“For an intellectual product of any value to exert an immediate influence which shall also be deep and lasting, it must rest on an inner harmony, yes, an affinity, between the personal destiny of its author and that of his contemporaries in general.”—Thomas Mann, Death in Venice Barry Lyndon. I can’t believe there was a time when I didn’t know that name. Barry Lyndon means an artwork both grand and glum. Sadness inconsolable. A cello bends out a lurid sound, staining the air before a piano droopingly follows in the third movement of Vivaldi's “Cello Concerto in E Minor.” This piece, which dominates the second half of the film, steers the hallowed half of my head to bask in the film’s high melancholic temperature. Why should I so often remember it? What did I have to do with this film? I only received it with...
- 10/15/2017
- MUBI
Each month, the fine folks at FilmStruck and the Criterion Collection spend countless hours crafting their channels to highlight the many different types of films that they have in their streaming library. This July will feature an exciting assortment of films, as noted below.
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Saturday, July 1 Changing Faces
What does a face tell us even when it’s disguised or disfigured? And what does it conceal? Guest curator Imogen Sara Smith, a critic and author of the book In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City, assembles a series of films that revolve around enigmatic faces transformed by masks, scars, and surgery, including Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face (1960) and Hiroshi Teshigahara’s The Face of Another (1966).
Tuesday, July 4 Tuesday’s Short + Feature: Premature* and Ten*
Come hitch a ride with Norwegian director Gunhild Enger and the late Iranian master...
To sign up for a free two-week trial here.
Saturday, July 1 Changing Faces
What does a face tell us even when it’s disguised or disfigured? And what does it conceal? Guest curator Imogen Sara Smith, a critic and author of the book In Lonely Places: Film Noir Beyond the City, assembles a series of films that revolve around enigmatic faces transformed by masks, scars, and surgery, including Georges Franju’s Eyes Without a Face (1960) and Hiroshi Teshigahara’s The Face of Another (1966).
Tuesday, July 4 Tuesday’s Short + Feature: Premature* and Ten*
Come hitch a ride with Norwegian director Gunhild Enger and the late Iranian master...
- 6/26/2017
- by Ryan Gallagher
- CriterionCast
You see “Iran” and think certain things. You go to Iran and see the people, the shops, street activity, the environment, its museums and you forget the two things about it which shape your emotional reaction to it: politics and history. Being one of two Americans attending the Fajr International Film Festival makes me feel responsible for sharing my best moments with a broader public.
The Fajr International Film Festival is a gala affair, small enough to meet and share time with the many participants, both filmmakers and invitees from countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Armenia, Turkey, Japan, Mongolia and Korea (and more!). I can only think of one other film event which offered such a luxurious array of experiences to go along with film watching (when Rosskino of Russia invited 25 U.S.distributors and us to Moscow and St. Petersburg and then repeated the event for Brics countries...
The Fajr International Film Festival is a gala affair, small enough to meet and share time with the many participants, both filmmakers and invitees from countries as diverse as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Armenia, Turkey, Japan, Mongolia and Korea (and more!). I can only think of one other film event which offered such a luxurious array of experiences to go along with film watching (when Rosskino of Russia invited 25 U.S.distributors and us to Moscow and St. Petersburg and then repeated the event for Brics countries...
- 5/1/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
For such a highly anticipated event, the Cannes Film Festival tends to contain a fairly predictable lineup: The Official Selection focuses on established auteurs whose work lands a coveted slot at the flashy gathering on autopilot. That was certainly the case last year, when the 2016 edition opened with a Woody Allen movie and featured new work from the likes of Pedro Almodovar, Nicolas Winding Refn, the Dardennes brothers and Olivier Assayas.
But we live in unpredictable times, and judging by today’s announcement of the Official Selection for Cannes 2017, even the world’s most powerful festival isn’t impervious to change. This year’s Cannes is filled with surprises: television and virtual reality, some intriguing non-fiction selections, and a whole lot of unknown quantities that push the festival in fresh directions.
That’s not to say that there aren’t a few familiar names that stand out. Todd Haynes is...
But we live in unpredictable times, and judging by today’s announcement of the Official Selection for Cannes 2017, even the world’s most powerful festival isn’t impervious to change. This year’s Cannes is filled with surprises: television and virtual reality, some intriguing non-fiction selections, and a whole lot of unknown quantities that push the festival in fresh directions.
That’s not to say that there aren’t a few familiar names that stand out. Todd Haynes is...
- 4/13/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
As the year comes to a close, there is one group we’ve yet to hear from about the Best of 2016: The Directors.
Filmmakers are busy folks, and some were instantly wary about making a list, with “I haven’t seen enough movies to make a top ten list” a common reply. So we decided to keep it loose. Including TV and other forms of entertainment was encouraged, how they chose to frame their list was totally flexible, and even if they only had a handful of projects they wanted to highlight, IndieWire made it clear we wanted to know what inspired them this year.
The most exciting thing, beyond how many great directors replied, is the time and energy they put into their lists. Be it Kirsten Johnson’s tribute to Abbas Kiarostami, Paul Feig’s surprise message to “Ghostbuster” trolls, Jennifer Kent teasing the start of her new film,...
Filmmakers are busy folks, and some were instantly wary about making a list, with “I haven’t seen enough movies to make a top ten list” a common reply. So we decided to keep it loose. Including TV and other forms of entertainment was encouraged, how they chose to frame their list was totally flexible, and even if they only had a handful of projects they wanted to highlight, IndieWire made it clear we wanted to know what inspired them this year.
The most exciting thing, beyond how many great directors replied, is the time and energy they put into their lists. Be it Kirsten Johnson’s tribute to Abbas Kiarostami, Paul Feig’s surprise message to “Ghostbuster” trolls, Jennifer Kent teasing the start of her new film,...
- 12/28/2016
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
NEWSRaoul Coutard shooting BreathlessThe great cinematographer Raoul Coutard, legendary for his work shooting Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless, and also a collaborator of Philippe Garrel, Nagisa Oshima, Costa-Gavras and François Truffaut, has died at the age of 92.Keep film alive! The New York non-profit film organization Mono No Aware has launched a Kickstarter to fund "the nation's first ever non-profit motion picture lab." An ambitious and worthy goal!Two film projects in the works we're very excited about: Claire Denis' High Life, starring Robert Pattinson and Patricia Arquette and co-written by Zadie Smith, and Leos Carax's Annette, a musical to star Adam Driver (everywhere these days!) and Rooney Mara.The Film Society of Lincoln Center has announced the first part of its retrospective devoted to exiled Chilean fabulist Raúl Ruiz, which will include new digital restorations of Bérénice (1983) and The Golden Boat (1990), as well as 35mm prints of such...
- 11/29/2016
- MUBI
The Iranian director talks to Screen about capturing contemporary Iranian youth and Tehran in Malaria.
Iranian director Parviz Shahbazi makes his Venice debut with contemporary drama Malaria about two young elopers who find temporary refuge with a bohemian band in Tehran.
Ingeniously piecing the tale together through images found on a lost cell phone, Shahbazi paints an at once joyful and sombre picture of contemporary Tehran and the compromised reality of Iranian youth.
Iranian film and TV star Saed Soheili co-stars as the hot-headed Murry who flees the provinces with his girlfriend Hanna, played by big screen newcomer Saghar Ghanaat, incurring the wrath of her violent father.
Azarakhsh Farahani, brother of Golshifteh Farahani, also features in the cast as Avi, the chaotic leader of an impoverished rock band called Malaria who picks-up the couple as they thumb a lift to Tehran.
It marks the beginning of a youthful adventure, taking the couple into the heart of the...
Iranian director Parviz Shahbazi makes his Venice debut with contemporary drama Malaria about two young elopers who find temporary refuge with a bohemian band in Tehran.
Ingeniously piecing the tale together through images found on a lost cell phone, Shahbazi paints an at once joyful and sombre picture of contemporary Tehran and the compromised reality of Iranian youth.
Iranian film and TV star Saed Soheili co-stars as the hot-headed Murry who flees the provinces with his girlfriend Hanna, played by big screen newcomer Saghar Ghanaat, incurring the wrath of her violent father.
Azarakhsh Farahani, brother of Golshifteh Farahani, also features in the cast as Avi, the chaotic leader of an impoverished rock band called Malaria who picks-up the couple as they thumb a lift to Tehran.
It marks the beginning of a youthful adventure, taking the couple into the heart of the...
- 9/9/2016
- ScreenDaily
NEWSBarry Jenkins' MoonlightThe New York Film Festival has announced its main slate, which among many of the year's better known titles includes new films by Barry Jenkins, Hong Sang-soo and Alison Maclean. The closing night film will be James Gray's The Lost City of Z.Recommended VIEWINGThe teaser for Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. We are notable fans of this too often derided filmmaker.Another future-set teaser: Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi flick Arrival, which is to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.A third teaser, this one for Woody Allen's series for Amazon, Crisis in Six Scenes.Aussie director John Hillcoat made one of the more under-appreciated big budget films this year, Triple 9, and now he returns to the director's seat for a video for Massive Attack, featuring Hope Sandoval and Cate Blanchett.Recommended READINGThe ShallowsIn a moment when any...
- 8/10/2016
- MUBI
Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, videos, and other highlights from across the Internet. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.
See the 40 greatest movie jump scares:
RogerEbert.com‘s Matt Zoller Seitz talks to Gena Rowlands about her career:
I get a lot of questions about John and how he started doing films. Independent films. A lot of the people asking these questions are young people who are interested in doing their own films. I like knowing that there are people out there who admire the work we did together, and still consider John an example of how this can be done. And he still is. He still is an example.
Listen to Michael Cimino and Kris Kristofferson discuss Heaven’s Gate and its revival at Nyff in...
See the 40 greatest movie jump scares:
RogerEbert.com‘s Matt Zoller Seitz talks to Gena Rowlands about her career:
I get a lot of questions about John and how he started doing films. Independent films. A lot of the people asking these questions are young people who are interested in doing their own films. I like knowing that there are people out there who admire the work we did together, and still consider John an example of how this can be done. And he still is. He still is an example.
Listen to Michael Cimino and Kris Kristofferson discuss Heaven’s Gate and its revival at Nyff in...
- 7/11/2016
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
In the political discourse, when a country addresses another, whether in positive or negative terms, such statements often fail to differentiate between said country’s government and its people, between the government’s policies and the people’s unheard sentiment towards these.
While useful in the theoretical realm in which politics take place, these generalizations create a distorted image of the foreign nation fed by assumptions and dangerously insensitive stereotypes. It’s much easier for rulers to justify their actions if the adversary is made out to look like an irredeemable villain. Sensationalism and ignorance are weapons far more destructive than missiles, because once the smoke dissipates hatred remains.
On that note, it should be clear that the Iranian people are not the Iranian government. Their rich cultural history is not reflected in the actions of those in power, but in the prevailing elegance and allure of their artwork. Remarkable poets, musicians, painters, and, what we are mostly concerned with here, filmmakers.
