“Do you think you’re living in Sweden?” asks the titular hairstylist of “Huda’s Salon” with a sigh, although her question is surely rhetorical: After all, both she and the captor who is conducting her inquisition actually reside amid the brain-bending complexity of Bethlehem.
For women like Huda, there is no one to rely on, no one to trust, no one to confide in. And when it comes to self-protective betrayal, she has learned her lessons well.
Writer-director Hany Abu-Assad envisions his characters as nesting dolls, each enclosed by someone bigger or more powerful. Huda is a victim of the Palestinian resistance, pitiless spies who are watched at every step by equally unforgiving Israeli soldiers. Her victim is Reem (Maisa Abd Elhadi), a young mother who simply wants a bit of a break.
Like all women in her punitively patriarchal family, Reem has only two approved roles — dutiful wife and...
For women like Huda, there is no one to rely on, no one to trust, no one to confide in. And when it comes to self-protective betrayal, she has learned her lessons well.
Writer-director Hany Abu-Assad envisions his characters as nesting dolls, each enclosed by someone bigger or more powerful. Huda is a victim of the Palestinian resistance, pitiless spies who are watched at every step by equally unforgiving Israeli soldiers. Her victim is Reem (Maisa Abd Elhadi), a young mother who simply wants a bit of a break.
Like all women in her punitively patriarchal family, Reem has only two approved roles — dutiful wife and...
- 3/3/2022
- by Elizabeth Weitzman
- The Wrap
Iconic Palestinian actor-director Mohammad Bakri has canceled his visit to Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival over the issue of U.K.-based Palestinian filmmaker Said Zagha being deported from the country without being allowed to enter.
Bakri, whose acting credits include “Homeland,” “The Stranger” “Wajib” and “The Bureau,” was due to be honored with a career achievement award at the festival on Wednesday.
However, on Tuesday, Bakri released a statement in Arabic saying he has canceled his visit in protest against the deportation of Zagha and other Palestinians who arrived at Cairo airport and were barred from entering Egyptian territory.
“I have decided not to go to the El Gouna Film Festival,” Bakri said in his statement. “Essentially, this was a reaction, in principle, to the mistreatment of Palestinian artists, regardless of their passport, whether it’s Jordanian, Palestinian, Israeli, or whatever. It is high time that Palestinians are granted full rights,...
Bakri, whose acting credits include “Homeland,” “The Stranger” “Wajib” and “The Bureau,” was due to be honored with a career achievement award at the festival on Wednesday.
However, on Tuesday, Bakri released a statement in Arabic saying he has canceled his visit in protest against the deportation of Zagha and other Palestinians who arrived at Cairo airport and were barred from entering Egyptian territory.
“I have decided not to go to the El Gouna Film Festival,” Bakri said in his statement. “Essentially, this was a reaction, in principle, to the mistreatment of Palestinian artists, regardless of their passport, whether it’s Jordanian, Palestinian, Israeli, or whatever. It is high time that Palestinians are granted full rights,...
- 10/19/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Huda’s Salon
Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad heads into his eighth feature with Huda’s Salon, a based-on-a-true-story nightmare which was forced to halt production twice due to the pandemic. Scripted by Abu-Assad, he’s joined in the producer’s seat by Amira and Maher Diab, Shahinaz el Akkad, and Alaa Karkouti. Lensed by Ehab Assal (who shot Abu-Assad’s Omar and The Idol), Manal Awad stars as Huda, joined by the stellar Ali Suliman, Maisa Abd Elhadi, and Samer Bisharat. Abu-Assad’a major breakout was 2005’s Paradise Now, which competed in Berlin and won several prizes. 2013’s Omar played in Un Certain Regard at Cannes where it picked up a Special Jury Prize and his 2002 debut Rana’s Wedding was in Critics’ Week.…...
Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad heads into his eighth feature with Huda’s Salon, a based-on-a-true-story nightmare which was forced to halt production twice due to the pandemic. Scripted by Abu-Assad, he’s joined in the producer’s seat by Amira and Maher Diab, Shahinaz el Akkad, and Alaa Karkouti. Lensed by Ehab Assal (who shot Abu-Assad’s Omar and The Idol), Manal Awad stars as Huda, joined by the stellar Ali Suliman, Maisa Abd Elhadi, and Samer Bisharat. Abu-Assad’a major breakout was 2005’s Paradise Now, which competed in Berlin and won several prizes. 2013’s Omar played in Un Certain Regard at Cannes where it picked up a Special Jury Prize and his 2002 debut Rana’s Wedding was in Critics’ Week.…...
