Roundglass Sustain, a non-profit foundation which commissioned this film, is the only conservation platform in India that collaborates with partners such as photographers, filmmakers and NGO’s to create stories that impact change and behavior.
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Joan Chen and Izaac Wang in a scene from Sean Wang’s ‘DÌDI’
Joan Chen, Izaac Wang and filmmaker Sean Wang talk 'DIDI', a film you simply cannot miss
An American coming of age story like you’ve never watched on the big screen before, ‘DÌDI’ opens this weekend and it is a must watch. I caught up with the stars and the visionary filmmaker for a Zoom press conference and here are a couple of takeaways to whet your appetite.
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My hacks for learning to love Yorgos Lanthimos' 'Kinds of Kindness' -- a quick review
Hint: it’s a film all about reinvention, rebirth but also the dynamics of control.
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'Bella' -- a review
In her important, must-watch documentary ‘Bella’, filmmaker Bridget Murnane proves that you can’t keep a good woman down.
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I'll have that chocolate-covered Timothée Chalamet, please.
In the upcoming ‘Wonka’, the story of the beloved chocolatier, penned originally by Roald Dahl in 1964, goes back to the character’s beginnings. And with Chalamet as Willy Wonka, this is going to be a joyride simply not to be missed.
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'High & Low: John Galliano' London review
There are so many layers to filmmaker Kevin Macdonald’s film that it would take more than a few hundred words to get to them all. At the core of this stunning must-watch documentary is a fashion hero turned antihero who could be a poster child for explaining our current times.
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Ja’far ‘Abd al-Hamid's 'Tabbouleh & Pie' shows the endless benefits of sharing our culture with others
A short film that quickly takes up full space in one’s heart, al-Hamid’s work will be shown as part of the Institut du Monde Arabe’s upcoming exhibition program for ‘Parfumes d’Orient’ in Paris.
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Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' review
If you watch one film this summer, make it ‘Oppenheimer’.
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Oliver Laxe's 'Fire Will Come': A slow burn igniting a deep flame which smolders for days
The Spanish born, French-educated Oliver Laxe, who made the much beloved 2016 award winning ‘Mimosas’ as well as ‘You Are All Captains’ in 2010, has a way with slow and steady. ‘Fire Will Come’ is no exception.
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Achintya Bose and Manish Chauhan in ‘Yeh Ballet’, image courtesy of Netflix
"The poetry of it!": An interview with Sooni Taraporevala on her 'Yeh Ballet' currently streaming on Netflix
If you google the film ‘Yeh Ballet’ you’ll find that the Wikipedia short description reads like this: “Discovered by an eccentric ballet master, two gifted but underprivileged Mumbai teens face bigotry and disapproval as they pursue their dancing dreams.” And those sort of stories are always the best kind — yet Sooni Taraporevala’s film goes one step further. Or rather several beautiful, seamless dance steps further.
As someone who had fallen in love with Taraporevala’s heartfelt way of making films through her directorial debut ‘Little Zizou’ — a childhood story taking place in the Parsi community in South Bombay — ‘Yeh Ballet’ only intensified this cinematic love story.
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Actress Lyna Khoudri in a still from 'Papicha' by Mounia Meddour
“Redefine what a heroine is”: Algerian filmmaker Mounia Meddour on her film ‘Papicha’ in Cannes
I believe that if there were more women film critics, the business of cinema would be much different. There would be better films made, more communication between what audiences want and filmmakers create, and those projects which portray the truth of our humanity would receive the attention they deserve. 'Papicha' by Mounia Meddour would be one of those projects. Now let me explain what I mean.
‘Papicha’ is now streaming as part of the Virtual Cinema of Film at Lincoln Center, through June 4th. An act of courage if you read my piece!
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Neta Riskin and Golshifteh Farahani, photographed by Eitan Riklis ©
Eran Riklis' 'Shelter': Because women will always end up making things right!
