More than just an homage to a beautiful, inimitable woman, Shlomi Elkabetz's film about his sister and collaborator Ronit is a journey to the heart of cinema and a fantastic treasure hunt which, if followed through, brings us to the perfect depth of our human connection.
Read More'Gritt' is the film you need to watch in this brave new world. Why? I'll let filmmaker Itonje Søimer Guttormsen tell you.
In her debut feature ‘Gritt’ filmmaker Itonje Søimer Guttormsen, with the help of leading actress Birgitte Larsen, makes Gritt the perfect anti-heroine we will all aspire to be, once we’ve watched her quiet masterpiece.
Read MoreLebanon's 'Wine and War': An interview with filmmakers Mark Johnston and Mark Ryan
In their latest documentary ‘War and Wine’, filmmakers and world travelers Mark Johnston and Mark Ryan explore the world of winemaking in Lebanon. And in the process, they manage to show us perfectly the humanity, resilience and beauty of both the country and its people.
Read More"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.
Read More"Choose love over fear, always": Zain Duraie talks about her short film 'Give Up the Ghost'
One of the hottest button issues for a modern woman concerns her ability to have a child. Depending on which society you are born into, it ranges from being a duty to a God-given right, with all shades of grey in between.
In her haunting, beautifully shot (by Benoît Chamaillard) and perfectly sound designed (by Israel Bañuelos) short film ‘Give Up the Ghost’, Jordanian filmmaker Zain Duraie explores the consequences on a marriage around the ability or inability to have a child.
Read More“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!
Read MoreFarah Nabulsi on her haunting film 'The Present' and the "misrepresented Palestinian stories" she was born to tell
The discovery of Farah Nabulsi’s stunning, honest and beautiful film ‘The Present’ I owe to Palestinian favorite actor Saleh Bakri. I mean, as soon as I saw his name on the Brooklyn Film Festival line-up page, I was hooked. But while his presence is undeniably a wonderful pull into the film, Nabulsi’s perfect oeuvre stands on its own.
The title ‘The Present’ could refer to a gift, the one Yusuf, Bakri’s character goes to buy for his wife on their wedding anniversary. But it also means, to me, the current state of affairs, the here and now, for the Palestinian people.
Read MoreAntshi von Moos's 'Brother, Move On' is an ode to the courage of one woman driving her taxi at night in Delhi
Antshi von Moos’s debut documentary short ‘Brother, Move On’ is one of those unmissable films which possesses the right appeal, even on paper. The story of a Delhi woman who drives a taxi at night, catering to an all-female clientele to make sure they get home safely, made up the perfect storm of place, leading character and premise to secure I’d yearn to watch it. That it is a real story, told with kindness and a deep understanding of the subject matter at hand, is just icing on the cake.
Read More'Truth' in Journalism, Honesty in Life with James Vanderbilt
I was always a huge fan of the CBS news show 60 Minutes. To this day, there are some indelible segments that have stayed with me, like the Mike Wallace interview with tobacco industry insider Jeffrey Wigand and the Dan Rather expose on George W. Bush and how the 43rd President of the United States of America came to be in the Air National Guard during the time of the Vietnam War.
Incidentally, both those segments have been made into films and these days 60 Minutes continues to be a trailblazer in US news reporting, with an analytical twist, though perhaps today they do what they do with a bit more caution.
Read MorePeace Is for the Brave: Maria Schrader’s Stunning Austrian Entry to the Oscars ‘Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe’
Long before signing on to direct ‘Unorthodox’ on Netflix, Maria Schrader made another beautiful film about a Jewish figure, Stefan Zweig. I interviewed her in 2016 as she was nominated to represent Austria as the country’s Academy Award’s entry. I wanted to revisit that interview and my love for her work. The interview and my own thoughts about the film are as current today as they could ever be. Just read on.
Read MoreMassoud Bakhshi on his Sundance award-winning 'Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness'
There are so many threads, themes and ideas bursting through Massoud Bakhshi’s stunning ‘Yalda, a Night for Forgiveness’ that it would take a book and not a short article to discuss them all. But within the limits of this piece, I’d like to start off by saying that the film absolutely deserved to win the World Cinema Dramatic Competition Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance, where it premiered.
Read MoreWhy aren't we talking about Iraq? And revisiting Beth Murphy's prophetic 'The List'
Back in 2012, I watched and wrote about ‘The List’ a haunting documentary by American filmmaker Beth Murphy. It premiered at Tribeca and immediately became a symbol of the country I called home at the time. President Bush Senior had fought Iraq on the fields of Kuwait, while Bush Junior invaded the country vouching to get back at Saddam Hussein for, and I quote the then President, “this is the guy who tried to kill my father.”
Ever since then, it’s been an unmentionable subject, Iraq. In US news,
Read MoreThere's an App for that! Dana Nachman on sex in the #MeToo age in 'Hook Up 2.0' at the Tribeca Film Festival
A typical present day college party. A girl. A guy. They hook up and go the man’s pink hued apartment, yes pink you read that right, to be alone together. But this is the age of #MeToo and nothing is quite the way it used to be. I mean, and just the pink lights of the man’s apartment alone should have given that away!
‘Hook Up 2.0’ screens in the “Shorts: Funhouse” program at the Tribeca Film Festival. Check out all screening times and dates here.
Read More'Todos Somos Marineros' at IFFR: Addressing our global displacement with Peruvian filmmaker Miguel Angel Moulet
It’s a fact that there has never been such a movement of global general uprooting, in the history of our planet. Most of us feel deep inside ourselves a sense of dissatisfaction and the easiest way to deal with it seems to be to pick up and leave -- for work, love or life experience. But that can also turn into the most difficult decision of our life, because sometimes you cannot go home again.