- 1/3/2021
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
"Designed to inspire, and it works!" These were the first words out of my friend Ian's mouth as we exited "The Idol," Hany Abu-Assad's newest film. Three days later I was still feeling its effect and recommending it to people here at the Toronto Film Festival whenever we discussed the films we had been seeing.
This Palestine/ UK/ Qatar/ Netherlands production was inspired by the true story of Mohammed Assaf, a Palestinian who grew up in Gaza and whose voice became the voice of the nation when he won the Arab Idol contest in 2013.
International sales by Seville (eOne’s arthouse branch) were made before Tiff to some 20 territories including Benelux (September Films is the former Wild Bunch Benelux), France (TF1), Germany (Koch), Japan (New Select), Hong Kong (Edko), Hungary (Mtva), Australia (Umbrella), Latin America (California Filmes), Portugal (Outsider Films), South Africa (Times Media) Switzerland (Praesens), China (Beijing Xiangjiang YiHua Films), India (PVR), Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore (Red Pictures), Taiwan (Spring International), Former Yugoslavia (Discovery Films), Romania (Independenta), South Korea (Kaon Contents & Media) and Airlines (Captive). eOne will directly release the film in Spain. Mbc will distribute throughout the Middle East, including in Palestine and North Africa. Adopt Films just picked up U.S. rights.
This is a feel-good movie which gives a human voice to the Palestinian dilemma without being political or religious. It’s pure heart.
“The Idol” was coproduced by Image Nation of Abu Dhabi, Enjaaz -- a Dubai Film Market initiative -- Doha Film institute with support from the Netherlands Film Fund. Mbc also coproduced and is handling the film’s release in the Middle East and North Africa. September was the Dutch coproducer and is handling it in Benelux.
Speaking in Toronto with Hany Abu-Assad, he agreed, this film was designed carefully. And at its world premiere here in Toronto, he was so nervous. When the laughter from the audience happened at exactly the right moment, he knew the film worked the way he had envisaged. “They laughed and cried at the same time,” he said. He did not know even though the editing if the emotion will carry it. “You don’t know until you show it. When I knew that people laughed with the kids then I knew I had succeeded. The little laugh when the kids were chased told me it worked.”
“From the small laugh to another point here, and another here, a domino effect starts.”
The original script was written by Sameh Zoabi whose earlier film, "Man Without a Cell Phone" won the Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival Award for Sameh as Best Director. Hany gave the finished script to his (and my own) friend, colleague and script consultant, Annemarie Jacir, whose own film, "When I Saw You" premiered in Toronto in 2012 and won many awards including the Audience Prize at L.A. Film Festival in 2013 and at Amiens and the Netpac Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2013. “She gave me some notes and worked on some of the dialogue."
I remarked how much I liked the joke about the distance between Gaza and Egypt being the same as the distance between Cuba and Florida and told him about a parallel joke made in the Cuban film “Barrio Cuba” when the Havana people call those coming from the east (Santiago de Cuba) “Palestinians”.
Aside from having a top-notch script, the entire film design was also successful because he worked with the same Dp Ehab Assal, Editor Eyas Salmon who was also editor of Tiff’s “Dégradé”, Production Designer and Art Director Nael Kanj and the Location Manager who all worked on his last film, the Academy Award nominated “Omar”. They have grown with him are now top quality artists and technicians who can work on both local and international productions.
“During ‘Omar’ we talked a lot about how the film would work, the concept, the core, the score, but on this film we spoke less. We knew each other better and it was much easier to shoot knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses. And it was joyful and almost telepathic. We hoped this approach behind the camera would also inform the on-screen experience,” said Hany who also insisted on shooting on location in both Beirut and Cairo for the exterior scenes set in those cities so that the film would look and feel real.
