The debut film ‘The Marriage’ directed by a well-known kosovan director Blerta Zeqiri won two awards at the closing ceremony of Tallinn Black Nights on Friday 2nd of December.

The film was competing on the ‘First Feature Competition’ category where among 15 other debut films, won the Fipresci Award and Special Jury Prize for the Ensemble of Cast.

The director Blerta Zeqiri on the closing ceremony stated: ‘Being here in Tallinn and premiering our film here was an amazing experience. I want to say thank you to the programmers for selecting the film. I also want to thank the jury for honoring us with this prize. I made this film for an impossible love between two persons of the same sex, because to me wanting to stop love in the name of some social norm is ludicrous. Love is not a crime. Forbidding it though is. So I want to dedicate this prize to the most beautiful feeling of all: Love.’

The Marriage is a coproduction between Kosovo and Albania produced by Keka Kreshnik Berisha and Eno Milkani, supported by Kosovo Cinematography Center and Albanian National Center of Cinematography.

​​Photo by: Johan-Paul Hion
From left to right: Genc Salihu (actor), Blerta Zeqiri (director), Alban Ukaj (actor), Keka Kreshnik Berisha (producer)

Only four more days before European filmmakers, EFA Members, guests, nominees and winners will gather to celebrate European cinema at its finest at the 30th European Film Awards in Berlin!

On this special occasion the ceremony will, of course, celebrate this year's films and achievements but it will also shed a special light on some of the films and people that have accompanied the EFAs throughout the past 30 years.

Both script and set design pick up this idea and guests and spectators will find references to some of these people and their films throughout the ceremony. An ensemble of Johannes Bah Kuhnke (Sweden), Alex Brendemühl (Spain), Anna Geislerová (Czech Republic), Dave Johns (UK), Anamaria Marinca (Romania), Palina Rojinski (Germany) and Ivan Shvedoff (Russia) will bring to live some particularly captivating scenes from the rich diversity of European cinema.

Joining them onstage to announce and present the winners of the European Film Awards in a total of 21 categories will be actress Elena Anaya (Spain) and her male colleagues Pierfrancesco Favino (Italy), Jack Reynor (Ireland), and Stellan Skarsgård (Sweden), as well as Wim Wenders, the President of the European Film Academy, and Agnieszka Holland, Chairwoman of the EFA Board. 

Johan Heldenbergh& Veerle Baetens will perform “If I needed You” from the film THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOW. Other guests will include former award recipients like directors Maren Ade (Germany) and Pawel Pawlikowski (Poland), actress Sandra Hüller (Germany) and actor Peter Simonischek (Austria), as well as EFA founding members Jörn Donner, Stephen Frears, Peter Lilienthal, Carlos Saura, Hanna Schygulla, István Szabó and Volker Schlöndorff. 

Julie Delpy will be honoured with the European Achievement in World Cinema award, Aleksandr Sokurov will receive this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award and Cedomir Kolar will get the European Co-Production Award 2017 – Prix EURIMAGES. Among the guests at the ceremony will also be sound designer Samir Fočo (Bosnia & Herzegovina), composer Raf Keunen (Belgium), costume designer Vassilia Rozana (Greece), hair & make-up artist Susana Sanchez (Spain), and production designer Tonino Zera (Italy), all of them members of the excellence awards jury.

The 900 guests at Haus der Berliner Festspiele and all those at home, following the livestream or watching the broadcast, will be welcomed by Thomas Hermanns, host of the 30th European Film Awards. On www.europeanfilmawards.eu the livestream will start at 17.00 with an interview program from the red carpet with German film journalist Knut Elstermann and continue with the ceremony from 19.00. On Facebook Live there will be a backstage live feed.  

Lou (pixar)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 10 animated short films will advance in the voting process for the 90th Academy Awards^®. Sixty-three pictures had originally qualified in the category.