The history of Iranian cinema is vast and has survived the many transitions and troubling periods the country has experienced. Even more impressive is the fact that as masterfully as Iranian filmmakers and actors understand the medium, they have never watered down their individuality for the sake of mainstream international success. Instead, they’ve managed to create their unique cinematic language that aligns with their idiosyncrasies and that is not silenced despite the hardships they face, but finds a way around censorship or defies it altogether.
Certainly not a definitive list, the following collection of films aims to be an introduction to the compelling and diverse voices within this captivating national cinema and to encourage you to seek out other films in the future. There are films here that are concerned with rural and working class lifestyles, others that focus on the traditions of ethnic minorities, those that deal with the modern middle class, and also several works denouncing the country’s political situation and the oppression that comes with it.
There are also some films that are note worthy even if they don’t easily fit within the parameters of what an Iranian film is.
Special Mentions:
-Iranian-American director Ana Lily Amirpour and her outstanding Farsi-language debut “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night,” a visually striking vampire story set in a fictional Iranian town.
-American filmmaker Till Schauder and his documentary “The Iran Job,” which follows Kevin Sheppard, an American professional basketball player in Iran, and uses his experience to build cultural bridges between the two countries.
-Farhadi’s “The Past,” which though is not precisely an Iranian story, continues to show the director’s specific talent for greatly written, puzzling narratives both in his home country and abroad.
-Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's “Chicken with Plums,” a gorgeously whimsical and darkly comedic love story set in pre-revolutionary Tehran starring Mathieu Amalric.
Lastly, in honor of Nowruz or Persian New Year, which is a peaceful celebration of renewal and rebirth that takes place from March 20-24 in Iran and Iranian communities around the world, let’s remember the deeply moving and wise words that Asghar Farhadi gifted us during his acceptance speech on Oscar night a few years back. No one could have said it better than him.
“At this time many Iranians all over the world are watching us, and I imagine them to be very happy. They are happy not just because of an important award, or a film, or a filmmaker, but because at a time in which talk of war, intimidation, and aggression is exchanged between politicians, the name of their country, Iran, is spoken here through her glorious culture, a rich and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics. I proudly offer this award to the people of my country, a people that respect all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment. Thank you so much.” –Director Asghar Farhadi after winning the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award for “A Separation” on February 26, 2012
1. "About Elly" (2009)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
In Farhadi's tense psychological drama a casual trip to the sea evolves into a subtly plotted mystery. The director's depiction of the Iranian middle class in such a fascinatingly unexpected story connected with both local and international audiences earning him awards at home and abroad, among them Berlin's Silver Bear.
*The Cinema Guild will release the film theatrically on April 17, 2015
2. "Baran" (2001)
Dir. Majid Majidi
Taking a look at the diverse ethnic groups that coexist in Iran, the film follows a love story between a man and a young Afghan woman who must pretend to be a man in order to work. Eliciting truly naturalistic performance from his cast Majidi gives voice to his almost silent protagonist, a woman caught up in a system designed by men.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch
3. "Children of Heaven" (1997)
Dir. Majid Majidi
Iran's first ever Academy Award nominated film is also Majidi's most renowned work. Innocence permeates this sweet story about two siblings from a working class family trying to find a pair of missing shoes. Their adventure delivers valuable life lessons that are at once heartwarming and profound. Unquestionably a classic.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Lionsgate
4. "Closed Curtain" (2013)
Dir. Jafar Panahi & Kambuzia Partovi
In this enigmatic observation on repression and surveillance an anonymous screenwriter, played by co-director Kambuzia Partovi, hides with his dog in a secluded location. Eventually, as other surprising characters appear, the film becomes a complex dance between reality and fabrication. Both filmmakers had their passports confiscated by the Iranian government due to the subversive content of the film.
*Available on Amazon Instant Video
5. "Close-Up" (1990)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
In one of the greatest examples of reality and fiction blending in almost seamless ways, Abbas Kiarostami's masterwork poses complex questions about identity. When a film buff impersonates his favorite director, who happens to Mohsen Makhmalbaf , a series of events unravel as he plans his next, fake, film. Surreally enough the film is based on a true story and stars the actual people involved. It's all brilliantly meta.
*Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Criterion
6. "The Color of Paradise" (1999)
Dir. Majid Majidi
Though rejected by his father, a young blind boy rejoices in nature’s beauty and tries to understand the meaning of his struggles with the help of a mentor with the same condition. Showcasing Iran’s visually stunning rural landscapes and delicately embedding with philosophical concerns, Majidi’s poetic film delivers wisdom in wondrously unassuming ways.
*Available on DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
7. "The Cow" (1969)
Dir. Dariush Mehrjui
Considered a turning point in the nation’s cinematic history, this black-and-white work revolves around a man’s devotion for his cow and how its disappearance drives him into madness. While seemingly simple in its conception, Mehrjui manages to compellingly highlight the country’s traditional lifestyles.
*Available on DVD from First Run Features
8. "Fireworks Wednesday" (2006)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Intimate conflicts in the Iranian middle class are Farhadi’s expertise and this domestic drama, set fittingly during the celebrations prior to the Persian New Year, is no exception. When a soon-to-be bride in need of money for her wedding gets a job cleaning a family’s house, their secrets begin to unravel through their interaction and confrontations.
*Available on DVD from Facets
9. "Gabbeh" (1996)
Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Taking its name from a type of Persian carpet, this stunningly evocative fable is adorned with mysticism and magical realist elements that shine through its colorful visual palette. Gabbeh, a young nomadic woman who is likely the incarnation of one of these traditional rugs, falls in love with horseman, but her community follows beliefs that hinder her desire.
*Available on DVD from New Yorker Video
10. "The Green Wave" (2010)
Dir. Ali Samadi Ahadi
Told through striking animated sequences, interviews and footage from the protests, this documentary constructs a bold portrait of the 2009 Green Movement following Ahmadinejad’s reelection. The regime's strong grip over its citizens is exposed, but the spirit of the Iranian people demanding change is even stronger.
*Available on DVD from Strand Releasing
11. "Hamoun" (1990)
Dir. Dariush Mehrjui
Underscored by subdued comedy and poignant dream sequences, Mehrjui’s visionary drama centers on the decaying relationship between Hamoun, a businessman with hopes of becoming a writer, and his wife Mahshid, a painter. Insanity takes over him when she decides to divorce him because of his angry outbursts. A series of drastic occurrences ensue.
*Available on DVD from First Run Features
12. "Kandahar" (2001)
Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Despite being set in Afghanistan, this Iranian production is a powerful achievement that unveils the unjust treatment of women, not only under the Taliban’s control, but also in the entire region. Nafas, an Afghan women living in Canada, decides to return to her homeland to find her depressed sister. Through this dangerous journey she discovers much more about life in the war-torn country than she expected.
*Available on DVD from New Yorker Video
13. "Leila" (1997)
Dir. Dariush Mehrjui
Starting famous Iranian actress Leila Hatami in one her earliest roles as a married woman unable to have children, this conjugal drama explores the role of women within Iranian society. Leila’s husband, Reza (played by “The Past” star Ali Mosaffa), loves her, but his mother wants him to get another wife that can give him a son. The title character is divided between her happiness and what others think is best for her marriage.
*Available on DVD from First Run Features
14. "Manuscripts Don't Burn" (2013)
Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
Rasoulof’s brave and searing political statement was shot illegally going against the20-year-ban from filmmaking imposed on him by the Iranian government. It denounces the terrifying lack of freedom of expression via the thrilling story a pair of writers risking it all to protect an incendiary manuscript that authorities are eager to destroy.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Kino Lorber
15. "Marooned in Iraq" (2002)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Highlighting the rich Kurdish culture, both in Iran and Iraq, Ghobadi’s film is set in the aftermath of the ravaging Gulf War. Marooned is an elderly man who must travel across the mountainous landscape that divides the two countries to find his ex-wife. While portraying the horrors of war in an affecting manner, the film is also a life-affirming work that finds hope in the most surprising places.
*Available on DVD from Wellspring
16. "My Tehran for Sale"
Dir. Granaz Moussavi
Devastating and current, this debut feature from renowned poet turned filmmaker Granaz Moussavi is a hard-hitting critique on the blatant criminalization of artists in Iran. An actress banned from her profession questions whether she should remain in the country or flee. Getting to safety means leaving everything she knows behind. There are no easy options for her.
*Available on DVD from Global Lens
17. "No One Knows About Persian Cats" (2009)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Music as the banner of freedom is the focus of Ghobadi’s film about the underground rock scene in Tehran. Secular music is essentially forbidden, and playing in public is considered a criminal act punished with prison. Crafted between reality and fiction, this quasi-documentary takes a look at a group of young musicians desperate to express themselves through their art.
*Available on DVD from Mpi Home Video
18. "Offside" (2006)
Dir. Jafar Panahi
Attending sporting events is prohibited for women in Iran, but that doesn’t stop many of them who go as far as to dress like men to get in. Panahi’s touching and insightful film takes place during the 2006 World Cup Qualifying match between Iran and Bahrain, and follows several girls who despite being excluded cheer for their team as joyfully as any fan would.
*Available on DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
19. "Persepolis" (2007)
Dir. Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud
Nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, this French-language marvel is based on Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel by the same name. With eye-popping hand-drawn animation, the film revisits the director’s childhood and teenage years in Iran during the events leading up to the Islamic Revolution. It’s a love letter to the bittersweet memories of the Iran Satrapi knew.
*Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
20. "A Separation" (2011)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Dealing with a marriage in turmoil facing the country's peculiar judicial system, Farhadi’s masterpiece is the most acclaimed film in the history of Iranian cinema and earned the country's first Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay for its enthralling thriller-like narrative that grips the audience until its unnerving conclusion. A must see!
*Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
21. "The Song of Sparrows" (2008)
Dir. Majid Majidi
When Karim (played by Berlin’s Silver Bear Winner Reza Naji), an ostrich farm worker, is forced to find a new job in the city to pay for his daughter’s hearing aid, Iran’s rural and urban realms collide. Thanks to the captivating grace that characterizes Majidi’s films, poverty and misfortune are observed here not with pity but with an optimistic and undefeated perspective.
*Available on DVD from E1 Entertainment
22." Taste of Cherry" (1997)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
This quiet and minimalist meditation on death and the simple joys of its antithesis is the first and only Iranian film to have won the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes. Kiarostami follows a man who has decided to commit suicide and is looking for someone to help him achieve this. However, those he recruits along the way come with their own views on the meaning of our existence and attempt to persuade him to reconsider.
*Available on DVD from Criterion
23. "Ten" (2002)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
A female cabbie drives through the streets of Tehran picking up an array of characters that via their casual conversations shine a light on the Iranian society’s expectations of women. Constructed of ten individual scenes in which the only constant is the driver, this heavily improvised and peculiarly shot cinematic experiment is a work of fiction embedded with truth in every frame.