The key to this film has always been authenticity both in front of and behind the camera. That is why “The Idol” is one of the first, if not the first, international production to shoot on location in Gaza, despite the logistical difficulties to get a film crew in and out safely. Set in the devastated landscapes of a Gaza still reeling from the month-long bombardment in 2014, Abu-Assad and his crew were still able to find great moments of beauty and surprise. The Gaza Parkour Team, for example, supply their amazing acrobatic display in the most surprising way in one moment, proving that art can thrive in even the most challenging of situations.
For more on "The Idol" read the pre Toronto reportage.
That desire for authenticity is also why Hany insisted on finding and employing real kids from Gaza to act in the film. The crew did a Gaza-wide search, holding casting sessions and rehearsals in schools across the area. Ultimately, the production was blessed to find four amazing Gazan children to star in the film, all first time actors, and all incredible natural performers.
The first half of the film takes place in a war-torn Gaza city which for
Mohammed Assaf, his sister Nour and their best friends Ahmad and Omar is a playground where they freely ride their bikes, play music, football and dare to dream big. Their band might play on second hand, beaten up instruments but their ambitions are sky-high. Their ambition is to play at the world famous Cairo Opera Hall.
The world around Mohammed shatters. Through it all, however, he retains the hope that his voice will somehow deliver him from the pain that surrounds him and bring joy to others. He sings at weddings, he drives a taxi to pay for his university studies. Even as the siege around Gaza intensifies, the prison around them ever more forbidding, Mohammed knows he has a rare gift, the ability to make people smile and forget their anxieties about day to day living.
On TV one evening he watches as the auditions for Arab Idol, the most popular show in the Arab world, take place in Cairo. The borders are closed. There is no way out. Somehow, he finds a way and makes it in front of the judges in Egypt. From there, destiny awaits, a chance to change his life and give a voiceless people the greatest feeling of all: the freedom to love, live and feel free.
However success in the weekly competitions bring on anxieties of a new kind, to be the one responsible for being the voice of his people, Palestine takes on more importance than his personal reasons for surviving and succeeding.
This film plays well to children and adults equally. The boy becomes a man, played by Tawfeek Barhom who played in last year's "Dancing Arabs" and switches gears to his escape to Egypt and his competing in the Arab Idol talent contest. At the very end, Tawfeek’s character becomes the real star, Mohammed Assaf. His voice was always used, even when Tawfeek was supposedly singing.
“I always ask myself why I want to make a movie and spend almost two years of my life working very hard to complete that movie. In the case of ‘The Idol’, the answer was clear and simple. The story of this young man, Muhammad Assaf, is such an incredible story that even somebody like me who, just three weeks earlier had won the Jury Prize of Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival, was more excited for Assaf to win Arab Idol than for myself. I was caught on camera between thousands of people gathered in the square in Nazareth to hear the final results for Arab Idol; I was jumping in excitement like a little kid, and I have not had this kind of excitement for a very long time. When Ali Jaafar offered for me to direct Muhammad Assaf’s story, my arms were covered in goosebumps. I knew immediately that I would do everything to make this story a movie.”
“I see ‘The Idol’ as the story of fighting and the will to survive under extreme circumstances. It’s a story of hope and success, where a brother and a sister were able to make from their disadvantages an advantage, and from the impossible possible, who come from nowhere to overcome all odds, beating poverty, oppression, and occupation. They have the ability to convert ugliness to beauty, which, in the end, is the power behind all art and the fuel to nurture hope.”
“The film was designed as a movie with no cultural barriers. You could be Chinese, American or Palestinian and you can appreciate the film. The very old and the very young can all understand the journey. It crosses religious lines. I meant to take a very specific story into a broader context.”
“The story of Mohammed Assaf is a once in a lifetime event, an opportunity to put a human face on a people who have all too often been marginalized and misrepresented. “
“At a time of unprecedented upheaval in the Arab world, with revolutions, civil wars, strife and extremism, Mohammed’s journey from humble wedding singer in Gaza, to the region’s hottest young star played out before our eyes weekly. Every Friday and Saturday night, for a few minutes, viewers could release themselves from the daily struggles and remember how to smile again.”
“Mohammed Assaf represents the spirit and symbol of what might be; of dreams coming true; of the impossible becoming, for a precious moment at least, entirely possible.”
“The children in the first audience loved it.”
“The girl is now with her family as refugees. They escaped and are seeking asylum in Europe. The three boys were in Toronto and one wanted to stay.
