I wrote a letter to the Festival de Cannes. I asked it to help save cinema by not going online.
Read MoreAn empty red carpet means anticipation. No red carpet means defeat.
The FIAF 2020 Animation First Festival is bound to warm hearts this February in NYC
There has never been such a great time to enjoy animation. With Netflix purchasing the catalogue of famed Japanese art house animation Studio Ghibli, which just dropped on their platforms around the world (alas, not the US yet) on February 1st, the genre has moved beyond something only kids can enjoy. In fact, even famed world filmmakers like Yonfan have dabbled into animation and his film is definitely for adults only!
This year, Animation First promises to shine the spotlight on women in animation.
Read More
Wait, did you really think the Dubai International Film Festival was coming back?
Because if you did, I’ve got some swampland in Florida I’d love to sell you. Along with a few magic beans that grow into diamonds.
Honestly, from the moment I stepped off that last red carpet at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, in 2017, I knew the festival was done. In fact, the headline of my wrap-up piece for the 14th edition of DIFF was “Following the Dubai International Film Festival, Where Does Arabwood Go Now?” Yes and that was months before the official decision to skip the festival in 2018 and reformat its approach. There was a dark cloud in the crisp desert sky and it loomed above the festival throughout. My headline was just what my heart told me to write, regardless of my personal feelings towards that weird last edition.
Read More
Dr. Nof Atamna-Ismaeel in a still from ‘Breaking Bread’
'Breaking Bread' and the story of one super, courageous NYC film festival
In history, it has often proven dangerous to attempt to be a peacemaker. In fact, men from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to John F. Kennedy and even Malcolm X — once he realized his own philosophy of hate was going nowhere and advocated peace between the races — have fallen victims to assassinations because of their ideals.
When we look to the Middle East, the list grows to include Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. In April of 2011, Palestinian-Israeli actor and director Juliano Mer-Khamis was murdered by masked gunmen outside his theater in Jenin, where he worked to promote a meeting of minds.
Read More
Lessons learned from cinema and beyond: a wrap-up of the Rome Film Festival
There were films, fashion and public conversations with cinema celebrities. But beyond the red carpets, this year's Festa del cinema di Roma proved a meeting point for understanding the world around us, and sharing thoughts with like-minded people from faraway lands. Here is my personal diary of a wonderful event held in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Read More
Fatma Al Remaihi, CEO of the Doha Film Institute, flanked by the managing team of the Ajyal Film Festival
Doha's Ajyal Film Festival aims to make educated audiences out of today's youth
I believe wholeheartedly that we are what we watch. It’s been my mission to find works of art on the big screen — and on the little one now through Netflix and the likes — that will make life better. I mean, we can all remember that moment, as children, walking out of a theater having watched our favorite character or cartoon on the big screen and feeling an extra bounce in our step. I still experience that these days, whenever I watch something really special. I walk out of the darkened theater into the light of day — as a film writer most of my viewings are done during the day — feeling like anything is possible.
So when the Doha Film Institute kicked off their Ajyal Film Festival in 2014, I went to Qatar to experience the wonder first hand. It was everything I hoped it would be, children and young adults as juries, films that although made for all ages, could really infuse younger minds with a message of peace and hope. You know, an idealist film writer’s dream come true.
Read More
Rome Film Festival Diaries: 'Judy', Renée Zellweger and the wonder of fashion in cinema
I had a craving for ‘Judy’ ever since I heard the project announced. Renée Zellweger as Judy Garland on the big screen seemed extraordinary to me. And yet, I also wondered if it would satisfy my cravings. Would it focus on the camp, would it give me the fashionista angle I craved or feature tired old costumes that made La Zellweger seem like a caricature of the great, albeit lost diva?
Well, ‘Judy’, directed by Rupert Goold, with original music by Gabriel Yared, featuring Zellweger herself singing and wearing some beautifully modern costumes by Jany Temime and wigs plus makeup by Jeremy Woodhead was everything I wanted it to be — beautiful, glamorous, sad and poignantly modern.
Read More
Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Edward Norton in a still from ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
Rome Film Festival Diaries: Three things I love about La Festa del Cinema di Roma
Alright, I’ll kick it off right away by saying that the opening film for this 14th edition of the Rome Film Festival is wonderful! ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ the second directorial venture by beloved actor Edward Norton is everything an opening film should be for a festival — full of star power, great performances and evoking an elegance that only that particular time and in that place can bring about. More on it later.