*Available on DVD from Zeitgeist Films
24. "This is Not a Film" (2011)
Dir. Mojtaba Mirtahmasb & Jafar Panahi
In an effort to tell his story despite being banned from filmmaking and under house arrest, filmmaker Jafar Panahi takes his frustration and ingeniously turns it into a courageous visual statement. Whether is shooting video with his cell phone or blocking an imaginary scene in his living room, his passion for storytelling is resilient even when confronting such suffocating censorship.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Palisades Tartan
25. "A Time for Drunken Horses" (2000)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
With the snow-covered Zagros Mountains as backdrop, Ghobadi’s debut feature tells the story of Ayoub, a young Kurdish boy who must provide for his siblings after their mother’s death. Added to the already difficult circumstances, his handicapped brother desperately needs a surgery. This pushes the heroic kid to persevere against all odds in the hostile environment.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Kino Lorber
26. "Turtles Can Fly" (2004)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Commanding a cast made almost entirely of children Ghobadi sets his film in an Iraqi Kurdish refugee camp just before the American occupation of 2003. Making a living by clearing the hazardous minefields that surround them, a group of orphan children create a small community to survive. The atrocities of war are ever-present, but like in most of the director’s works, the triumph of the human spirit is at the film's core.
*Available on Amazon Instant Video
27. "The White Balloon" (1995)
Dir. Jafar Panahi
Written by Kiarostami and directed by Panahi this is another film set during the important Persian New Year celebrations. It centers on a little girl trying to convince her parents to buy her a goldfish and who gets in a couple mishaps along the way. With utmost innocence, the seemingly simple premise manages to be a charming delight that showcases family values and ancient virtues with a nice dose of humor. It’s an uplifting gem.
*Sadly the film is not curently availble in any format in the U.S. Hopefully Criterion or another distributor will fix this soon.
28. "The White Meadows" (2009)
Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
While ethereal, almost otherworldly imagery achieved by cinematographer Ebrahim Ghafori is reason enough to see this film, Rasoulof’s poetic storytelling elevates it to even greater intellectual heights. By using a barren coastal land and its inhabitant as a metaphor for the intolerance and injustice that many of his compatriots -creative people in particular - confront everyday, the filmmaker denounces these evils through melancholic beauty.
*Available on DVD from Global Lens
29. "The Willow Tree" (2005)
Dir. Majid Majidi
A writer, who had been blinded in an accident as a child, regains his vision as a middle aged adult only to be challenged by a world that has become foreign to him. At first, his miraculous new situation appears to be an answer to a prayer, but Majidi soon shows us how vision can become a curse in this spiritual drama about fate and regret. Exquisitely shot and sporting visceral performances, the film is both heart-rending and though provoking.
*Available on DVD from New Yorker Films
30. "The Wind Will Carry Us" (1999)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
Taking the audience on a trip to an untainted region of Iran where tradition hasn’t yet been disrupted by modernity, the acclaimed director crafted another unforgettable experience. Sublimely executed, the film joins four journalists pretending to be engineers as they document the funerary rituals of the local Kurdish people. More than learning about them as researchers, their interactions force them to engage on a much more human level.
*Availble on Blu-ray and DVD from Cohen Media Group...
While useful in the theoretical realm in which politics take place, these generalizations create a distorted image of the foreign nation fed by assumptions and dangerously insensitive stereotypes. It’s much easier for rulers to justify their actions if the adversary is made out to look like an irredeemable villain. Sensationalism and ignorance are weapons far more destructive than missiles, because once the smoke dissipates hatred remains.
On that note, it should be clear that the Iranian people are not the Iranian government. Their rich cultural history is not reflected in the actions of those in power, but in the prevailing elegance and allure of their artwork. Remarkable poets, musicians, painters, and, what we are mostly concerned with here, filmmakers.
The history of Iranian cinema is vast and has survived the many transitions and troubling periods the country has experienced. Even more impressive is the fact that as masterfully as Iranian filmmakers and actors understand the medium, they have never watered down their individuality for the sake of mainstream international success. Instead, they’ve managed to create their unique cinematic language that aligns with their idiosyncrasies and that is not silenced despite the hardships they face, but finds a way around censorship or defies it altogether.
Certainly not a definitive list, the following collection of films aims to be an introduction to the compelling and diverse voices within this captivating national cinema and to encourage you to seek out other films in the future. There are films here that are concerned with rural and working class lifestyles, others that focus on the traditions of ethnic minorities, those that deal with the modern middle class, and also several works denouncing the country’s political situation and the oppression that comes with it.
There are also some films that are note worthy even if they don’t easily fit within the parameters of what an Iranian film is.
Special Mentions:
-Iranian-American director Ana Lily Amirpour and her outstanding Farsi-language debut “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night,” a visually striking vampire story set in a fictional Iranian town.
-American filmmaker Till Schauder and his documentary “The Iran Job,” which follows Kevin Sheppard, an American professional basketball player in Iran, and uses his experience to build cultural bridges between the two countries.
-Farhadi’s “The Past,” which though is not precisely an Iranian story, continues to show the director’s specific talent for greatly written, puzzling narratives both in his home country and abroad.
-Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's “Chicken with Plums,” a gorgeously whimsical and darkly comedic love story set in pre-revolutionary Tehran starring Mathieu Amalric.
Lastly, in honor of Nowruz or Persian New Year, which is a peaceful celebration of renewal and rebirth that takes place from March 20-24 in Iran and Iranian communities around the world, let’s remember the deeply moving and wise words that Asghar Farhadi gifted us during his acceptance speech on Oscar night a few years back. No one could have said it better than him.
“At this time many Iranians all over the world are watching us, and I imagine them to be very happy. They are happy not just because of an important award, or a film, or a filmmaker, but because at a time in which talk of war, intimidation, and aggression is exchanged between politicians, the name of their country, Iran, is spoken here through her glorious culture, a rich and ancient culture that has been hidden under the heavy dust of politics. I proudly offer this award to the people of my country, a people that respect all cultures and civilizations and despise hostility and resentment. Thank you so much.” –Director Asghar Farhadi after winning the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award for “A Separation” on February 26, 2012
1. "About Elly" (2009)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
In Farhadi's tense psychological drama a casual trip to the sea evolves into a subtly plotted mystery. The director's depiction of the Iranian middle class in such a fascinatingly unexpected story connected with both local and international audiences earning him awards at home and abroad, among them Berlin's Silver Bear.
*The Cinema Guild will release the film theatrically on April 17, 2015
2. "Baran" (2001)
Dir. Majid Majidi
Taking a look at the diverse ethnic groups that coexist in Iran, the film follows a love story between a man and a young Afghan woman who must pretend to be a man in order to work. Eliciting truly naturalistic performance from his cast Majidi gives voice to his almost silent protagonist, a woman caught up in a system designed by men.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch
3. "Children of Heaven" (1997)
Dir. Majid Majidi
Iran's first ever Academy Award nominated film is also Majidi's most renowned work. Innocence permeates this sweet story about two siblings from a working class family trying to find a pair of missing shoes. Their adventure delivers valuable life lessons that are at once heartwarming and profound. Unquestionably a classic.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Lionsgate
4. "Closed Curtain" (2013)
Dir. Jafar Panahi & Kambuzia Partovi
In this enigmatic observation on repression and surveillance an anonymous screenwriter, played by co-director Kambuzia Partovi, hides with his dog in a secluded location. Eventually, as other surprising characters appear, the film becomes a complex dance between reality and fabrication. Both filmmakers had their passports confiscated by the Iranian government due to the subversive content of the film.
*Available on Amazon Instant Video
5. "Close-Up" (1990)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
In one of the greatest examples of reality and fiction blending in almost seamless ways, Abbas Kiarostami's masterwork poses complex questions about identity. When a film buff impersonates his favorite director, who happens to Mohsen Makhmalbaf , a series of events unravel as he plans his next, fake, film. Surreally enough the film is based on a true story and stars the actual people involved. It's all brilliantly meta.
*Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Criterion
6. "The Color of Paradise" (1999)
Dir. Majid Majidi
Though rejected by his father, a young blind boy rejoices in nature’s beauty and tries to understand the meaning of his struggles with the help of a mentor with the same condition. Showcasing Iran’s visually stunning rural landscapes and delicately embedding with philosophical concerns, Majidi’s poetic film delivers wisdom in wondrously unassuming ways.
*Available on DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
7. "The Cow" (1969)
Dir. Dariush Mehrjui
Considered a turning point in the nation’s cinematic history, this black-and-white work revolves around a man’s devotion for his cow and how its disappearance drives him into madness. While seemingly simple in its conception, Mehrjui manages to compellingly highlight the country’s traditional lifestyles.
*Available on DVD from First Run Features
8. "Fireworks Wednesday" (2006)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Intimate conflicts in the Iranian middle class are Farhadi’s expertise and this domestic drama, set fittingly during the celebrations prior to the Persian New Year, is no exception. When a soon-to-be bride in need of money for her wedding gets a job cleaning a family’s house, their secrets begin to unravel through their interaction and confrontations.
*Available on DVD from Facets
9. "Gabbeh" (1996)
Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Taking its name from a type of Persian carpet, this stunningly evocative fable is adorned with mysticism and magical realist elements that shine through its colorful visual palette. Gabbeh, a young nomadic woman who is likely the incarnation of one of these traditional rugs, falls in love with horseman, but her community follows beliefs that hinder her desire.
*Available on DVD from New Yorker Video
10. "The Green Wave" (2010)
Dir. Ali Samadi Ahadi
Told through striking animated sequences, interviews and footage from the protests, this documentary constructs a bold portrait of the 2009 Green Movement following Ahmadinejad’s reelection. The regime's strong grip over its citizens is exposed, but the spirit of the Iranian people demanding change is even stronger.
*Available on DVD from Strand Releasing
11. "Hamoun" (1990)
Dir. Dariush Mehrjui
Underscored by subdued comedy and poignant dream sequences, Mehrjui’s visionary drama centers on the decaying relationship between Hamoun, a businessman with hopes of becoming a writer, and his wife Mahshid, a painter. Insanity takes over him when she decides to divorce him because of his angry outbursts. A series of drastic occurrences ensue.
*Available on DVD from First Run Features
12. "Kandahar" (2001)
Dir. Mohsen Makhmalbaf
Despite being set in Afghanistan, this Iranian production is a powerful achievement that unveils the unjust treatment of women, not only under the Taliban’s control, but also in the entire region. Nafas, an Afghan women living in Canada, decides to return to her homeland to find her depressed sister. Through this dangerous journey she discovers much more about life in the war-torn country than she expected.
*Available on DVD from New Yorker Video
13. "Leila" (1997)
Dir. Dariush Mehrjui
Starting famous Iranian actress Leila Hatami in one her earliest roles as a married woman unable to have children, this conjugal drama explores the role of women within Iranian society. Leila’s husband, Reza (played by “The Past” star Ali Mosaffa), loves her, but his mother wants him to get another wife that can give him a son. The title character is divided between her happiness and what others think is best for her marriage.
*Available on DVD from First Run Features
14. "Manuscripts Don't Burn" (2013)
Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
Rasoulof’s brave and searing political statement was shot illegally going against the20-year-ban from filmmaking imposed on him by the Iranian government. It denounces the terrifying lack of freedom of expression via the thrilling story a pair of writers risking it all to protect an incendiary manuscript that authorities are eager to destroy.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Kino Lorber
15. "Marooned in Iraq" (2002)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Highlighting the rich Kurdish culture, both in Iran and Iraq, Ghobadi’s film is set in the aftermath of the ravaging Gulf War. Marooned is an elderly man who must travel across the mountainous landscape that divides the two countries to find his ex-wife. While portraying the horrors of war in an affecting manner, the film is also a life-affirming work that finds hope in the most surprising places.