The 10 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production companies:

“Cradle,” Devon Manney, director (University of Southern California)
 

“Dear Basketball,” Glen Keane, director, and Kobe Bryant, writer (Glen Keane Productions)
 

“Fox and the Whale,” Robin Joseph, director (Robin Joseph)
 

“Garden Party,” Victor Caire and Gabriel Grapperon, directors (MOPA)
 

“In a Heartbeat,” Esteban Bravo and Beth David, directors (Ringling College of Art and Design)
 

“Life Smartphone,” Chenglin Xie, director (China Central Academy of Fine Arts)
 

“Lost Property Office,” Daniel Agdag, director, and Liz Kearney, producer (8th in Line)
 

“Lou,” Dave Mullins, director, and Dana Murray, producer (Pixar Animation Studios)
 

“Negative Space,” Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata, directors (Ikki Films)
 

“Revolting Rhymes,” Jakob Schuh and Jan Lachauer, directors (Magic Light Pictures)

Members of the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch viewed all the eligible entries for the preliminary round of voting.

Short Films and Feature Animation Branch members will now select five nominees from among the 10 titles on the shortlist. Branch screenings will be held in Los Angeles, London, New York and San Francisco in January.

Nominations for the 90th Academy Awards will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.

The 90th Oscars^® will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre^® at Hollywood & Highland Center^®
in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network. The Oscars also will be televised live in
more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 20 films are in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 90th Academy Awards^®.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
 

“Alien: Covenant”

“Beauty and the Beast”

“Blade Runner 2049

“Dunkirk”

‘‘Ghost in the Shell”

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”

“Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”

“Justice League”

“Kong: Skull Island”

“Life”

“Logan”

“Ojka”

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales”

“The Shape of Water”

“Spider-Man Homecoming”

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi”

“Thor: Ragnarok”

“Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets”

“War for the Planet of the Apes”

“Wonder Woman”

The Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the preliminary shortlist. Later this month, the committee will select the 10 films that will advance to nominations voting.

Nominations for the 90th Oscars^® will be announced on Tuesday, January 23, 2018.

The 90th Oscars^® will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre^® at Hollywood & Highland Center^® in Hollywood, and will be televised live on the ABC Television Network at 6:30 p.m. ET/ 3:30 p.m. PT. The Oscars also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.
 

(Top, L-R) The Trade, Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute; I Like Girls, Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute; Wyrm, Credit: Heyjin Jun. (Bottom, L-R) The Mortified Guide, Credit: Rebecca Aranda; War Paint, Credit: Courtesy of Sundance Institute; High & Mighty, Credit: Martim Vian.

IFFI Goa 2017, XVIII: 55 years of Bondage

A thousand eyebrows were raised at the inclusion of a James Bond package in the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Goa 2017. This was a first retrospect/tribute dedicated to a fictional character, the British MI6 spy who first appeared on screen in 1962. It was hotly debated whether the idea had any merit, considering retrospectives were hitherto confined to directors and countries.

As many as nine Bond capers were screened, and at the cost of admitting to guilty pleasure, I caught-up on Licence to Kill and Skyfall, two of the only three Bondy films I have missed since I sneaked into Bombay’s New Empire cinema to watch Sean Connery, Ursula Andress and Joseph Wiseman play the roles in Dr. No, characterised by the famous lines, “Bond...James Bond”, “Underneath the mango tree (song, hummed)” and “One million dollars, Mr. Bond.”

I say “sneaked in” because the 1962 production came to India at least a year, probably two, later. That was the norm for American and British movies in the 60s-80s. So the film must have made it to India in 1963 or 1964. Assuming that entry must have been restricted to persons above 18 years in age (not the least for the Venus rising from the water scene of Andress), I would have been 4-5 years younger. Luckily, what I lacked in years, I possessed in inches, and my height got me in.

Still an avid Leslie Charteris and Saint fan, I was disappointed that Roger Moore had not been released from his Simon Templar TV contract and that another actor was playing the lead in Dr. No. Not much was known about Sean Connery, the Scotsman. Andress was Swiss and was working in Italian films. When Dr. No was made, she was 26, and had learnt enough English to survive. Besides, she was a sexpot, and no prima donna. Appearing late in the film, Joseph Wiseman, as the titular villain, caught my fancy. And guess what?  He was a Montreal-born Canadian theatre actor who, very sadly, did very few films. I would have to wait many years for Roger Moore to get his 007 suffix, but, as compensation, Connery was a class act himself.