Read More
Jack Irving in a still from Grear Patterson’s ‘Giants Being Lonely’ — photo courtesy of ROD30 productions
The Venice Diaries: My favorites so far include an American baseball film and a modern Arab mermaid
“If you ask me what I came into this life to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud.” — Émile Zola
I watch films to understand the world. And it seems sometimes the biggest lessons are just behind the scenes.
What I’ve learned at this year’s Venice Film Festival is that it seems that if you’re a woman journalist, you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. I’ve run the gamut from enemy of the people for publishing an interview with a man accused but never convicted of bad things, to being made to feel (by my women editors) that I don’t know how to write just so they can justify only having male writers in their roster. I also felt that a current article was unjust to the amount of women filmmakers that are actually in Venice — if the journalists who wrote it actually bothered to look at all the films, and not only the few titles in Competition — so I pointed out in another piece about a Critics’ Week title that the filmmaker was indeed a woman. And a man, I swear I can’t make this stuff up, added a comment to the FB post saying I made it sound like women filmmakers were creatures from another planet. I used the phrase “woman filmmaker” one time in the entire piece, to claim her as one of my own who makes me proud… But anyway.
Read More
The Venice Diaries: 'The Perfect Candidate' and 'Marriage Story' -- what a way to start it off!
What a rollercoaster this has been.
The last couple of months feel like a dream to me. And not a good one. Anyway, cinema always puts me back together, at least films like these do. They somehow erase the cynic in me, and recharge the woman and lover who has been wronged by the world.
Read More
Get ready Saudi Arabia, the Red Sea International Film Festival is coming your way!
In March of 2020 a revolution will begin in Saudi Arabia. But the country’s royal family and even that now infamous bad boy MBS — as the crown prince is known for short — needn’t worry about getting ready with armies and bodyguards. They just need to sit back, relax and enjoy the show.
Read More
A still from ‘Family Romance, Llc’ by Werner Herzog
The Cannes 2019 Diaries: Wondrous Werner Herzog, 'Papicha' is my new heroine and the life surreal of a film journo
In ‘Family Romance, Llc’ Werner Herzog finds a new way to work through the difficulties life throws our way — outsource them to an agency specializing in family connections. He does it with his usual flair for our human ridiculousness and making the impossible seem real. During the junket following the screening, I loved listening to my esteemed colleagues’ confused explanations of stories they thought they’d seen like this one in documentaries, or even completely convinced this was a reality film, instead of fiction. And Herzog himself quite perfectly, calmly and smoothly shooting down each and all of their perplexed ideas.
‘Family Romance, Llc’ was a Special Screening at this year’s Festival de Cannes.
Read More
Julianne Moore in ‘The Staggering Girl’ by Luca Guadagnino
The Cannes 2019 Diaries: Films that broke my heart and Luca Guadagnino's Valentino project
There has been a certain je ne sais quoi in the air here in Cannes, and I wasn’t able to quite put my finger on it. It bothered me, someone always good at defining a moment, person or place, that I couldn’t put that feeling into words. Then I attended the press conference for Luca Guadagnino’s ‘The Staggering Girl’ and I had a ‘EUREKA!” moment. So bear with me for a moment while I get to that…
Read More
Me after my nightmare trip… NO! Just kidding, it’s Iggy Pop in a still from ‘The Dead Don’t Die’.
The Cannes 2019 Diaries: 'The Dead Don't Die', they land at Nice airport though!
Yes, there was a flash taxi strike at the airport in Nice yesterday, just as my flight was getting in. No, they were not prepared for an action by all taxi drivers to block the roads accessing the airport, so no vehicle of any sort could get in or out of the airport. Yes, there is a tramway track recently built which reaches terminal 3 but no, there was no tram traveling on it. So everyone had to walk for miles, with luggage in tow, under the sweltering sun, to reach an overcrowded train, through overpasses and station underpasses (read: lots and lots of stairs) mimicking the zombies in Jim Jarmusch’s Cannes opening night film.
Welcome to the glamorous life of a journalist covering the Festival de Cannes! If I hear one more time what a wonderful opportunity it is for me to be doing what I do, I’ll strangle someone. Then, I might actually begin to get the attention I deserve.