*Available on DVD from Wellspring
16. "My Tehran for Sale"
Dir. Granaz Moussavi
Devastating and current, this debut feature from renowned poet turned filmmaker Granaz Moussavi is a hard-hitting critique on the blatant criminalization of artists in Iran. An actress banned from her profession questions whether she should remain in the country or flee. Getting to safety means leaving everything she knows behind. There are no easy options for her.
*Available on DVD from Global Lens
17. "No One Knows About Persian Cats" (2009)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Music as the banner of freedom is the focus of Ghobadi’s film about the underground rock scene in Tehran. Secular music is essentially forbidden, and playing in public is considered a criminal act punished with prison. Crafted between reality and fiction, this quasi-documentary takes a look at a group of young musicians desperate to express themselves through their art.
*Available on DVD from Mpi Home Video
18. "Offside" (2006)
Dir. Jafar Panahi
Attending sporting events is prohibited for women in Iran, but that doesn’t stop many of them who go as far as to dress like men to get in. Panahi’s touching and insightful film takes place during the 2006 World Cup Qualifying match between Iran and Bahrain, and follows several girls who despite being excluded cheer for their team as joyfully as any fan would.
*Available on DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
19. "Persepolis" (2007)
Dir. Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud
Nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, this French-language marvel is based on Satrapi’s autobiographical graphic novel by the same name. With eye-popping hand-drawn animation, the film revisits the director’s childhood and teenage years in Iran during the events leading up to the Islamic Revolution. It’s a love letter to the bittersweet memories of the Iran Satrapi knew.
*Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
20. "A Separation" (2011)
Dir. Asghar Farhadi
Dealing with a marriage in turmoil facing the country's peculiar judicial system, Farhadi’s masterpiece is the most acclaimed film in the history of Iranian cinema and earned the country's first Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also nominated for Best Original Screenplay for its enthralling thriller-like narrative that grips the audience until its unnerving conclusion. A must see!
*Available on Blu-ray & DVD from Sony Pictures Classics
21. "The Song of Sparrows" (2008)
Dir. Majid Majidi
When Karim (played by Berlin’s Silver Bear Winner Reza Naji), an ostrich farm worker, is forced to find a new job in the city to pay for his daughter’s hearing aid, Iran’s rural and urban realms collide. Thanks to the captivating grace that characterizes Majidi’s films, poverty and misfortune are observed here not with pity but with an optimistic and undefeated perspective.
*Available on DVD from E1 Entertainment
22." Taste of Cherry" (1997)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
This quiet and minimalist meditation on death and the simple joys of its antithesis is the first and only Iranian film to have won the coveted Palme d’Or at Cannes. Kiarostami follows a man who has decided to commit suicide and is looking for someone to help him achieve this. However, those he recruits along the way come with their own views on the meaning of our existence and attempt to persuade him to reconsider.
*Available on DVD from Criterion
23. "Ten" (2002)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
A female cabbie drives through the streets of Tehran picking up an array of characters that via their casual conversations shine a light on the Iranian society’s expectations of women. Constructed of ten individual scenes in which the only constant is the driver, this heavily improvised and peculiarly shot cinematic experiment is a work of fiction embedded with truth in every frame.
*Available on DVD from Zeitgeist Films
24. "This is Not a Film" (2011)
Dir. Mojtaba Mirtahmasb & Jafar Panahi
In an effort to tell his story despite being banned from filmmaking and under house arrest, filmmaker Jafar Panahi takes his frustration and ingeniously turns it into a courageous visual statement. Whether is shooting video with his cell phone or blocking an imaginary scene in his living room, his passion for storytelling is resilient even when confronting such suffocating censorship.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Palisades Tartan
25. "A Time for Drunken Horses" (2000)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
With the snow-covered Zagros Mountains as backdrop, Ghobadi’s debut feature tells the story of Ayoub, a young Kurdish boy who must provide for his siblings after their mother’s death. Added to the already difficult circumstances, his handicapped brother desperately needs a surgery. This pushes the heroic kid to persevere against all odds in the hostile environment.
*Available on Netflix Instant Watch and on DVD from Kino Lorber
26. "Turtles Can Fly" (2004)
Dir. Bahman Ghobadi
Commanding a cast made almost entirely of children Ghobadi sets his film in an Iraqi Kurdish refugee camp just before the American occupation of 2003. Making a living by clearing the hazardous minefields that surround them, a group of orphan children create a small community to survive. The atrocities of war are ever-present, but like in most of the director’s works, the triumph of the human spirit is at the film's core.
*Available on Amazon Instant Video
27. "The White Balloon" (1995)
Dir. Jafar Panahi
Written by Kiarostami and directed by Panahi this is another film set during the important Persian New Year celebrations. It centers on a little girl trying to convince her parents to buy her a goldfish and who gets in a couple mishaps along the way. With utmost innocence, the seemingly simple premise manages to be a charming delight that showcases family values and ancient virtues with a nice dose of humor. It’s an uplifting gem.
*Sadly the film is not curently availble in any format in the U.S. Hopefully Criterion or another distributor will fix this soon.
28. "The White Meadows" (2009)
Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
While ethereal, almost otherworldly imagery achieved by cinematographer Ebrahim Ghafori is reason enough to see this film, Rasoulof’s poetic storytelling elevates it to even greater intellectual heights. By using a barren coastal land and its inhabitant as a metaphor for the intolerance and injustice that many of his compatriots -creative people in particular - confront everyday, the filmmaker denounces these evils through melancholic beauty.
*Available on DVD from Global Lens
29. "The Willow Tree" (2005)
Dir. Majid Majidi
A writer, who had been blinded in an accident as a child, regains his vision as a middle aged adult only to be challenged by a world that has become foreign to him. At first, his miraculous new situation appears to be an answer to a prayer, but Majidi soon shows us how vision can become a curse in this spiritual drama about fate and regret. Exquisitely shot and sporting visceral performances, the film is both heart-rending and though provoking.
*Available on DVD from New Yorker Films
30. "The Wind Will Carry Us" (1999)
Dir. Abbas Kiarostami
Taking the audience on a trip to an untainted region of Iran where tradition hasn’t yet been disrupted by modernity, the acclaimed director crafted another unforgettable experience. Sublimely executed, the film joins four journalists pretending to be engineers as they document the funerary rituals of the local Kurdish people. More than learning about them as researchers, their interactions force them to engage on a much more human level.
*Availble on Blu-ray and DVD from Cohen Media Group...
- 3/23/2015
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
How would you program this year's newest, most interesting films into double features with movies of the past you saw in 2014?
Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2014—in theatres or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2014 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2014 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch...
Looking back over the year at what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2014—in theatres or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2014 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were given the option to write some text explaining their 2014 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch...
- 1/5/2015
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Shirin (Abbas Kiarostami, 2008) is playing on Mubi Us through October 7, 2014.
As Abbas Kiarostami's 2008 Shirin begins, viewers hear a gate open or close, followed by dripping water and slow, deliberate footsteps. One might imagine a dark and musty dungeon with the faint shadow of an unseen figure sweeping across the stone wall. But the scene is a mystery and this would only be speculation. A close-up shot reveals a woman in a room so dark her hair and hijab almost disappear. She stares forward with a look of tempered curiosity as she pops a snack into her mouth. The footsteps continue and it’s immediately clear that the woman is in a theater watching the film to which the sounds belong.
The next scene is similar, with a different woman who appears to be patiently anticipating plot development.
As Abbas Kiarostami's 2008 Shirin begins, viewers hear a gate open or close, followed by dripping water and slow, deliberate footsteps. One might imagine a dark and musty dungeon with the faint shadow of an unseen figure sweeping across the stone wall. But the scene is a mystery and this would only be speculation. A close-up shot reveals a woman in a room so dark her hair and hijab almost disappear. She stares forward with a look of tempered curiosity as she pops a snack into her mouth. The footsteps continue and it’s immediately clear that the woman is in a theater watching the film to which the sounds belong.
The next scene is similar, with a different woman who appears to be patiently anticipating plot development.
- 9/19/2014
- by Matthew Harrison Tedford
- MUBI
It’s a confusing time to be a cinephile. Some mournfully toll the death knell of the medium, with the near-total cessation of celluloid projection a symbolic end-point. Others insist that the prospects for audio-visual expression have never been brighter. They point to a vast array of new platforms and settings: whether in gallery-based video installations, high-end television series, or global video-sharing websites such as YouTube. But what of the once-cherished act of seeing a feature film with an audience in a theater? Many think it will go the way of opera. Yet alongside the digital enormities of the multiplex, formally and thematically challenging work continues to be made and shown on the festival circuit and elsewhere. Spectators may be overwhelmed by the all-access buffet of content now open to them, but they also have unrivaled opportunities to immerse themselves in the 119-year history of the medium.
A similar state...
A similar state...
- 4/29/2014
- by Joshua Sperling and Daniel Fairfax
- MUBI
Mark Cousins is a man who knows his cinema. His impressive encyclopaedic knowledge of cinema makes his films a must see for any cinephile. HeyUGuys spoke to Mark ahead of the release of A Story of Children and Film, a study of the relationship between children and cinema.
A Story of Children and Film is very similar to The Story of Film in style. What made you decide to choose children as a subject matter?
Well I didn’t intend to choose children to be honest, I was determined not to make another film about cinema, because A Story of Film had taken 6 years and I was tired. But even to relax, I have a little camera and I shoot stuff, and I was shooting stuff with my niece and nephew in my flat, and you know sometimes when you switch off, that’s when you’re brain starts to go,...
A Story of Children and Film is very similar to The Story of Film in style. What made you decide to choose children as a subject matter?
Well I didn’t intend to choose children to be honest, I was determined not to make another film about cinema, because A Story of Film had taken 6 years and I was tired. But even to relax, I have a little camera and I shoot stuff, and I was shooting stuff with my niece and nephew in my flat, and you know sometimes when you switch off, that’s when you’re brain starts to go,...
- 4/4/2014
- by Nia Childs
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The Moon, the opposite of the sun, hovers over us by night, the opposite of day.
In F.W. Murnau’s Tabu (1931), Reri, the sacred maiden of the small island of Bora Bora, writes this to her lover Matahi:
And indeed, when Matahi chases after her, the moon spreads its path on the sea.
He runs and swims after her, moving faster than a normal human being, defying the laws of gravity.
Miraculously, he catches up to the boat.
Thus, he must die, sinking back into a void…
…while ghost ships linger on in the distance…
…carrying another hopeless romantic, and a moving corpse—A second Nosferatu.
The moon is absent in Murnau’s earlier film, made nearly ten years before Tabu, but it is in the one he made nearly five years after Nosferatu, when George O’Brien leaves his wife for a midnight rendezvous with another woman.
And indeed,...
In F.W. Murnau’s Tabu (1931), Reri, the sacred maiden of the small island of Bora Bora, writes this to her lover Matahi:
And indeed, when Matahi chases after her, the moon spreads its path on the sea.