Only films produced by EON Productions make the cut, and the three Bond sojourns made by non EONs have been kept away. Just for curiosity, here are some details of the ventures not made by Albert (Cubby) R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman or their successors:

https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/movies/cr_1954.php3

http://www.realclearlife.com/movies/original-casino-royale-50-bizarre-bond-comedy-seven-007s/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RIICiAaEwI

Back to IFFI. What is the occasion for the retrospective? 50 years of James Bond! 50? Should that not read 55, considering he came along in 1962 and we are in 2017? And why did IFFI not screen Everything or Nothing, the definitive James Bond documentary, shown at the Mumbai Film Festival in 2012, which was the golden jubilee year of the Bond franchise? A much-needed perspective would been added to the tribute, full of nuggets. Incidentally, when the makers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman found the Dr. No filming costs spiralling, they decided to go for broke, and suitable named their company EON Productions—Everything or Nothing. Three lines from the grapevine are in place here:

§ The 25^th Bond film, as yet untitled, will release in about two years from now.

§ Daniel Craig has been offered £120 million to reprise his role.

§ Christopher Nolan has been tipped to direct this silver jubilee outing.

The nay sayers argue that the nine screen slots occupied by Ian Fleming’s indestructible, gadget wielding iconic secret agent could have been put to better use. All the same, what has been done cannot be undone. It could, moreover, become a precedent of sorts. Having recapitulated Double O 7, pegs could be found to hang retrospectives of

·   Tarzan

·   Hercule Poirot

·   Miss Marple

·   Pirates of the Caribbean

·   Superman

·   Batman

·   Star Wars

·   Star Trek

·   Planet of the Apes

·   Pink Panther

·   King Kong

·   Godzilla

·   Harry Potter

·   Halloween

·   Yashraj Films

·   Dharma Productions

·   Rajshri Productions

·   Rahul

·   Vijay/Angry Young Man

·   Prem

A scrolling band of carnelian clouds circling clockwise, a boy in an Afghani folk costume swirling within, a radiant beam at the center: The opening frames of Nora Twomey’s animated film The Breadwinner tell a tale of light and shadow, conjuring dream imagery of the pyche’s quest towards wholeness in the larger world. In case you haven’t guessed, we’re in the realm of universal truth, seen from toon-spun Afghanistan.

The allegory quickly blossoms into a parralel narrative explaining why we first hear the din of Kabul’s main market. Set in Taliban-ruled Kabul of 2001, the “real-world” backbone of the film centers on an 11-year-old Afghani girl named Parvana who chafes under the restrictive occupation.

We soon learn that the mystical “story world” introduced at the start is of her conjuring. Rendered in cut-out animation, it follows a young hero’s quest to defy the evil Elephant King tyrannizing his village. The tale itself hails storytelling for its power to illuminate, captivate and soothe. One look at Parvana’s baby brother Zaki—whose cries subside at the sound of her words--and we understand that power.

“For me, Parvana's voice is the light,” Twomey tells me during her recent travels in New York. Just as her heroine beams her enchantments, so too Twomey’s solo directorial debut seeks to elucidate and transform its rapt audience.

Four years in the making, the Irish, Canadian and Luxembourgian co-production was an all-out cultural immersion for the Cork-born filmmaker and her team. “We talked a lot with our Afghan consultants about the things that set Afghans apart and the things that are universal,” she says.  

Things like the collectivist values of traditional Afghani society, for starters. “In Afghanistan the needs of the family unit are more important than the needs of the individual,” Twomey explains. “We wanted to represent the sense of loyality to the family while also taking on board the structure of the family across age and gender.” Continue reading here: http://www.thalo.com/articles/view/1350/director_nora_twomey_shines_light_on_the

German director, screenwriter, film composer, and producer Tom Tykwer will serve as jury president of the 68th Berlin International Film Festival.

“Tom Tykwer is one of the highest-profile German directors and has established himself on the international stage as a great filmmaker. His outstanding talent and innovative trademark have been on display in a variety of film genres. We have gained a superb jury president in Tom Tykwer,” says Festival Director Dieter Kosslick.