I’m happy I gave four Gazan kids the chance to see beyond the ghetto. They have special talent and their exposure now allows the world to come to them. Audiences love these children so much that they have offered to pay for their education. There was even an offer to adopt one. With paid-for education their futures are now more hopeful,” Hany said.
“The girl is so talented. She never acted before but she understood and loved the logic of shooting, of decoupage. ‘Is this a wide shot?’ she would ask. She spent three days asking about the lenses. On the second day an actor off camera forgot his lines. She continued to talk as if he were talking, as if he were acting. She came out of war. Two of her uncles were killed in the war. When you loose your fear of death you are enormously naked, exposed and you become more sensitized. She could become a great actress.”
“I’m glad I could do something for these four children”.
The Filmmaker
Hany Abu-Assad is one of the world’s most distinctive filmmakers. The two-time Academy Award-nominated director – “Paradise Now” (2006) and “Omar” (2013)- has won countless other awards including the Berlin International Film Festival’s prestigious Blue Angel award, Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes and the Special Jury Prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.
He was born in Nazareth, Palestine in 1961. After having studied and worked as an airplane engineer in The Netherlands for several years, Abu-Assad entered the world of cinema as a producer and produced the feature film “Curfew”, directed by Rashid Masharawi, in 1994.
In 1998 he directed his first film, “The Fourteenth Chick”, from a script by writer Arnon Grunberg, followed by his documentary “Nazareth 2000”, his second feature film “Rana’s Wedding” and his second documentary “Ford Transit”.
In 2006 his film “Paradise Now” about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Tel Aviv, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign language film in 2006.
In 2011 Abu-Assad finished working on “The Courier”, a Hollywood movie starring Jeffery Dean Morgan, Til Schweiger and Mickey Rourke.
Most recently, Abu-Assad’s “Omar”, which featured star-making performances from Adam Bakri and Leem Lubany, garnered the director his second Academy Award nomination for the edge-of-your seat thriller. The film won several worldwide prizes including the Jury Prize of Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival.
This Palestine/ UK/ Qatar/ Netherlands production was inspired by the true story of Mohammed Assaf, a Palestinian who grew up in Gaza and whose voice became the voice of the nation when he won the Arab Idol contest in 2013.
International sales by Seville (eOne’s arthouse branch) were made before Tiff to some 20 territories including Benelux (September Films is the former Wild Bunch Benelux), France (TF1), Germany (Koch), Japan (New Select), Hong Kong (Edko), Hungary (Mtva), Australia (Umbrella), Latin America (California Filmes), Portugal (Outsider Films), South Africa (Times Media) Switzerland (Praesens), China (Beijing Xiangjiang YiHua Films), India (PVR), Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore (Red Pictures), Taiwan (Spring International), Former Yugoslavia (Discovery Films), Romania (Independenta), South Korea (Kaon Contents & Media) and Airlines (Captive). eOne will directly release the film in Spain. Mbc will distribute throughout the Middle East, including in Palestine and North Africa. Adopt Films just picked up U.S. rights.
This is a feel-good movie which gives a human voice to the Palestinian dilemma without being political or religious. It’s pure heart.
“The Idol” was coproduced by Image Nation of Abu Dhabi, Enjaaz -- a Dubai Film Market initiative -- Doha Film institute with support from the Netherlands Film Fund. Mbc also coproduced and is handling the film’s release in the Middle East and North Africa. September was the Dutch coproducer and is handling it in Benelux.
Speaking in Toronto with Hany Abu-Assad, he agreed, this film was designed carefully. And at its world premiere here in Toronto, he was so nervous. When the laughter from the audience happened at exactly the right moment, he knew the film worked the way he had envisaged. “They laughed and cried at the same time,” he said. He did not know even though the editing if the emotion will carry it. “You don’t know until you show it. When I knew that people laughed with the kids then I knew I had succeeded. The little laugh when the kids were chased told me it worked.”
“From the small laugh to another point here, and another here, a domino effect starts.”
The original script was written by Sameh Zoabi whose earlier film, "Man Without a Cell Phone" won the Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival Award for Sameh as Best Director. Hany gave the finished script to his (and my own) friend, colleague and script consultant, Annemarie Jacir, whose own film, "When I Saw You" premiered in Toronto in 2012 and won many awards including the Audience Prize at L.A. Film Festival in 2013 and at Amiens and the Netpac Award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2013. “She gave me some notes and worked on some of the dialogue."