He runs and swims after her, moving faster than a normal human being, defying the laws of gravity.
Miraculously, he catches up to the boat.
Thus, he must die, sinking back into a void…
…while ghost ships linger on in the distance…
…carrying another hopeless romantic, and a moving corpse—A second Nosferatu.
The moon is absent in Murnau’s earlier film, made nearly ten years before Tabu, but it is in the one he made nearly five years after Nosferatu, when George O’Brien leaves his wife for a midnight rendezvous with another woman.
And indeed,...
- 3/17/2014
- by Neil Bahadur
- MUBI
Man Of Steel | Paradise: Love | Much Ado About Nothing | Stuck In Love | Admission | Summer In February | Fukrey
Man Of Steel (12A)
(Zack Snyder, 2013, Us/Can/UK) Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon. 143 mins
How to retell a story everyone has heard so many times before? By shuffling up Superman's origins myth, adopting a deadly earnest tone and chucking tons of money at it, apparently. The result is a Christ parable with a Transformers-sized appetite for destruction. Cavill is appropriately strapping but the tension between Earth and Krypton gets buried beneath the rubble.
Paradise: Love (18)
(Ulrich Seidl, 2012, Aus/Ger/Fra) Margarete Tiesel, Peter Kazungu, Inge Maux. 121 mins
Wealthy white women's third-world sex tourism is hardly a nuanced subject (or a new one: see Laurent Cantet's Heading South) but Seidl brings it up to date and out in the open in this excruciating study of mutual exploitation. Tiesel plays a lonely,...
Man Of Steel (12A)
(Zack Snyder, 2013, Us/Can/UK) Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon. 143 mins
How to retell a story everyone has heard so many times before? By shuffling up Superman's origins myth, adopting a deadly earnest tone and chucking tons of money at it, apparently. The result is a Christ parable with a Transformers-sized appetite for destruction. Cavill is appropriately strapping but the tension between Earth and Krypton gets buried beneath the rubble.
Paradise: Love (18)
(Ulrich Seidl, 2012, Aus/Ger/Fra) Margarete Tiesel, Peter Kazungu, Inge Maux. 121 mins
Wealthy white women's third-world sex tourism is hardly a nuanced subject (or a new one: see Laurent Cantet's Heading South) but Seidl brings it up to date and out in the open in this excruciating study of mutual exploitation. Tiesel plays a lonely,...
- 6/15/2013
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Like Someone in Love: Filmmaker Kiarostami has created a 'lovely' drama The 73-year-old, Iranian-born filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami is among the freshest and most energetic directors working today. His ideas always intrigue without wandering aimlessly; his screenwriting is sparse, but always rings true; his execution is stylistic and beautiful. Kiarostami has worked on shorts, documentaries, and narrative features that deal with a wide range of topics, from students' homework (in Homework) to Iran's sociopolitical landscape. (Pictured above: Actress Rin Takanashi in the Tokyo-set Like Someone in Love, written and directed by Kiarostami.) His new effort opens in New York and L.A. on Friday; the film can be considered a solid addition to his canon. Like Someone in Love leaves audiences with the sense of having watched a story deliberately unfinished. The film tackles a similar topic to the one found in the director's Tuscany-set movie Certified Copy, starring Juliette Binoche...
- 2/15/2013
- by Tim Cogshell
- Alt Film Guide
Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami's latest work, "Like Someone in Love," takes place in and around Tokyo -- a far cry from the director's hometown of Tehran. The story follows the unconventional love triangle of Akiko, a young student and escort who, estranged from her family and reluctantly engaged to a jealous suitor, develops a connection with a much older, widowed professor named Takashi. Hardly a romance though the title might suggest, the film is a slow-moving study of the nebulous relationships endemic to Kiarostami's imagination. Distanced family members, dysfunctional lovers and role-playing strangers collide in cinematic moments that, pieced together, represent an artfully shot 24-hour period of Akiko's life.
"Like Someone in Love" is similar to "Certified Copy," Kiarostami's French-language drama set in the Italian country side. Both films showcase the writer and director's essential elements -- stark minimalism, melodic dialogue, and sweeping camera shots. The plot of the...
"Like Someone in Love" is similar to "Certified Copy," Kiarostami's French-language drama set in the Italian country side. Both films showcase the writer and director's essential elements -- stark minimalism, melodic dialogue, and sweeping camera shots. The plot of the...
- 2/12/2013
- by The Huffington Post
- Huffington Post
Looking back at 2012 on what films moved and impressed us, it is clear that watching old films is a crucial part of making new films meaningful. Thus, the annual tradition of our end of year poll, which calls upon our writers to pick both a new and an old film: they were challenged to choose a new film they saw in 2012—in theaters or at a festival—and creatively pair it with an old film they also saw in 2012 to create a unique double feature.
All the contributors were asked to write a paragraph explaining their 2012 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How would you program some...
All the contributors were asked to write a paragraph explaining their 2012 fantasy double feature. What's more, each writer was given the option to list more pairings, with or without explanation, as further imaginative film programming we'd be lucky to catch in that perfect world we know doesn't exist but can keep dreaming of every time we go to the movies.
How would you program some...
- 1/9/2013
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
25: The Dark Knight Rises
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan
2012, USA
The Dark Knight Rises feels as if it was made up of two equal halves, with the most critical moment of the film breaking the movie in half, almost literally. While the second half may have been a let down, the first half is incredibly ambitious to say the least. The opening sequence, a gravity-defying skyjacking, is a tour de force – wildly choreographed, vivid, visceral, and chock full of suspense. That aerial extraction alone is worth the price of admission. Production-wise, effects-wise, Nolan’s movie (with sequences shot with Imax cameras) is staggering. There was an opportunity here for Nolan to stretch the boundaries of what is possible in the genre, alas, the final act becomes a little too conventional – complete with a doomsday device and a ticking-clock countdown. But for every quibble,...
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan
2012, USA
The Dark Knight Rises feels as if it was made up of two equal halves, with the most critical moment of the film breaking the movie in half, almost literally. While the second half may have been a let down, the first half is incredibly ambitious to say the least. The opening sequence, a gravity-defying skyjacking, is a tour de force – wildly choreographed, vivid, visceral, and chock full of suspense. That aerial extraction alone is worth the price of admission. Production-wise, effects-wise, Nolan’s movie (with sequences shot with Imax cameras) is staggering. There was an opportunity here for Nolan to stretch the boundaries of what is possible in the genre, alas, the final act becomes a little too conventional – complete with a doomsday device and a ticking-clock countdown. But for every quibble,...
- 12/23/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Photo by Marion Stalens.
I still don't know what to make of Abbas Kiarostami's Japanese production, Like Someone in Love. After being very powerfully flummoxed by it in Cannes—part opacity, part deflection—I revisited it at the New York Film Festival and found no questions answered: perhaps as pleasant an experience as the initial bafflement. I still find it fascinatingly opaque—a word I return to again and again in regards to the film—and, I believe, fundamentally unresolvable. Also, it is quite permeable, which for me is a welcome shift when compared to the hermetic-feeling gamesmanship of Certified Copy (something many, like Michael Sicinski, found an incredibly positive aspect).
I had the chance to sit and talk briefly, all too briefly, with Kiarostami in New York, in a delightful conversation beautifully translated by Massoumeh Lahidji.
Daniel Kasman: I was wondering if we could start with a detail...
I still don't know what to make of Abbas Kiarostami's Japanese production, Like Someone in Love. After being very powerfully flummoxed by it in Cannes—part opacity, part deflection—I revisited it at the New York Film Festival and found no questions answered: perhaps as pleasant an experience as the initial bafflement. I still find it fascinatingly opaque—a word I return to again and again in regards to the film—and, I believe, fundamentally unresolvable. Also, it is quite permeable, which for me is a welcome shift when compared to the hermetic-feeling gamesmanship of Certified Copy (something many, like Michael Sicinski, found an incredibly positive aspect).
I had the chance to sit and talk briefly, all too briefly, with Kiarostami in New York, in a delightful conversation beautifully translated by Massoumeh Lahidji.
Daniel Kasman: I was wondering if we could start with a detail...
- 10/10/2012
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
Above: Passion (Brian de Palma, France/Germany).
Tonight the 50th incarnation of the New York Film Festival gets underway at Lincoln Center, and for the third year running I have tried to find posters for all the films in the festival’s main slate (see 2010 and 2011). Poster art not being what it used to be, these inevitably pale in comparison to the posters I collected last week for the very first Nyff of 1963. For starters, most of those were illustrated, whereas only two of this year’s batch are hand drawn: the folk-art Filipino design for Bwakaw and Spanish artist Riki Blanco’s illustration for The Dead Man and Being Happy. But there are some other standouts, like the striking UK quads for Holy Motors and Ginger and Rosa, the near-abstract monochrome and gothic lettering of Leviathan, the unconventional titling for Barbara (coupled with that can’t-lose photo of Nina Hoss on a bike,...
Tonight the 50th incarnation of the New York Film Festival gets underway at Lincoln Center, and for the third year running I have tried to find posters for all the films in the festival’s main slate (see 2010 and 2011). Poster art not being what it used to be, these inevitably pale in comparison to the posters I collected last week for the very first Nyff of 1963. For starters, most of those were illustrated, whereas only two of this year’s batch are hand drawn: the folk-art Filipino design for Bwakaw and Spanish artist Riki Blanco’s illustration for The Dead Man and Being Happy. But there are some other standouts, like the striking UK quads for Holy Motors and Ginger and Rosa, the near-abstract monochrome and gothic lettering of Leviathan, the unconventional titling for Barbara (coupled with that can’t-lose photo of Nina Hoss on a bike,...
- 9/28/2012
- by Adrian Curry
- MUBI
Since this will be my first experience at Tiff, I have to say that I’m rather pleased with the films that I’ll be seeing. If I had prior knowledge of the festival schedule before its release, I would have chosen the second weekend instead of the first. Films that I’ll have missed out on include: To the Wonder, No, Passion, Post Tenebras Lux, Antiviral, and Mekong Hotel. Due to my scheduling of films being a little later in the ticketing window, I unfortunately missed out on Anna Karenina and The Master. Not a huge deal since I’ll be able to catch the latter a few weeks later and the former a few months down the road. Holy Motors, which is one of my most anticipated films of the year, won’t even be playing at the fest this year. Another bummer, but what can you do?...
- 8/28/2012
- by Ty Landis
- SoundOnSight
The New York Film Festival announced its full slate of films on Thursday, a line up of 32 titles that largely serves as a catch-all compendium of standouts from other international festivals like Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Toronto.
Along with the previously announced opening night film (Ang Lee’s Life of Pi), centerpiece gala (David Chase’s Not Fade Away), and closing night film (Robert Zemeckis’ Flight) — all world premieres — the highlights of the festival include: Hyde Park on Hudson, starring Bill Murray as President Franklin D. Roosevelt; Ginger and Rosa, starring Elle Fanning as a girl growing up in 1962 London...