Since 1992, the prize-winning, internationally renowned filmmaker has presented six of his films at the Berlinale. The first was his short film Epilog in the 1992 Panorama section. The Berlin International Film Festival has twice opened with Tykwer films – Heaven (2002) and The International (2009). Also seen at the festival were his short True (2004), as well as the film projects Germany 09: 13 Short Films About the State of the Nation (2009) and Rosakinder (2013), both anthology films made with other German directors.

“The Berlinale has always been my favourite and my home film festival, and has supported me since I began working as a filmmaker. We have a fantastic and broad history with each other. Now I can look forward to two focused and fun weeks of films with the jury”, says Tom Tykwer with regard to his jury presidency.

Tom Tykwer originally studied philosophy in Berlin, and worked as a projectionist and manager of the Moviemento cinema before making his first feature Deadly Maria in 1993. In 1994, he joined Stefan Arndt, Wolfgang Becker, and Dani Levy in founding the production company X Filme Creative Pool. He co-wrote the screenplay for Becker’s film Life is All You Get (Berlinale Competition 1996). In 1997, he directed Winter Sleepers, followed in 1998 by Run Lola Run, which marked his international breakthrough.

After The Princess and the Warrior (2000), which he shot in his hometown of Wuppertal, he made his first English-language film Heaven, based on the last screenplay written by Krzysztof Kieślowski. Cate Blanchett played the lead. Further international productions followed with Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), based on Patrick Süskind’s novel, and The International (2009 Berlinale opening film).

Three (2010), for which Tykwer won the German Film Prize for best director, was followed in 2012 by Cloud Atlas. The film, based on the eponymous bestseller by David Mitchell, was the first time Tykwer worked as a director with the Wachowskis (the Matrix trilogy). Tykwer composed music for and directed several episodes of the siblings’ Netflix series Sense8 (2015 – 2017).

Tykwer’s feature A Hologram for the King, with Tom Hanks in the lead, was released in 2016. The director adapted the screenplay himself from the novel by Dave Eggers.

For his most recent turn at the helm, Tykwer has ventured into episodic television. Babylon Berlin is based on a series of books by Volker Kutscher and is set in Berlin during the Weimar era. Tom Tykwer co-directed the first 16 episodes of Babylon Berlin with Achim von Borries and Henk Handloegten.

Since the beginning of his career, Tom Tykwer has always composed the music for his own films, and has recently been collaborating with Johnny Klimek. He received numerous awards for the Cloud Atlassoundtrack, as well as a Golden Globe nomination for best composer.

In addition to often functioning as writer, director, producer, and composer on his own films, Tom Tykwer has also been a producer on the films Gigantic (1999, dir: Sebastian Schipper), Soundless (2004, dir: Mennan Yapo), A Friend of Mine (2006, dir: Sebastian Schipper) and The Heart is a Dark Forest (2007, dir: Nicolette Krebitz).

EFM expands the programme in 2018 “DocSalon” is the new meeting point for the documentary film trade

The European Film Market (EFM), hosting more than 9,000 participants annually and serving as the focal point of the film trade during the Berlinale, is improving its attractions for producers.

The “EFM Producers Hub” - an initiative tailored to the needs of producers at the EFM and providing producers with free consultations on financing and distribution strategies by experts - will be presented for the first time in 2018 in cooperation with the European producers’ network ACE Producers and the Berlinale Co-Production Market. There will be a strong focus on new financing methods and distribution models. The “Sino-European Production Seminar” will once again take place, in cooperation with the network Bridging the Dragon, which supports collaboration between European and Chinese producers.

The documentary film industry profile will be enhanced in 2018. The EFM has increasingly been used as an important jumping-off point for the documentary film trade. The existing programme “Meet the Docs” will be concentrated within the new “DocSalon”, and include discussions and networking events. The documentary platform has become a fixture at the EFM thanks to the long-time support of the European Documentary Network (EDN). In cooperation with the EDN, the “DocSalon” programme will be more strongly oriented toward the future of documentary filmmaking through the integration of the new Media and Society initiative of the Copenhagen network, among other things. Cooperation with the documentary film festivals IDFA, CPH:DOX, DOK Leipzig, Visions du Réel, Sheffield Doc/Fest and the Canadian festival Hot Docs will continue.