I remarked how much I liked the joke about the distance between Gaza and Egypt being the same as the distance between Cuba and Florida and told him about a parallel joke made in the Cuban film “Barrio Cuba” when the Havana people call those coming from the east (Santiago de Cuba) “Palestinians”.
Aside from having a top-notch script, the entire film design was also successful because he worked with the same Dp Ehab Assal, Editor Eyas Salmon who was also editor of Tiff’s “Dégradé”, Production Designer and Art Director Nael Kanj and the Location Manager who all worked on his last film, the Academy Award nominated “Omar”. They have grown with him are now top quality artists and technicians who can work on both local and international productions.
“During ‘Omar’ we talked a lot about how the film would work, the concept, the core, the score, but on this film we spoke less. We knew each other better and it was much easier to shoot knowing each other’s strengths and weaknesses. And it was joyful and almost telepathic. We hoped this approach behind the camera would also inform the on-screen experience,” said Hany who also insisted on shooting on location in both Beirut and Cairo for the exterior scenes set in those cities so that the film would look and feel real.
The key to this film has always been authenticity both in front of and behind the camera. That is why “The Idol” is one of the first, if not the first, international production to shoot on location in Gaza, despite the logistical difficulties to get a film crew in and out safely. Set in the devastated landscapes of a Gaza still reeling from the month-long bombardment in 2014, Abu-Assad and his crew were still able to find great moments of beauty and surprise. The Gaza Parkour Team, for example, supply their amazing acrobatic display in the most surprising way in one moment, proving that art can thrive in even the most challenging of situations.
For more on "The Idol" read the pre Toronto reportage.
That desire for authenticity is also why Hany insisted on finding and employing real kids from Gaza to act in the film. The crew did a Gaza-wide search, holding casting sessions and rehearsals in schools across the area. Ultimately, the production was blessed to find four amazing Gazan children to star in the film, all first time actors, and all incredible natural performers.
The first half of the film takes place in a war-torn Gaza city which for
Mohammed Assaf, his sister Nour and their best friends Ahmad and Omar is a playground where they freely ride their bikes, play music, football and dare to dream big. Their band might play on second hand, beaten up instruments but their ambitions are sky-high. Their ambition is to play at the world famous Cairo Opera Hall.
The world around Mohammed shatters. Through it all, however, he retains the hope that his voice will somehow deliver him from the pain that surrounds him and bring joy to others. He sings at weddings, he drives a taxi to pay for his university studies. Even as the siege around Gaza intensifies, the prison around them ever more forbidding, Mohammed knows he has a rare gift, the ability to make people smile and forget their anxieties about day to day living.
On TV one evening he watches as the auditions for Arab Idol, the most popular show in the Arab world, take place in Cairo. The borders are closed. There is no way out. Somehow, he finds a way and makes it in front of the judges in Egypt. From there, destiny awaits, a chance to change his life and give a voiceless people the greatest feeling of all: the freedom to love, live and feel free.
However success in the weekly competitions bring on anxieties of a new kind, to be the one responsible for being the voice of his people, Palestine takes on more importance than his personal reasons for surviving and succeeding.
This film plays well to children and adults equally. The boy becomes a man, played by Tawfeek Barhom who played in last year's "Dancing Arabs" and switches gears to his escape to Egypt and his competing in the Arab Idol talent contest. At the very end, Tawfeek’s character becomes the real star, Mohammed Assaf. His voice was always used, even when Tawfeek was supposedly singing.
“I always ask myself why I want to make a movie and spend almost two years of my life working very hard to complete that movie. In the case of ‘The Idol’, the answer was clear and simple. The story of this young man, Muhammad Assaf, is such an incredible story that even somebody like me who, just three weeks earlier had won the Jury Prize of Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival, was more excited for Assaf to win Arab Idol than for myself. I was caught on camera between thousands of people gathered in the square in Nazareth to hear the final results for Arab Idol; I was jumping in excitement like a little kid, and I have not had this kind of excitement for a very long time. When Ali Jaafar offered for me to direct Muhammad Assaf’s story, my arms were covered in goosebumps. I knew immediately that I would do everything to make this story a movie.”