Read More
Leading up to Cannes, here are the line-ups for Directors' Fortnight and Critics' Week
I know, most critics go to the Festival de Cannes looking forward to the Competition titles and maybe will grant themselves the joy of viewing the Un Certain Regard selection. But I’ll admit I’m more of a sidebar person, and while I will view a few great titles in the main lineups, my craves lay more in the Quinzaine (Directors’ Fortnight) and Semaine de la Critique.
Read More
Alain Delon, photo courtesy of the Festival de Cannes
Cannes Film Festival announces Competition, Un Certain Regard titles and an honorary Palme d'or to Alain Delon
As a young girl, I remember watching anything that had Alain Delon in it. I had a super crush on him and, lucky me, no film of his was deemed inappropriate by my parents. So along with Luchino Visconti’s ‘The Leopard’ and ‘Rocco and his Brothers’, I also caught Delon in films like ‘The Swimming Pool’, ‘Zorro’ and yes, even ‘The Concorde… Airport ‘79’. In fact, from the latter I required that a friend of the family who knew how to knit make me a royal blue crew neck wool sweater that looked just like his. I would find you a photo but I would have to watch that entire film all over again and well, I’ve moved on from my pre-pubescent crush. And my taste in film has highly improved.
But Alain Delon remains the fascinating man, the sultry sex symbol that could even steal women away from Mick Jagger. And this year’s he’s the Festival de Cannes honorary Palme d’Or recipient. Kudos to the festival for finally getting the reclusive actor to accept their coveted lifetime award.
Read More
La Pointe courte © 1994 Agnès Varda and her children - Montage and design : Flore Maquin
The Cannes Film Festival unveils its poster which pays tribute to the late, great Agnès Varda
As I learned at this year’s Qumra, held by the Doha Film Institute, the grand dame of French New Wave cinema Agnès Varda was all about finding the stories, the viewpoints that no one else would bother with. The Festival de Cannes, in its poster just unveiled for the 72nd edition of the festival, pays homage to La Varda but also to her indomitable spirit by showing the filmmaker on her first cinematic venture perched high up on a platform, atop the shoulders of a crew technician. She’s is looking to capture that image, that viewpoint which no one else would have even thought about. She is Varda, in all her perfectly humble and adventurous attitude. The same Varda who asked me, to my utter disbelief, if I’d liked her “little film” a few years ago in Cannes.
Read More
Bill Murray and Adam Driver in a still from ‘The Dead Don’t Die’
This year's Cannes Film Festival opens with Jim Jarmusch's zombie extravaganza 'The Dead Don't Die'
I tweeted about this beauty a couple of weeks ago and stand by my word. I’m typically not a zombie kinda girl but utter Jim Jarmusch’s name and I can’t watch it fast enough. So the buzz was deafening around ‘The Dead Don’t Die’ from the time the first images of the film were released, building up to a cacophony of joy when the trailer was first shown. And don’t even get me started on Adam Driver. I mean, the man is taller than Bill Murray, which is saying a lot, and all the handsome of a young Keanu Reeves, plus acting talents to boot.
Then, this morning Cannes announced it will open its 72nd edition of the festival with the Jarmusch film, in Competition no less. On Tuesday May 14th, on the screen of the Grand Théâtre Lumière, the film by the American director and screenwriter will be this year’s first Palme d'Or competition screening.
Read More
A still from ‘Rosso: a true lie about a fisherman’ by Antonio Messana
Watching the short end: The Ca 'Foscari Short Film Festival is the other Venice film festival
Most directors whose features you are watching in cinemas today started out making short films. It’s a fact that short narratives and documentaries are the stuff future filmmaker build their craft on and the Ca 'Foscari Short Film Festival recognizes that through and through. In their press release for the upcoming ninth edition of the event, which will run from March 20th to the 23rd, the following statement made me realize just how much they believe in the learning power of the ‘Short”.
Read More
The Qumra Diaries: Discovering Agnès Varda in the land of cinema
It is obvious from the moment one steps on a Qatar Airways aircraft that cinema is important in Doha. I mean, just going through the entertainment system on my particular flight, I found ‘Rebecca’ by Hitchcock, Barry Jenkins’ hauntingly touching and all too true ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’, Paul Dano’s intimate portrayal of a family struggling to remain a single nucleus ‘Wildlife’ and even the 2019 Best Picture Oscar winner ‘Green Book’.
Qatar knows good cinema and nowhere is that better understood than in the welcoming arms of the Doha Film Institute.
Read More