The “EFM Producers Hub” and “DocSalon” programmes will take place from February 16 - 21, 2018 on the second floor of Martin-Gropius-Bau.

At the 27th jury session of the World Cinema Fund (WCF), the juries recommended contributing to the funding of 10 film projects.

Six films from Chile, Argentina, Vietnam, Brazil and Paraguay have been nominated for production funding. In the additional WCF Europe funding programme, the jury has recommended funding the production of a project from Morocco. In the special programme WCF Africa, they have recommended funding a Sudanese project.

Two films have received recommendations for distribution funding: WCF Europe distribution funding for the Chilean film Los Perros by Marcela Said for its release to cinemas in France, Chile and Argentina; as well as WCF distribution funding for the theatrical release of the film The Woman Who Left by Lav Diaz (Philippines) in Germany. 

The latest funding recommendations again include projects by Berlinale Talents alumni, as well as projects that were once in search of co-producers and so participated in the “Talent Project Market”. 

Since its establishment in October 2004, the WCF has awarded production and distribution funding to a total of 183 projects chosen from 3,241 submissions from Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Central and Southeast Asia, the Caucasus, as well as from the countries Mongolia, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. All WCF-funded films produced to date have screened in cinemas and/or the programmes of renowned international film festivals, and are evidence of the initiative’s worldwide success.

Production and Distribution Funding

The WCF jury made their selection based on 171 submissions from a total of 49 countries. Their funding recommendations amount to 317,000 euros.

The jury members are film scholar and curator Viola Shafik (Germany / Egypt), documentary producer Marta Andreu (Spain), distributor and producer Jan De Clercq (Belgium), and WCF project manager Vincenzo Bugno. For WCF Africa, they are joined by the additional jurors Jahman Oladejo Anikulapo (Nigeria), a journalist, film critic, author and actor; and Dorothee Wenner (Germany), the Berlinale delegate to Sub-Saharan Africa.

Production Funding WCF

Blanco en blanco (White on White), director: Theo Court (Chile). Production: Don Quijote Films (Chile) and Kundschafter Filmproduktion (Germany). Feature film. Funding: 45,000 €

Matar a un muerto (Killing the Dead), director: Hugo Giménez (Paraguay). Production: Sabaté Films (Paraguay). Feature film. Funding: 40,000 €

Nhà Cây (The Tree House), director: Truong Minh Quý (Vietnam). Production: JK Film (Vietnam). Documentary. Funding: 25,000 €

Director Truong Minh Quý is Berlinale Talents alumnus.

O Processo (The Process), director: Maria Augusta Ramos (Brazil). Production: Nofoco Filmes (Brazil). Documentary. Funding: 25,000 €

Vendrá la muerte y tendrá tus ojos (Death will Come and Shall Have Your Eyes), director: José Luís Torres Leiva (Chile). Production: Globo Rojo Producciones (Chile). Feature film. Funding: 40,000 €

Veteranos, director: Lola Arias (Argentina). Production: Gema Films (Argentina) and Sutor Kolonko (Germany). Documentary. Funding: 25,000 €

WCF Europe

WCF Europe has been made possible with the support of the European Commission’s Creative Europe MEDIA Programme.

Production funding has been recommended for:

Joint Possession, director: Leila Kilani (Morocco). Production: Socco Chico Films (Morocco) and DKB Productions (France). Feature film. Funding: 35,000 €

WCF Africa

WCF Africa, which grants funding for projects from Sub-Saharan Africa, was launched in 2016 thanks to additional funding from the German Federal Foreign Office. Recommendations for production funding:

You Will Die at Twenty, director: Amjad Abu Alala (Sudan). Production: Transit Films (Egypt) and Die Gesellschafft DGS (Germany). Feature film. Funding: 49,000 €

This project was chosen for the “Talent Project Market” 2017.