“I see ‘The Idol’ as the story of fighting and the will to survive under extreme circumstances. It’s a story of hope and success, where a brother and a sister were able to make from their disadvantages an advantage, and from the impossible possible, who come from nowhere to overcome all odds, beating poverty, oppression, and occupation. They have the ability to convert ugliness to beauty, which, in the end, is the power behind all art and the fuel to nurture hope.”
“The film was designed as a movie with no cultural barriers. You could be Chinese, American or Palestinian and you can appreciate the film. The very old and the very young can all understand the journey. It crosses religious lines. I meant to take a very specific story into a broader context.”
“The story of Mohammed Assaf is a once in a lifetime event, an opportunity to put a human face on a people who have all too often been marginalized and misrepresented. “
“At a time of unprecedented upheaval in the Arab world, with revolutions, civil wars, strife and extremism, Mohammed’s journey from humble wedding singer in Gaza, to the region’s hottest young star played out before our eyes weekly. Every Friday and Saturday night, for a few minutes, viewers could release themselves from the daily struggles and remember how to smile again.”
“Mohammed Assaf represents the spirit and symbol of what might be; of dreams coming true; of the impossible becoming, for a precious moment at least, entirely possible.”
“The children in the first audience loved it.”
“The girl is now with her family as refugees. They escaped and are seeking asylum in Europe. The three boys were in Toronto and one wanted to stay.
I’m happy I gave four Gazan kids the chance to see beyond the ghetto. They have special talent and their exposure now allows the world to come to them. Audiences love these children so much that they have offered to pay for their education. There was even an offer to adopt one. With paid-for education their futures are now more hopeful,” Hany said.
“The girl is so talented. She never acted before but she understood and loved the logic of shooting, of decoupage. ‘Is this a wide shot?’ she would ask. She spent three days asking about the lenses. On the second day an actor off camera forgot his lines. She continued to talk as if he were talking, as if he were acting. She came out of war. Two of her uncles were killed in the war. When you loose your fear of death you are enormously naked, exposed and you become more sensitized. She could become a great actress.”
“I’m glad I could do something for these four children”.
The Filmmaker
Hany Abu-Assad is one of the world’s most distinctive filmmakers. The two-time Academy Award-nominated director – “Paradise Now” (2006) and “Omar” (2013)- has won countless other awards including the Berlin International Film Festival’s prestigious Blue Angel award, Best Foreign Language Film at the Golden Globes and the Special Jury Prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.
He was born in Nazareth, Palestine in 1961. After having studied and worked as an airplane engineer in The Netherlands for several years, Abu-Assad entered the world of cinema as a producer and produced the feature film “Curfew”, directed by Rashid Masharawi, in 1994.
In 1998 he directed his first film, “The Fourteenth Chick”, from a script by writer Arnon Grunberg, followed by his documentary “Nazareth 2000”, his second feature film “Rana’s Wedding” and his second documentary “Ford Transit”.
In 2006 his film “Paradise Now” about two Palestinian men preparing for a suicide attack in Tel Aviv, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign language film in 2006.
In 2011 Abu-Assad finished working on “The Courier”, a Hollywood movie starring Jeffery Dean Morgan, Til Schweiger and Mickey Rourke.
Most recently, Abu-Assad’s “Omar”, which featured star-making performances from Adam Bakri and Leem Lubany, garnered the director his second Academy Award nomination for the edge-of-your seat thriller. The film won several worldwide prizes including the Jury Prize of Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival.
- 5/3/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Andrei Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan added to its growing trophy case of awards, winning top honors, the Golden Frog for best film, at Poland's Camerimage Festival for cinematographer Mikhail Krichman. Camerimage is the world's leading festival honoring the art of cinematography. The film, which won the best screenplay honor in Cannes this year for Zvyagintsev and co-screenwriter Oleg Negin, is Russia's official entry for the 2015 foreign language Oscar. Leviathan is also one of the front-runners for the European Film Awards, which will be held in Riga, Latvia, next month. Cinematographer Ehab Assal took the runner-up silver award at
read more...
read more...
- 11/22/2014
- by Karsten Kastelan
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Birdman, Fury and Leviathan among main competition titles; Roland Joffé to preside over main jury.