Along with the previously announced opening night film (Ang Lee’s Life of Pi), centerpiece gala (David Chase’s Not Fade Away), and closing night film (Robert Zemeckis’ Flight) — all world premieres — the highlights of the festival include: Hyde Park on Hudson, starring Bill Murray as President Franklin D. Roosevelt; Ginger and Rosa, starring Elle Fanning as a girl growing up in 1962 London...
- 8/17/2012
- by Adam B. Vary
- EW - Inside Movies
The 2012 New York Film Festival announced its main slate of movies Thursday. The 32 movies draw from a healthy mix of big named directors and indie favorites.
Films From Noah Baumbach ("Frances Ha"), Roger Michell ("Hyde Park on Hudson"), Michael Haneke ("Amour," which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year) and Abbas Kiarostami ("Like Someone in Love") were selected.
As previously announced, Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" will open the festival, David Chase's "Not Fade Away" is the Centerpiece Gala Selection and Robert Zemeckis' "Flight," starring Denzel Washington, will close the fortnight.
"Passion," Brian De Palma's widely anticipated film, will also screen at the Venice Film Festival, which runs from Aug. 29 to Sept. 8. A number of Nyff's selections actual make their bow at the Toronto International Film Festival, which begins Sept. 6.
Nyff runs Sept. 28 to Oct. 14. The full main-slate list of films is available below, direct from...
Films From Noah Baumbach ("Frances Ha"), Roger Michell ("Hyde Park on Hudson"), Michael Haneke ("Amour," which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year) and Abbas Kiarostami ("Like Someone in Love") were selected.
As previously announced, Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" will open the festival, David Chase's "Not Fade Away" is the Centerpiece Gala Selection and Robert Zemeckis' "Flight," starring Denzel Washington, will close the fortnight.
"Passion," Brian De Palma's widely anticipated film, will also screen at the Venice Film Festival, which runs from Aug. 29 to Sept. 8. A number of Nyff's selections actual make their bow at the Toronto International Film Festival, which begins Sept. 6.
Nyff runs Sept. 28 to Oct. 14. The full main-slate list of films is available below, direct from...
- 8/16/2012
- by Kia Makarechi
- Huffington Post
The New York Film Festival continues to impress as they unveiled their main slate this afternoon, adding to the recent announcements that Ang Lee's "Life Of Pi" would open the fest, Robert Zemeckis' "Flight" would close it, and David Chase's "Not Fade Away" would serve as the Centerpiece selection. And if you weren't able to make it to Cannes this spring, and won't be in Venice or Toronto, boy do they ever have you covered. Among the highlights of the new batch of films playing the fest: Michael Haneke's tough and beautiful "Amour"; Christian Mungiu's affecting "Beyond The Hills"; Abbas Kiarostami's enigmatic "Like Someone In Love"; Noah Baumbach's suprise indie "Frances Ha"; Leos Carax's mindfuck tribute to cinema "Holy Motors"; Pablo Larrain's winning "No" and Brian De Palma's thrilling "Passion"; "Hyde Park On...
- 8/16/2012
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
By Allen Gardner
Harold And Maude (Criterion) Hal Ashby’s masterpiece of black humor centers on a wealthy young man (Bud Cort) who’s obsessed with death and the septuagenarian (Ruth Gordon) with whom he finds true love. As unabashedly romantic as it is quirky, with Cat Stevens supplying one of the great film scores of all-time. Fine support from Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack, Charles Tyner, and Ellen Geer. Fine screenplay by Colin Higgins. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by Hal Ashby biographer Nick Dawson, producer Charles Mulvehill; Illustrated audio excerpts from seminars by Ashby and Higgins; Interview with Cat Stevens. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo.
In Darkness (Sony) Agnieszka Holland’s Ww II epic tells the true story of a sewer worker and petty thief in Nazi-occupied Poland who single-handedly helped hide a group of Jews in the city’s labyrinthine sewer system for the duration of the war.
Harold And Maude (Criterion) Hal Ashby’s masterpiece of black humor centers on a wealthy young man (Bud Cort) who’s obsessed with death and the septuagenarian (Ruth Gordon) with whom he finds true love. As unabashedly romantic as it is quirky, with Cat Stevens supplying one of the great film scores of all-time. Fine support from Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack, Charles Tyner, and Ellen Geer. Fine screenplay by Colin Higgins. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Commentary by Hal Ashby biographer Nick Dawson, producer Charles Mulvehill; Illustrated audio excerpts from seminars by Ashby and Higgins; Interview with Cat Stevens. Widescreen. Dolby 2.0 stereo.
In Darkness (Sony) Agnieszka Holland’s Ww II epic tells the true story of a sewer worker and petty thief in Nazi-occupied Poland who single-handedly helped hide a group of Jews in the city’s labyrinthine sewer system for the duration of the war.
- 6/5/2012
- by The Hollywood Interview.com
- The Hollywood Interview
This year’s Cannes Film Festival was a flurry of cinematic diversity. From super serious art-house films to the lighter fare that Hollywood is more akin to, the mega-festival assembled a sundry roster of seasoned auteurs and newcomers alike. All in all, it was a stupendous year for the festival’s showcase of premiere talent working today, despite not having some of the bigger heavyweight names from last year’s fest.
In addition to the abundance of American films, both good and bad, there was an undeniable sense of mixed styles from shoot em-up gangster pics to heart-wrenching tales of suffering. There is a reason that Cannes remains the premiere film festival in the world today as exemplified by the mix of films that debuted there made splashes against the backdrop of the Mediterranean sea.
To wrap-up, Dan Mecca and I each have our top three picks, which can be...
In addition to the abundance of American films, both good and bad, there was an undeniable sense of mixed styles from shoot em-up gangster pics to heart-wrenching tales of suffering. There is a reason that Cannes remains the premiere film festival in the world today as exemplified by the mix of films that debuted there made splashes against the backdrop of the Mediterranean sea.
To wrap-up, Dan Mecca and I each have our top three picks, which can be...
- 5/29/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Just as they were in danger of nodding off, Cannes delegates are hit with an inexplicable big bang of a movie. Do not adjust your specs …
By this stage of the Cannes competition, the delegates have seen too much and sat too long. They have consorted with pre-teen runaways and bare-knuckle boxers, revelled with sex tourists and bootleggers, dying music teachers and Japanese escorts. Their gaze has glazed and their palates gone jaded. What they need is an electric shock to make them jump from their seats. What they need, in fact, is a Leos Carax film in which a fairytale monster bites off a girl's fingers and where home sweet home is actually chock-full of monkeys.
Holy Motors is preposterous, unstable, audacious and brilliant; the festival firework we've all been waiting for. Some love it, some loathe it. No one, it seems, can quite explain it. Denis Lavant is Oscar,...
By this stage of the Cannes competition, the delegates have seen too much and sat too long. They have consorted with pre-teen runaways and bare-knuckle boxers, revelled with sex tourists and bootleggers, dying music teachers and Japanese escorts. Their gaze has glazed and their palates gone jaded. What they need is an electric shock to make them jump from their seats. What they need, in fact, is a Leos Carax film in which a fairytale monster bites off a girl's fingers and where home sweet home is actually chock-full of monkeys.
Holy Motors is preposterous, unstable, audacious and brilliant; the festival firework we've all been waiting for. Some love it, some loathe it. No one, it seems, can quite explain it. Denis Lavant is Oscar,...
- 5/23/2012
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
Films and fireworks flash before my eyes ... should I watch Matteo Garrone's Reality or Pablo Larraín's No?
Fireworks flash over Cannes at night, colouring the clouds and scaring the seagulls. They rise up against the illuminations, wheeling and squawking for all that they're worth. These birds are in a total panic. They don't know where to turn.
Put me down as an honorary gull. The festival starts with the ceremonial bang of the opening film, a lone rocket sent into the sky, and after that all hell breaks loose; a great din and dazzle as the movies spark up all around us. To stare at one means missing the others and to stare at the others potentially means missing the best one of all. The delegates rear up, squawking and flapping and colliding with one another on the steps of the Palais. They don't know where to look.
Fireworks flash over Cannes at night, colouring the clouds and scaring the seagulls. They rise up against the illuminations, wheeling and squawking for all that they're worth. These birds are in a total panic. They don't know where to turn.
Put me down as an honorary gull. The festival starts with the ceremonial bang of the opening film, a lone rocket sent into the sky, and after that all hell breaks loose; a great din and dazzle as the movies spark up all around us. To stare at one means missing the others and to stare at the others potentially means missing the best one of all. The delegates rear up, squawking and flapping and colliding with one another on the steps of the Palais. They don't know where to look.
- 5/18/2012
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
Looking at the Cannes Film Festival Competition titles, the top international sales agents are Wild Bunch with with 3 films: The Angel’s Share by Ken Loach, Beyond the Hills by Cristian Mungiu and Holy Motors by Leos Carax. Wild Bunch actually has 12 films in all the festival sections including Critic's Week and not yet counting Director's Fortnight. MK2 follows with 3 in Competition: After the Battle by Yousry Nasrallah, Like Someone in Love by Abbas Kiarostami, On the Road by Walter Salles and 4 in all sections. FilmNation follows with 2 in Compeitition: Lawless by John Hillcoat and Mud by Jeff Nichols.
U.S. has 5 indies in Competition. Wes Anderson’s opening film Moonrise Kingdom (Isa: Focus), Jeff Nichols’ Mud (Isa: FilmNation), Lee Daniels' The Paperboy (Isa: Nu Image/ Millenium), whose last feature Precious screened in Un Certain Regard in 2009, New Zealand director Andrew Dominik’s Killing Them Softly, Australia-born John Hillcoat’s Lawless (formerly titled The Wettest County). If you add Philip Kaufman's Hemingway and Gellhorn (HBO TV) which is out of competition, U.S. has 6.
Thierry Fremaux says, “What I also think is interesting is that none of these films are shot in New York or Los Angeles but rather in the South… they show another America.”
Latin America is represented by Mexico's favorite arthouse director (in Europe at least) Carlos Reygadas and his Post Tenebras Lux. Brazil's Walter Salles has made a French Brazilian English language film of American icon Jack Kerouac (On the Road) which might count on the Latin America scorecard. So. Korea has two films: The Taste of Money by Sang-Soo Im and In Another Country by Sang Soo Hong. No women are represented.
Late Addition (April 30): 1 Female Director Added Out of Competition: Candida Brady whose documentary Trashed (U.K.) has no international representation. That Makes 2 films without international sales representation. Midnight Screenings include The Sapphires by Wayne Blair (Australia), Maniac by Franck Khalfoun (U.S.) (Isa: Wild Bunch) Making 7 U.S. films.