Distribution Funding WCF

Ang Babaeng Humayo (The Woman Who Left), director: Lav Diaz (Philippines). Distribution: Grandfilm (Germany), Feature film. Funding: 6,000 €

German release: February 4, 2018

Distribution Funding WCFEurope

Los Perros, director: Marcela Said (Chile). Distribution: Nour Films (France), Jirafa (Chile) and Compañía de Cine (Argentina). Feature film. Funding: 27,000 €

The World Cinema Fund is an initiative of the German Federal Cultural Foundation and the Berlin International Film Festival, in cooperation with the German Federal Foreign Office, with further support by the Goethe-Institut.

The special WCF Europe programme was created with the support of the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union

Thanks to additional funding from the German Federal Foreign Office, the special programme WCF Africa was started in 2016.

The Retrospective of the 68^th Berlin International Film Festival will focus on the great variety of cinema in the Weimar era. Some one hundred years ago, at the end of World War I and the dawn of the Weimar Republic, one of the most productive and influential phases in German filmmaking began unfolding, a creative era that went on to shape international perception of the country’s film culture, even to the present day. For “Weimar Cinema Revisited”, the festival will present a total of 28 programmes of narrative, documentary, and short films made between 1918 and 1933.

“Across genres, the Retrospective will document the Weimar Republic’s zeitgeist and tackle issues of identity. The spectrum encompasses zesty film operettas and comedies full of wordplay, as well as films with strong social and political viewpoints. The films are incredibly fresh and topical,” says Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick.

The Retrospective has three thematic emphases – “exotic”, “quotidian”, and “history”. In Im Auto durch zwei Welten (1927-1931) Clärenore Stinnes and Carl Axel Söderström take audiences on a fantastic trip to exotic, faraway lands. In Menschen im Busch (1930), an early example of ethnographic cinema, Friedrich Dalsheim and Gulla Pfeffer observe the unspectacular daily life of a family in Togo, breaking new ground by allowing the subjects themselves to speak instead of relying entirely on off-camera narration. The short films of documentarians such as Ella Bergmann-Michel, Winfried Basse, and Ernö Metzner capture 1920s life in Berlin and Frankfurt. In Brothers (1929), director Werner Hochbaum looks at a proletarian family and an existence marked by material deprivation. The film, which was backed by Germany’s Social Democratic Party, gains great authenticity with its use of amateur actors, and setting it during Hamburg’s 1896/97 dockworkers’ strike provides a reference to the contentious political issues of the 1920s. Heinz Paul is equally critical and sober with his portrayal of fresh historical events in The Other Side (1931). Conrad Veidt plays a traumatized British captain in World War I in Paul’s unsparing depiction of the senselessness and barbarity of the trench war.

“The Berlinale has already dedicated considerable Retrospectives to prominent directors and stars of Weimar­‑era cinema. Now, with this thematic look back, it’s time to turn our attention to the films that are not necessarily part of the inner canon,” says Rainer Rother, head of the Retrospective and artistic director of the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen.

The diversity of the Weimar film landscape is best grasped via the works of filmmakers who are not usually counted among the great and prominent directors of the era. The variety of the films, by directors as varied as Franz Seitz, Sr. (Der Favorit der Königin, 1922), Hermann Kosterlitz (The Adventure of Thea Roland, 1932), and Erich Waschneck (Docks of Hamburg, 1928), is evident in the abundance of not only differing subject matter, stories, and characters, but also aesthetic approach. Looking at this legendary epoch in German film history from a new perspective reinforces its artistic reputation.

Among the highlights of the Retrospective will be premiere screenings of films that have been newly restored by leading German archives and film institutions. The festival will be presenting the mountain epic Fight for the Matterhorn (Mario Bonnard, Nunzio Malasomma, 1928), Robert Reinert’s monumental Opium (1919), as well as a two-part film long thought lost – Urban Gad’s  Christian Wahnschaffe (part 1: World Afire, 1920, part 2: The Escape from the Golden Prison, 1921), based on Jakob Wassermann’s 1919 novel The World’s Illusion.

Most of the silent film screenings will be accompanied by music played live by internationally renowned musicians. Maud Nelissen and Stephen Horne are familiar faces to Retrospective audiences. Günter Buchwald will be celebrating 40 years as a silent film accompanist in 2018. And a newcomer to the Berlin festival is young pianist Richard Siedhoff, who has already made a name for himself playing at important silent film galas, as well as contributing music to various DVD editions.