Alejandro G Ińárritu, Yimou Zhang, Mike Leigh and Jean-Marc Vallée are among the directors with films screening in competition at the 22nd Camerimage (Nov 15-22), the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography.
The main competition at the festival, held in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz, comprises:
Alejandro G Ińárritu’s Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance); USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Emmanuel Lubezki
Yimou Zhang’s Coming Home (Gui lai); China, 2014; Cinematographer: Zhao Xiaoding
Richard Raymond’s Desert Dancer; UK, 2014; Cinematographer: Carlos Catalán Alucha
Lech J. Majewski’s Field of Dogs - Onirica (Onirica - Psie pole); Poland, 2014; Cinematographers: Paweł Tybora and Lech J. Majewski
Krzysztof Zanussi’s Foreign Body (Obce cialo); Poland, Italy, Russia, 2014; Cinematographer: Piotr Niemyjski
David Ayer’s Fury; USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Roman Vasyanov
Tate Taylor’s Get on Up; USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Stephen Goldblatt
Łukasz Palkowski’s Gods (Bogowie); Poland, 2014; Cinematographer:...
Alejandro G Ińárritu, Yimou Zhang, Mike Leigh and Jean-Marc Vallée are among the directors with films screening in competition at the 22nd Camerimage (Nov 15-22), the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography.
The main competition at the festival, held in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz, comprises:
Alejandro G Ińárritu’s Birdman (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance); USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Emmanuel Lubezki
Yimou Zhang’s Coming Home (Gui lai); China, 2014; Cinematographer: Zhao Xiaoding
Richard Raymond’s Desert Dancer; UK, 2014; Cinematographer: Carlos Catalán Alucha
Lech J. Majewski’s Field of Dogs - Onirica (Onirica - Psie pole); Poland, 2014; Cinematographers: Paweł Tybora and Lech J. Majewski
Krzysztof Zanussi’s Foreign Body (Obce cialo); Poland, Italy, Russia, 2014; Cinematographer: Piotr Niemyjski
David Ayer’s Fury; USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Roman Vasyanov
Tate Taylor’s Get on Up; USA, 2014; Cinematographer: Stephen Goldblatt
Łukasz Palkowski’s Gods (Bogowie); Poland, 2014; Cinematographer:...
- 10/31/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Omar
Directed by Hany Abu-Assad
Palestine, 2013
Omar (Adam Bakri in his feature-film debut) considers himself a Palestinian freedom fighter. The Israeli authorities in the central West Bank consider him a terrorist. After participating in an assassination under the guidance of Tarek (Iyad Hoorani) and alongside his childhood friend Amjad (Samer Bisharat) he’s arrested and convinced to work as an informer.
The most thrilling part of this thriller is, oddly enough, not the action and suspense. It’s the love story. That’s rare for the genre, which usually lets any romantic angle stand to the side as filler.
Omar has long loved Nadia (Leem Lubany, the standout performer), Tarek’s younger sister. Their relationship, like the film, begins mostly silently with exchanged looks and notes before becoming something close to melodrama toward the middle of the second act. When Amjad comes into the picture as a potential suitor the plot twists,...
Directed by Hany Abu-Assad
Palestine, 2013
Omar (Adam Bakri in his feature-film debut) considers himself a Palestinian freedom fighter. The Israeli authorities in the central West Bank consider him a terrorist. After participating in an assassination under the guidance of Tarek (Iyad Hoorani) and alongside his childhood friend Amjad (Samer Bisharat) he’s arrested and convinced to work as an informer.
The most thrilling part of this thriller is, oddly enough, not the action and suspense. It’s the love story. That’s rare for the genre, which usually lets any romantic angle stand to the side as filler.
Omar has long loved Nadia (Leem Lubany, the standout performer), Tarek’s younger sister. Their relationship, like the film, begins mostly silently with exchanged looks and notes before becoming something close to melodrama toward the middle of the second act. When Amjad comes into the picture as a potential suitor the plot twists,...
- 2/21/2014
- by Neal Dhand
- SoundOnSight
Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox, Amit Virmani’s Menstrual Man and Shilpa Ranade’s The World of Goopi and Bagha have been nominated under different categories for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Rajeev Ravi has earned a nomination for Achievement in Cinematography in Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout.