As an old friend used to remind me, in moments when even traveling to the other end of the planet hadn’t really fulfilled its purpose, “Nina, the problem is that when you travel, no matter where you go, you’ll always take yourself along.” It’s so true, our inner struggles transfer well, hidden within the deep recesses of our beings. And even the furthest journey sees us as our sometimes unfortunate travel companion.
Miguel Angel Moulet’s haunting, sultry and perfectly shot film ‘Todos Somos Marineros’ (‘We Are All Sailors’) tackles that idea, but also mixes in several other themes, including the rhythm of language and how we change depending on the words we speak, as well as the filmmaker’s own unresolved childhood family mysteries.
Read MoreAnaïs Volpé's 'Indemnes' reinvents the palette of tragedy at the International Film Festival Rotterdam
How do you personally survive tragedy, when it hits close to home?
It’s a question that has played in my mind over and over in the last few months. Each of us has a distinct and very human way of dealing with personal tragedy, and none of it is wrong or right, I’ve figured out. It just is.
Filmmaker Anaïs Volpé says that her way of coping with terrorist attacks, which have hit very close to home, literally for the Parisian, is to turn blood into glitter and imagine that the victims have gone to a better place. We hear that time and time again, “they have gone to a better place now,” but in Volpé’s exquisite ‘Indemnes’ (which translates to “Unharmed”) that better place is filled with color, beauty, peace and harmony. It’s a beautiful view into the afterlife, complete with stylish golden jackets, from an artist who has had her own creative style from the get-go.
Read MoreThree women on '3 Faces': Jafar Panahi's latest oeuvre at the inaugural Iranian Film Festival NY
Filmmaker Jafar Panahi has been banned by the Iranian government from making movies, for an unbelievably long while. Yet he continues undeterred in churning out one masterpiece after another. All shot in different locations, each time featuring a new cast of characters, Panahi’s films have continued undisturbed to be staples at international film festivals.
Those of us who know and love his distinct brand of filmmaking, where within his kind and well thought out delivery he still manages to packs a big punch, also follow him on social media. His Instagram alone is a pleasure for those who wish to witness a bit of his genius on a nearly daily basis. And in fact, it was his presence on social media that inspired his latest work — ‘3 Faces’. The film premiered in Cannes earlier this year and will be featured at the 1st Iranian Film Festival New York at the IFC Center in early January 2019.
Read MoreLondon Film Festival is all going to the Italians... Italian filmmakers that is!
Back in February during Berlinale, at the very start of this strange yet fateful year, I watched Laura Bispoli’s ‘Daughter of Mine’ and fell back in love with Italian cinema. I was then satisfied further in Cannes, where I got to watch three more fantastic Italian films — which included Matteo Garrone’s ‘Dogman’ and Alice Rohrwacher’s ‘Happy as Lazzaro’. Then Venice rolled around and there was ‘What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?’ by Roberto Minervini and my personal, patriotic soul burst with pride.
Well, London audiences will soon be able to experience all of these titles in one place along with a selection that will include Laura Luchetti’s ‘Twin Flower’, Luca Guadagnino’s ‘Suspiria’ and Eduardo De Angelis’ ‘The Vice of Hope’. They are all part of the BFI’s London Film Festival Italian selection of cinematic picks from our peninsula.
Read More“A collector of contradictions”: Amos Gitai takes us on a voyage of thinking with ‘A Tramway in Jerusalem’
“And despite the clamors and the violence, we tried to preserve in our hearts the memory of a happy sea, of a remembered hill, the smile of a beloved face.” — Albert Camus from ‘Resistance, Rebellion and Death: Essays’
As I watched Amos Gitai’s latest ‘A Tramway in Jerusalem’ with the usual anticipation I dedicate to all the works of the visionary Israeli filmmaker, I looked for the funny. After all, Gitai himself, in his director’s notes called Tramway “an optimistic and ironic metaphor of the divided city of Jerusalem”. In the synopsis of the film, the word “comedy” is used yet when I watched ‘A Tramway in Jerusalem’, more than once, I cried. Long, perfectly needed tears. The film world premiered out of competition at this year’s Venice International Film Festival.
Read MoreLeonardo Guerra Seràgnoli's 'Likemeback': the good times, the lessons, the heartaches and perils of social media
During this year's Locarno Festival, a few of the films I watched although narrative features, felt more like documentaries. Wonderfully gratifying documentaries without judgement or a cliche point of view in sight.
One such film was Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli's 'Likemeback'. Perhaps because of the spontaneous acting by three exceptional young women -- Angela Fontana as Danila, Denise Tantucci as Carla and Blu Yoshimi Di Martino as Lavinia -- or maybe due to Guerra Seràgnoli's script and intimate way of filming this trio of friends on vacation on a sail boat, 'Likemeback' felt real.
Unforced and unequivocally cool.
In this age of #MeToo and TimesUp movements, 'Likemeback' offers a cautionary tale on the power of female sexuality and seduction and how that can be harnessed for the worst intentions. But it also places us in a front row seat on viewing the dangers of social media, when in the hands of the young and inexperienced.
Read More'#Female Pleasure' in Locarno: Glow in the dark vagina giveaways, woman power and calling out the misogyny in religion
Yes, that is a mouthful up there and quite a loaded title, I agree.
But Barbara Miller's latest documentary, '#Female Pleasure' which premiered in Locarno in their Semaine de la Critique sidebar and walked away with the Zonta Club Locarno Price for Extraordinary Social Commitment is a film chock-full of important messages and loaded with human causes. So, nothing less than a long title could do.
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