The German-language book “Weimarer Kino – neu gesehen” will be published by the Bertz + Fischer house as a companion piece to the Retrospective. The richly illustrated volume will present essays by well-known film experts and directors, who will write on many as yet lesser-known aspects of Weimar-era cinema. The Retrospective film programme will once again be accompanied by a host of special sidebar events in the Deutsche Kinemathek.

We would like to thank our partners for their support: the German Federal Film Archive, the Deutsches Filminstitut – DIF, the Filmmuseum München, and the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung.

Press Office

November 21, 2017

The 68^th Berlin International Film Festival will open at the Berlinale Palast on February 15, 2018 with the world premiere of Wes Anderson’s animated film Isle of Dogs.

Anderson has previously presented three films in the Berlinale Competition: The Royal Tenenbaums (2002), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2005), and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) which opened the 64^th Berlin International Film Festival and won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize.

“I’m most delighted that Wes Anderson will kick off the Berlinale Competition again.Isle of Dogs will be the first animated film to open the Festival – a film that will capture audiences’ hearts with its Wes Anderson charm,” says Festival Director Dieter Kosslick.

Isle of Dogs tells the story of Atari Kobayashi, 12-year-old ward to corrupt Mayor Kobayashi. When, by Executive Decree, all the canine pets of Megasaki City are exiled to a vast garbage-dump, Atari sets off alone in a miniature Junior-Turbo Prop and flies to Trash Island in search of his bodyguard-dog, Spots. There, with the assistance of a pack of newly-found mongrel friends, he begins an epic journey that will decide the fate and future of the entire Prefecture.

The voice cast includes Bryan Cranston, Koyu Rankin, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Bill Murray, Bob Balaban, Jeff Goldblum, Scarlett Johansson, Kunichi Nomura, Tilda Swinton, Ken Watanabe, Akira Ito, Greta Gerwig, Akira Takayama, Frances McDormand, F. Murray Abraham, Courtney B. Vance, Yojiro Noda, Fisher Stevens, Mari Natsuki, Nijiro Murakami, Yoko Ono, Harvey Keitel and Frank Wood.

Following their collaboration on The Grand Budapest Hotel, Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson return as producers on Isle of Dogs, which was produced by Indian Paintbrush and filmed at 3 Mills Studios in London. Christoph Fisser, Henning Molfenter and Charlie Woebcken of Studio Babelsberg serve as executive producers. Fox Searchlight Pictures will distribute the film worldwide in partnership with Indian Paintbrush.

Isle of Dogs will release in US cinemas on March 23, 2018. Internationally, the film will open in cinemas from April 2018. 

As part of the Berlinale Classics programme, the 68^th Berlin International Film Festival will be presenting Ewald André Dupont's silent Das alte Gesetz (The Ancient Law, Germany, 1923) as a special screening with live music. The film, digitally restored under the auspices of the Deutsche Kinemathek, and accompanied by new music by French composer Philippe Schoeller, will have its world premiere on February 16, 2018 in the Friedrichstadt-Palast.

Das alte Gesetz (The Ancient Law) is an important piece of German-Jewish cinematic history; it contrasts the closed world of an Eastern European shtetl with the liberal mores of 1860s Vienna, and tackles the issue of the assimilation of Jews in 19^th century Europe.

The Deutsche Kinemathek undertook the first efforts at reconstructing the film in 1984, trying to get as close to the original version as possible, as far as the sources available at the time allowed. When the original censor’s certificate was later uncovered, containing the text of the title cards, it would eventually provide the impetus for renewed research efforts world-wide and finally for a new, digital restoration.

“With its authentic set design and an excellent ensemble of actors, all captured magnificently by cinematographer Theodor Sparkuhl, The Ancient Law is an outstanding example of the creativity of Jewish filmmakers in 1920s Germany", says Rainer Rother, head of the Retrospective section and artistic director of the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen.