Looking at Un Certain Regard sidebar of the Cannes Film Festival, 17 films hold a berth. 2 female directors are included: French Catherine Corsini of Trois Mondes and French Sylvie Verheyde of Confessions of a Child of the Century. Latin American films include La Playa the debut of Juan Andrés Arango (Brazil, Colombia, France), Después de Lucia by Michel Franco (France, Mexico), Elefante Blanco of Pablo Trapero (Argentina, France and Spain), A Musica Segundo Tom Jobim by Nelson Pereira Dos Santos (Brazil), Villegas by Gonzalo Tobal (Argentina, France, Netherlands).and if you can count the French production 7 Dias en la Habana by directors Benicio del Toro, Pablo Trapero, Julio Medem, Elia Suleiman, Juan Carlos Tabio, Gaspar Noé, Laurent Cantet, that will make a total of 6. 2 American indies are Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin and The Central Park Five by directors Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David Mcmahon. Late Additions (April 30): Djeca – Children of Sarajevo by Aida Bejic ♀ (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany, France, Turkey) Makes 3 female directors, and Gimme the Loot by Adam Leon (U.S.) Makes 3 U.S. indies. Closing night film will be Renoir by Gilles Bourdo (France) (Isa: Wild Bunch)
Looking at the Critic's Week, there are no women in Competition. All 7 Competition films are debuts by males. Two French female directors have films in Special Screenings by themselves in their own exclusive ghetto. Sandrine Bonnaire's second feature (but first fiction feature) J'enrage a son absence (I am Enraged by His Absence) (Isa: Films Distribution), and Alice Winocour's debut Augustine. 2 films are from Latin America: Argentinian Los Salvages (The Wild Ones) and Mexican-Spanish-u.S. coproduction Aqui y Alla. That is the only U.S. film. The sales agent with the most (2) films is Films Boutique. 4 Films have no international sales agents.
Looking at Directors Fortnight, Latin American films take the center stage in honor of the recently deceased Chilean director Raoul Ruiz. His most recent film The Night in Front (La Noche en Frente) will be premiered in a special tribute session.
"We have seen many good films from Latin America," said Fortnight artistic director Edouard Waintrop when introducing the 2012 selection to press in Paris. One of four scheduled debates will focus on Latin American cinema, with Waintrop saying this year's selection was "more sensitive to Latin American cinema than Asian [films]."
Of the 7 Latino films to make the list, two are Chilean -- Ruiz's The Night in Front and Pablo Larrain's No, a Chilean-American film starring Gael Garcia Bernal. The other five come from Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia with 3 films La Playa, La Sirga (both by Burning Blue Productions! ♀) and a short film Jonathan Ceballos' short The Children of the Clouds (Los Ahijiados de las Nubes).
Films from South Korea, China, India, Algeria and Iran, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg are also included in the selection. The United States was involved in the production of three of this year's movies, including Michael Gondry's The We and I, which opens the event.
Noemi Livovsky (Camille Rewinds from France) is one of two women directors! The second which makes hr the 4th in all Cannes Festivals is also the only non-French one. Yulene Olaizola (Fogo) is from Mexico.
For the Rights Roundup, you can begin watching sales of titles in Cannes here, organized by international sales agent. There will be daily updates throughout Cannes. It's interesting to see that sales on several Competition titles have already been made as presales.
Winners of the International Sales Agent with the Most Films in The Different Cannes Selections:
1st Place: Wild Bunch with 12
2nd Place: Pyramide with 5
3rd Place: MK2 with 3 which it also co-produced.
Honorable Mention: FilmNation with 2.
U.S. has 5 indies in Competition. Wes Anderson’s opening film Moonrise Kingdom (Isa: Focus), Jeff Nichols’ Mud (Isa: FilmNation), Lee Daniels' The Paperboy (Isa: Nu Image/ Millenium), whose last feature Precious screened in Un Certain Regard in 2009, New Zealand director Andrew Dominik’s Killing Them Softly, Australia-born John Hillcoat’s Lawless (formerly titled The Wettest County). If you add Philip Kaufman's Hemingway and Gellhorn (HBO TV) which is out of competition, U.S. has 6.
Thierry Fremaux says, “What I also think is interesting is that none of these films are shot in New York or Los Angeles but rather in the South… they show another America.”
Latin America is represented by Mexico's favorite arthouse director (in Europe at least) Carlos Reygadas and his Post Tenebras Lux. Brazil's Walter Salles has made a French Brazilian English language film of American icon Jack Kerouac (On the Road) which might count on the Latin America scorecard. So. Korea has two films: The Taste of Money by Sang-Soo Im and In Another Country by Sang Soo Hong. No women are represented.
Late Addition (April 30): 1 Female Director Added Out of Competition: Candida Brady whose documentary Trashed (U.K.) has no international representation. That Makes 2 films without international sales representation. Midnight Screenings include The Sapphires by Wayne Blair (Australia), Maniac by Franck Khalfoun (U.S.) (Isa: Wild Bunch) Making 7 U.S. films.
Looking at Un Certain Regard sidebar of the Cannes Film Festival, 17 films hold a berth. 2 female directors are included: French Catherine Corsini of Trois Mondes and French Sylvie Verheyde of Confessions of a Child of the Century. Latin American films include La Playa the debut of Juan Andrés Arango (Brazil, Colombia, France), Después de Lucia by Michel Franco (France, Mexico), Elefante Blanco of Pablo Trapero (Argentina, France and Spain), A Musica Segundo Tom Jobim by Nelson Pereira Dos Santos (Brazil), Villegas by Gonzalo Tobal (Argentina, France, Netherlands).and if you can count the French production 7 Dias en la Habana by directors Benicio del Toro, Pablo Trapero, Julio Medem, Elia Suleiman, Juan Carlos Tabio, Gaspar Noé, Laurent Cantet, that will make a total of 6. 2 American indies are Beasts of the Southern Wild by Benh Zeitlin and The Central Park Five by directors Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David Mcmahon. Late Additions (April 30): Djeca – Children of Sarajevo by Aida Bejic ♀ (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Germany, France, Turkey) Makes 3 female directors, and Gimme the Loot by Adam Leon (U.S.) Makes 3 U.S. indies. Closing night film will be Renoir by Gilles Bourdo (France) (Isa: Wild Bunch)
Looking at the Critic's Week, there are no women in Competition. All 7 Competition films are debuts by males. Two French female directors have films in Special Screenings by themselves in their own exclusive ghetto. Sandrine Bonnaire's second feature (but first fiction feature) J'enrage a son absence (I am Enraged by His Absence) (Isa: Films Distribution), and Alice Winocour's debut Augustine. 2 films are from Latin America: Argentinian Los Salvages (The Wild Ones) and Mexican-Spanish-u.S. coproduction Aqui y Alla. That is the only U.S. film. The sales agent with the most (2) films is Films Boutique. 4 Films have no international sales agents.
Looking at Directors Fortnight, Latin American films take the center stage in honor of the recently deceased Chilean director Raoul Ruiz. His most recent film The Night in Front (La Noche en Frente) will be premiered in a special tribute session.
"We have seen many good films from Latin America," said Fortnight artistic director Edouard Waintrop when introducing the 2012 selection to press in Paris. One of four scheduled debates will focus on Latin American cinema, with Waintrop saying this year's selection was "more sensitive to Latin American cinema than Asian [films]."
Of the 7 Latino films to make the list, two are Chilean -- Ruiz's The Night in Front and Pablo Larrain's No, a Chilean-American film starring Gael Garcia Bernal. The other five come from Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia with 3 films La Playa, La Sirga (both by Burning Blue Productions! ♀) and a short film Jonathan Ceballos' short The Children of the Clouds (Los Ahijiados de las Nubes).
Films from South Korea, China, India, Algeria and Iran, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg are also included in the selection. The United States was involved in the production of three of this year's movies, including Michael Gondry's The We and I, which opens the event.
Noemi Livovsky (Camille Rewinds from France) is one of two women directors! The second which makes hr the 4th in all Cannes Festivals is also the only non-French one. Yulene Olaizola (Fogo) is from Mexico.
For the Rights Roundup, you can begin watching sales of titles in Cannes here, organized by international sales agent. There will be daily updates throughout Cannes. It's interesting to see that sales on several Competition titles have already been made as presales.
Winners of the International Sales Agent with the Most Films in The Different Cannes Selections:
1st Place: Wild Bunch with 12
2nd Place: Pyramide with 5
3rd Place: MK2 with 3 which it also co-produced.
Honorable Mention: FilmNation with 2.
- 5/10/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
A week from today, the 65th annual Cannes Film Festival will be getting underway on the south coast of France, opening with Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom," and as ever, it's possibly the biggest date in the cinephile calendar, with a host of hotly anticipated films set to premiere over the ten days that follow. A jury headed up by Nanni Moretti, and also including Andrea Arnold, Ewan McGregor, Alexander Payne, Diane Kruger and Jean-Paul Gaultier will have to decide which of over twenty films to award the Palme d'Or to. But while the In Competition category will be typically fierce in competition, there's plenty of gems to find in the Directors' Fortnight, Un Certain Regard and Critics' Week sidebars too.
Once again, The Playlist are packing our suntan lotion and shorts to hit the Croisette, and we'll be bringing our extensive coverage from next week. But to get you warmed up,...
Once again, The Playlist are packing our suntan lotion and shorts to hit the Croisette, and we'll be bringing our extensive coverage from next week. But to get you warmed up,...
- 5/9/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
Our new collaboration with Curzon on Demand will allow Guardian Extra members to watch seven modern classics for free over the next week
Fresh from our trip to Le Havre, guardian.co.uk/film and Curzon on Demand are teaming up to offer Guardian Extra members free online streams of seven modern cinema classics.
Over the next week we'll be screening seven critically acclaimed works from recent world cinema. The titles will be revealed here on the blog daily, where you'll find a viewer's guide for each film written by a Guardian critic. Today's film, Abbas Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry, has been covered by Peter Bradshaw.
You can watch each film by returning to the critic's article and clicking on the second link at the top of the page.
Guardian Extra members can click through to get a promotional code to access the film straight away. Non-members will be...
Fresh from our trip to Le Havre, guardian.co.uk/film and Curzon on Demand are teaming up to offer Guardian Extra members free online streams of seven modern cinema classics.
Over the next week we'll be screening seven critically acclaimed works from recent world cinema. The titles will be revealed here on the blog daily, where you'll find a viewer's guide for each film written by a Guardian critic. Today's film, Abbas Kiarostami's Taste of Cherry, has been covered by Peter Bradshaw.
You can watch each film by returning to the critic's article and clicking on the second link at the top of the page.
Guardian Extra members can click through to get a promotional code to access the film straight away. Non-members will be...
- 4/13/2012
- The Guardian - Film News
Amir here. The semi-official trailer for Abbas Kiarostami’s new film, Like Someone in Love, was released last week. The internet mostly ignored it, except for a few mentions here and there. Kiarostami might be a world class auteur and Certified Copy may have become an arthouse sensation but it seems like without a recognizable star like Juliette Binoche, enthusiasm for a new film by the Iranian director will just not be as high. With a May premiere on the croisette very likely to be announced in the next few days – with one exception, Kiarostami’s last five films have all opened in Cannes – the film is bound to find more attention coming its way. If it is indeed included in the festival line-up with a jury presided over by Kiarostami’s friend and past collaborator Nani Moretti, expect plenty of chatter about the film’s chances of netting the...
- 4/5/2012
- by Amir S.
- FilmExperience
Michael Haneke, Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant
on the set of Amour
It's been a couple of weeks since the French magazine Premiere posted "Cannes 2012: Le buzzomètre," a list of over 30 films, each of which were assigned a numerical probability of its making the lineup at Cannes this year. Speculation has only grown hotter, of course, with an official announcement slated for April 19; Critics' Week and the Directors' Fortnight will follow on April 23 and 24, respectively. "Paris is rife with rumors about who will make it," reports Fabien Lemercier at Cineuropa. "Several films by 'big fish' have not been seen yet, and many who have already shown their film are eagerly awaiting news."