If you are looking for a film with a quick resolution featuring an already oft-seen story with predictable themes, twists and turns -- look elsewhere. Eran Riklis' latest 'Shelter' will not provide you with the thrills you seek. But for those of us who need a little thinking with our entertainment, 'Shelter' unfolds at its own pace, to become a manifesto of women's strength in these #MeToo times, and provides a sultry, subdued story that makes watching Riklis' film a true delight.
The outstanding thing about the work of the Israeli filmmaker who brought us such gems as 'Lemon Tree', 'The Syrian Bride', 'Zaytoun' and more recently 'A Borrowed Identity' is that Riklis takes his time to weave his tales. We the audience, carry our own responsibility when watching a film and at no time is this more apparent than during 'Shelter'. As with most of Riklis' previous work, his latest film demands of us the patience to allow the story to unfold, because the director's intentions are always big, beautiful and fair.
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The 'Isle of Dogs' video review: I Love Dogs and Wes Anderson!
Last weekend, Wes Anderson's latest, the stop-motion animated wonder that is 'Isle of Dogs' opened in the US. Soon it will be around the world and in the process, will have created trends for years to come. Some call it cultural appropriation, I call it complete and utter genius, since "turning Japanese" is exactly what I crave for here and now.
My first thoughts from Berlinale are featured in the video above. There is also a blog from the opening day of Berlinale, you can read it here.
The verdict? I LOVE DOGS! And you will too.
Check out the 'Isle of Dogs' website for all info and even buy movie tickets.
'The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975' : The Revolution Will Be Documented
I think the reason I love cinema so much is that, as a medium, it possesses the most potential for uniting the world. While we watch a DVD of a French film at home, sit in a theater being washed over by the images of an Italian B & W classic, or surreptitiously check out the recent download of a Bollywood movie on our iPad, we are undeniably transported to other lands, other eras and, most importantly, other ways of looking at things. But while the promise is there every time we choose a title, few films achieve the grand objective of forever changing our mind and enriching our world permanently.
Swedish filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson’s documentary 'The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975' is one of those once-in-a-lifetime films which seamlessly reaches the full cinematic goal of changing its viewers’ world for good.
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PHOTO BY GIORA BEJACH
Lior Ashkenazi and Sarah Adler in still from Samuel Maoz’s ‘Foxtrot’
Talking ‘Foxtrot’ with Lior Ashkenazi, Sarah Adler and Samuel Maoz in Venice
In a great film, there is always a moment when things change — that instance when the viewer is caught off guard, and left with an indelible feeling to take home. I consider it the cinematic equivalent of that famous Maya Angelou quote “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Personally speaking, a truly successful movie is one where that moment remains with me, hours later, casting a spell over my heart and soul.
Samuel Maoz’s ‘Foxtrot’ is that film. More than twelve hours after watching it at the Venice Film Festival where it is featured in the main Competition section, I’m still only barely able to process it emotionally. Even though the filmmaker created an artful, visually stunning, sonically powerful, perfectly acted, intellectually stimulating and utterly entertaining film — I can just remember how it made me feel. I doubt I will ever forget actually.
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Shoemaking legend Manolo Blahnik
Highlights of the Dubai Film Festival: Producer James Cabourne Talks 'Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes for Lizards'
To any woman who hasn’t lived under a rock in the last twenty years, the sheer mention of the name “Manolo” sends shivers down our spine. Possessing a great last name, Blahnik of course, but known perfectly by his famous, inimitable first one, Manolo makes the kind of shoes a girl’s dreams are made of.
At this year’s Dubai International Film Festival, fashion is in the air, along with film. I mean, movies are always enough for me, but when documentary filmmaking is mixed with the wonderful world of style, I find my pieces simply write themselves. This one certainly seemed to float out easily, because Michael Roberts’s ‘Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes for Lizards’ is a wondrous work of fashionable cinematic art. There I’ve said it.
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