The Lunchbox has been nominated for Best Screenplay while The World of Goopi and Bagha has been nominated in the Best Animated Feature Film category.
Amit Virmani’s Menstrual Man, a Singapore – India co-production, has been nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Film. The film made its Canadian Premiere at the HotDocs, the Canadian International Documentary Film Festival in Toronto and was screened at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa).
A total of 39 films from 22 countries will compete in nine different categories. The award ceremony will be held December 12, 2013 in Brisbane.
The jury is headed by Shyam Benegal and comprises South Korean director Kim Tae-yong,...
The Lunchbox has been nominated for Best Screenplay while The World of Goopi and Bagha has been nominated in the Best Animated Feature Film category.
Amit Virmani’s Menstrual Man, a Singapore – India co-production, has been nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Film. The film made its Canadian Premiere at the HotDocs, the Canadian International Documentary Film Festival in Toronto and was screened at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa).
A total of 39 films from 22 countries will compete in nine different categories. The award ceremony will be held December 12, 2013 in Brisbane.
The jury is headed by Shyam Benegal and comprises South Korean director Kim Tae-yong,...
- 11/12/2013
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
Tim Winton.s The Turning has been nominated for best feature film in the 7th annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa).
In his first lead role in Ivan Sen.s Mystery Road, Aaron Pedersen scored a nomination for best performance by an actor.
Mandy Walker is in contention for the achievement in in cinematography gong for John Curran.s Tracks, the first Australian nomination in this category in Apsa.s history.
New Zealand film Shopping, produced by Aussies Anna McLeish and Sarah Shaw of Warp Films, is in the running for best children.s feature.
Peter O.Brien plays the lead in Malaysian feature Almayer's Folly (Hanyut), whose writer/director U-Wei Bin Hajisaari is up for best screenplay.
Some 39 films from 21 Asia Pacific countries will compete in the awards which will be presented on December 12 in Brisbane.s City Hall.
Other nominees for best film are Asgha Farhadi.s The Past,...
In his first lead role in Ivan Sen.s Mystery Road, Aaron Pedersen scored a nomination for best performance by an actor.
Mandy Walker is in contention for the achievement in in cinematography gong for John Curran.s Tracks, the first Australian nomination in this category in Apsa.s history.
New Zealand film Shopping, produced by Aussies Anna McLeish and Sarah Shaw of Warp Films, is in the running for best children.s feature.
Peter O.Brien plays the lead in Malaysian feature Almayer's Folly (Hanyut), whose writer/director U-Wei Bin Hajisaari is up for best screenplay.
Some 39 films from 21 Asia Pacific countries will compete in the awards which will be presented on December 12 in Brisbane.s City Hall.
Other nominees for best film are Asgha Farhadi.s The Past,...
- 11/11/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Palestine’s Omar and Bangladesh’s Television among best feature nominees in the upcoming Asia Pacific Screen Awards.Scoll down for full list of nominations
Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s Television is one of six films in the running to win best feature at the 7th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSAs) - the first film from Bangladesh to ever be nominated.
Television directly deals with issues of modernity versus tradition in rural Bangladesh, making it a film well worth debating within the context of the APSAs, which celebrate both quality cinema and the cultural importance of film.
Television closed the Busan International Film Festival last year. If it wins Apsa’s highest accolade it will have impressed the jury more than Omar from Palestine; With You, Without You from Sri Lanka; Like Father, Like Son from Japan; The Turning;, an anthology film from Australia and The Past, directed by one of Apsa’s most high-profile regular contenders, Iranian...
Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s Television is one of six films in the running to win best feature at the 7th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSAs) - the first film from Bangladesh to ever be nominated.
Television directly deals with issues of modernity versus tradition in rural Bangladesh, making it a film well worth debating within the context of the APSAs, which celebrate both quality cinema and the cultural importance of film.
Television closed the Busan International Film Festival last year. If it wins Apsa’s highest accolade it will have impressed the jury more than Omar from Palestine; With You, Without You from Sri Lanka; Like Father, Like Son from Japan; The Turning;, an anthology film from Australia and The Past, directed by one of Apsa’s most high-profile regular contenders, Iranian...
- 11/11/2013
- by Sandy.George@me.com (Sandy George)
- ScreenDaily
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