sprinkled around them to enhance the presentation. Embodied often by his real-life wife Julia Vysotskaya, women like Lyuda in ‘Dear Comrades!’ appeal to my sense of womanhood, to my inner strength but also on a very basic aesthetic level. Lyuda is elegant, in her clunky shoes and with her hungry, lean body, as are the men around her. First and foremost Konchalovsky is a true artist, always loyal to the visual — the most important aspect of the seventh art.
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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..."
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.
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Lesson in Sincerity: Sir Christopher Hampton receives Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's Cairo International Film Festival
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.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF NETFLIX
Tilda Swinton on Learning from Her Children, Four-Legged Wisdom and Cinematic Friendships
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.
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Paradise is a talk with the Maestro: Resharing my interview with Andrei Konchalovsky
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?
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Charisma Personified: An interview with Ali Suliman of Venice Days title '200 Meters'
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.
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My ambivalence about Abel Ferrara, this year's Jaeger-LeCoultre Prize Winner at the Venice Film Festival
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.”
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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
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.
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"It is time to elevate your mindset": A conversation with Mari and Cheyenne from 'Unsettled' by Tom Shepard
Around the world at the moment, there are around 70 countries where it is still illegal to be gay, transgender or transexual. That’s the haunting statement that kicks off Tom Shepard’s enlightening documentary ‘Unsettled’ which features the stories of four individuals from three such countries in Africa and the Middle East.
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All about Shirien Damra, the artist who made those images of #BLM that broke your heart!
Earlier this month, I was asked to write a short piece on Shirien Damra, the Palestinian American artist whose haunting, beautiful images of George Floyd you’ve undoubtably seen shared on social media. I wrote a short enough intro for Cosmopolitan Middle East, which turned into an even shorter piece, after edits. I’d like to share the original piece, as well as Damra’s generous answers to my questions with you.
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Nanni Moretti, left, in a scene from ‘We Have a Pope’
Politics and an Atheist’s Pope: Nanni Moretti in the Spotlight, Part Two
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.
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