A few days ago, a French blog pulled an April Fools' Day prank that thoroughly ticked off Cannes artistic director Thierry Frémaux. The blog claimed to have seen the full lineup, "briefly published on the official Cannes Film Festival...
on the set of Amour
It's been a couple of weeks since the French magazine Premiere posted "Cannes 2012: Le buzzomètre," a list of over 30 films, each of which were assigned a numerical probability of its making the lineup at Cannes this year. Speculation has only grown hotter, of course, with an official announcement slated for April 19; Critics' Week and the Directors' Fortnight will follow on April 23 and 24, respectively. "Paris is rife with rumors about who will make it," reports Fabien Lemercier at Cineuropa. "Several films by 'big fish' have not been seen yet, and many who have already shown their film are eagerly awaiting news."
A few days ago, a French blog pulled an April Fools' Day prank that thoroughly ticked off Cannes artistic director Thierry Frémaux. The blog claimed to have seen the full lineup, "briefly published on the official Cannes Film Festival...
- 4/5/2012
- MUBI
This Is Not A Film was smuggled out of Iran inside a birthday cake. Long may film-makers continue to take risks for art
Jafar Panahi's This Is Not A Film demonstrates by the simple fact of its existence that the political oppression of difficult artists – a tradition as ancient and venerable as art itself – is alive and well in modern Iran. No surprises there, perhaps, but more encouragingly it also shows that Iranian responses to being silenced are as inventive as any ever developed by film-makers in repressive regimes. Given the formal and stylistic adventurousness of many movies made under arduous political circumstances, you might even argue that a bracing dose of aggressive censorship and brutal repression can sometimes do wonders for a director's formal and intellectual development.
Panahi had no need of such spurs to creativity; he was Abbas Kiarostami's assistant while Kiarostami was making films set...
Jafar Panahi's This Is Not A Film demonstrates by the simple fact of its existence that the political oppression of difficult artists – a tradition as ancient and venerable as art itself – is alive and well in modern Iran. No surprises there, perhaps, but more encouragingly it also shows that Iranian responses to being silenced are as inventive as any ever developed by film-makers in repressive regimes. Given the formal and stylistic adventurousness of many movies made under arduous political circumstances, you might even argue that a bracing dose of aggressive censorship and brutal repression can sometimes do wonders for a director's formal and intellectual development.
Panahi had no need of such spurs to creativity; he was Abbas Kiarostami's assistant while Kiarostami was making films set...
- 3/24/2012
- by John Patterson
- The Guardian - Film News
Trailer for Xavier Dolan's Laurence Anyways
You may remember that it was the French Premiere that broke the news that Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom would be opening the Cannes Film Festival on May 16. Now, via Andre Soares at the Alt Film Guide, comes word that the magazine has posted "Cannes 2012: Le buzzomètre," a list of films that are the most and least likely to appear in one or another of the festival's lineups — and in general order of probability, too. If you read French (and if not, there's always Google, of course), you can catch up on the reasoning behind their probability ratings, but here, for the sake of brevity, we'll simply stick to titles, directors and the taux de présence potentielle:
Likely
Un gout de rouille et d'os (Rust & Bone), Jacques Audiard, 99.1%. To Rome with Love, Woody Allen, 99.99%. Vous n'avez encore rien vu, Alain Resnais, 99.999%. Cosmopolis,...
You may remember that it was the French Premiere that broke the news that Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom would be opening the Cannes Film Festival on May 16. Now, via Andre Soares at the Alt Film Guide, comes word that the magazine has posted "Cannes 2012: Le buzzomètre," a list of films that are the most and least likely to appear in one or another of the festival's lineups — and in general order of probability, too. If you read French (and if not, there's always Google, of course), you can catch up on the reasoning behind their probability ratings, but here, for the sake of brevity, we'll simply stick to titles, directors and the taux de présence potentielle:
Likely
Un gout de rouille et d'os (Rust & Bone), Jacques Audiard, 99.1%. To Rome with Love, Woody Allen, 99.99%. Vous n'avez encore rien vu, Alain Resnais, 99.999%. Cosmopolis,...
- 3/23/2012
- MUBI
Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, Sam Riley (back), On the Road Woody Allen/Abbas Kiarostami/Robert Pattinson/Kylie Minogue: Cannes 2012 Possibilities Pt.1 Below are a few more strong Cannes 2012 possibilities: Alain Resnais' Vous n'avez encore rien vu / You've Seen Nothing Yet. The veteran Resnais — who turns 90 next June — completed his version of Jean Anouilh's Eurydice last April. The film's all-star cast includes Mathieu Amalric, Lambert Wilson (as Orpheus), Michel Piccoli, Anne Consigny (as Eurydice), Sabine Azéma (also as Eurydice), Hippolyte Girardot, Michel Robin, Pierre Arditi (also as Orpheus), Denis Podalydès, and Anny Duperey. Terrence Malick's The Funeral (possibly a provisory title), supposedly about an American man whose marriage to an European woman flounders. He then begins a relationship with a woman from his own hometown. Malick's drama features Ben Affleck, Jessica Chastain, Rachel McAdams, Rachel Weisz, Javier Bardem, Michael Sheen, Olga Kurylenko, Amanda Peet, and Barry Pepper.
- 3/22/2012
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Its that time of the year again in when everyone prepares their Oscar predictions, because let’s be honest for a moment – the best part of the Oscars is placing your bets on who’ll win and hopefully walking away from a long and usually boring ceremony with some extra cash in your pocket. This morning the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations for the 84th Academy Awards with no major surprises but instead, a long list of snubs. Martin Scorsese’s Hugo is the surprise leader of the 2012 Academy Award nominations with 11 nods, including Best Picture and Best Director. The Artist followed with 10 nominations. Here are my predictions of who I feel will take home gold come Sunday February 26, as well as those films and talent who I believe were snubbed.
Academy Branch Breakdown
Actors 1205
Art Directors 374
Cinematographers 200
Directors 366
Documentary 151
Executives 437
Film Editors 221
Makeup Artists...
Academy Branch Breakdown
Actors 1205
Art Directors 374
Cinematographers 200
Directors 366
Documentary 151
Executives 437
Film Editors 221
Makeup Artists...
- 1/24/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Ryan Gosling in Nicolas Winding Refn's "Drive"
It’s that time of year again when we intrepid critics whittle down the hundreds of titles we’ve seen over the last 365 days to the top 10 that made us gasp, chuckle, cringe, hope, feel and think the most. As seems to be the trend, Hollywood left us slim pickings, so the bulk of this list is made up of independent and foreign films, not out of snobbery, but, sadly, by necessity. Here are my picks, in alphabetical order, for the year’s 10 best:
A Separation
An incisive and penetrating portrait of the immovable tenets of reality. Asghar Farhadi unwraps the layers of family life in Tehran with the deftness and care of a master. No other film released this year connects with as much truth or treats its subject with as much keenness or soberness as “A Separation.”
The Artist
I love movies about movies.
It’s that time of year again when we intrepid critics whittle down the hundreds of titles we’ve seen over the last 365 days to the top 10 that made us gasp, chuckle, cringe, hope, feel and think the most. As seems to be the trend, Hollywood left us slim pickings, so the bulk of this list is made up of independent and foreign films, not out of snobbery, but, sadly, by necessity. Here are my picks, in alphabetical order, for the year’s 10 best:
A Separation
An incisive and penetrating portrait of the immovable tenets of reality. Asghar Farhadi unwraps the layers of family life in Tehran with the deftness and care of a master. No other film released this year connects with as much truth or treats its subject with as much keenness or soberness as “A Separation.”
The Artist
I love movies about movies.
- 1/8/2012
- by Eric M. Armstrong
- The Moving Arts Journal
Best Contemporary Titles
Winner: "The Tree of Life"
Runner-up: "Black Swan"
Love it or hate it, Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" is visually the most luscious film of the year and Blu-ray transfer recreates this in perfect detail. No digital artifacts or enhancements are done here, there is a bit of grain but that's expected with the photography on offer, while the IMAX 65mm sequences are true visual wonders.
Coming in second is my favourite film of last year, Darren Aronofsky's psychological thriller "Black Swan". Here is a challenge of a different sort, a film shot on both 16mm film and off the shelf Dslr video cameras. The result is a deliberately soft and grainy handheld-style image which lends a realistic documentary feel to proceedings and could look terrible if the Blu-ray transfer was handled poorly. Full kudos to Fox for a high quality presentation lacking in...
Winner: "The Tree of Life"
Runner-up: "Black Swan"
Love it or hate it, Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" is visually the most luscious film of the year and Blu-ray transfer recreates this in perfect detail. No digital artifacts or enhancements are done here, there is a bit of grain but that's expected with the photography on offer, while the IMAX 65mm sequences are true visual wonders.
Coming in second is my favourite film of last year, Darren Aronofsky's psychological thriller "Black Swan". Here is a challenge of a different sort, a film shot on both 16mm film and off the shelf Dslr video cameras. The result is a deliberately soft and grainy handheld-style image which lends a realistic documentary feel to proceedings and could look terrible if the Blu-ray transfer was handled poorly. Full kudos to Fox for a high quality presentation lacking in...
- 1/3/2012
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
You’ve read our Top 10 Openings of 2011 and now we have the other side of the spectrum. Don’t you hate it when you walk out of the theater and just moments later you forget what happened? If this occurs during every film then I urge you to see a doctor, but most of the time it conveys how important an ending is. A great one can lead to endless discussion or can even make the preceding film just a touch better. Whether they are jarring, harmonious or anywhere in between, we’ve counted down our ten favorites of the year. Check them out below and of course, beware of spoilers.
10. Hugo (Martin Scorsese)
Moments after Martin Scorsese and Ben Kingsley dropped a load of dust into the theater, we’re treated to a little coda for this incredible film. Scorsese indulges himself in another gorgeous, extended shot that sweetly...
10. Hugo (Martin Scorsese)
Moments after Martin Scorsese and Ben Kingsley dropped a load of dust into the theater, we’re treated to a little coda for this incredible film. Scorsese indulges himself in another gorgeous, extended shot that sweetly...
- 12/28/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
"Nearly all of the writing thus far on This Is Not a Film has concentrated on its political context and production circumstances — already legend — and the courageous gesture the film represents," wrote Girish Shambu late last month as he looked back on the highlights of Toronto and named Mojtaba Mirtahmasb and Jafar Panahi's collaborative effort as his personal "Best-of-Fest." "This is entirely appropriate, but the film also holds enormous potential for future analysis by film critics as a work of meta-cinema that asks fundamental questions like: What is the difference between a screenplay and a film? (Once upon a time, in the nouvelle vague era, an answer to this question was simply: 'miss en scene.') Is the 'director' of a film always a single, unified, human person? In a film, can the role of the director 'move around,' in non-human form, attaching at one moment to the...
- 10/11/2011
- MUBI
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.