The new music by Philippe Schoeller was commissioned by the broadcasters ZDF/ARTE. Schoeller gets to the heart of the film with meticulously composed ensemble music that employs all the techniques of a modern soundtrack. It consciously establishes some historical distance to the film itself and uses a tapestry of translucid sounds to emphasise the visual excellence of the silent classic. The composition will be performed by the Orchester Jakobsplatz München, with Daniel Grossmann at the podium. The orchestra, founded in 2005, focuses on the work of Jewish composers, as well as 20^th and 21^st century music, making an important contribution to contemporary German-Jewish culture. Its most recent guest appearance at the Berlinale was in 2013.

The new restoration drew upon nitrate prints in five different languages found in archives in Europe and the US. The text of the original German title cards was long thought lost. It was not until the censor’s certificate listing the intertitles was unearthed that the restoration team from the Deutsche Kinemathek could accurately reconstruct them, as well as correcting and finalising the editing. The colour concept was based primarily on two found prints nearly identical in their colourisation. So this is the first time that a version corresponding to the 1920s German theatrical release will be shown, both in its original length, and with the colourisation digitally restored.

The Berlinale screening marks the start of the film’s tour to several cities, mainly in Eastern Europe, that were once hubs of Jewish life, including Vilnius, Budapest, Warsaw, and Vienna. It will also be shown at the Silent Film Festival in San Francisco.

The restored version will debut on television on February 19, 2018 on the ARTE channel. Simultaneously, absolut MEDIEN will release a DVD as part of its ARTE EDITION series, containing a wealth of bonus material on the restoration process.

The Deutsche Kinemathek’s digital restoration of Das alte Gesetz (The Ancient Law) was made possible through the personal commitment of professor Cynthia Walk (University of California, San Diego), and generous support from the Sunrise Foundation for Education and the Arts.

The world premiere of the digitally restored version in Berlin is a cooperative venture between the Berlin International Film Festival, the Deutsche Kinemathek, and public broadcaster ZDF in cooperation with ARTE.

Das alte Gesetz (The Ancient Law)

Ewald André Dupont, Germany, 1923

World premiere of the digitally restored version in 2K DCP

December 18, 2017 Extended Deadline

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Awards & Prizes

Rules & Terms

Festival Director Dieter Kosslick in response to a letter signed by a group of German directors concerning the future of the Berlinale:

“I can understand that these directors want transparency when it comes to the process of reforming the Berlinale. Its future is a matter of great importance for all us. Minister of State and Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media Prof. Monika Grütters will be in charge of any proceedings. 
My contract ends on May 31, 2019. The Supervisory Board has asked me to submit a proposal for the potential restructuring of the Berlinale. I will do so - and this proposal will be totally independent of me personally”.

German Culture Minister Monika Grütters is responsible for the selection of the next director of Berlin film festival.

Reporting from Berlin on the 68th edition February 15 -25, 2018

#berlinale I Berlinale 2017 coverage I Berlinale  2016 I Berlinale 2015 I  Berlinale 2014 I 

________________

Dieter Kosslick will not renew his contract, ending may 2019, as head of Berlinale

Berlinale: Wieland Speck Hands Over His Position as Head of Panorama to Paz Lázaro

 

Wieland Speck, until now head of the Berlinale’s Panorama section, will in the future be contributing his extensive range of expertise on film to the Berlinale as Consultant of the Official Programme. Starting in 1982, Wieland Speck joined forces with Manfred Salzgeber to build up Panorama (an autonomous section as of 1980, known as “Info-Schau” until 1985) and made its programme one of the most prestigious in arthouse film.

Wieland Speck took over as head of Panorama in 1992. Over the past 25 years he has continually enhanced and fine-tuned the section’s profile as well as brought international recognition to the Teddy Award. Launched with Manfred Salzgeber in 1987, it was the world’s first and, to this day, most important film prize for queer cinema. Speck has curated more than 1800 promising cinematic productions – fiction films, documentary works and short films - and offered them to the public, press and industry for political debate and cinematographic experience.

“I want to thank Wieland from the bottom of my heart for the fantastic job he has done with Panorama. He established a platform for ambitious independent cinema, and successfully positioned it on the international market. I’m especially pleased that he will now be assisting us with his expertise and experience, and programming the Panorama’s 40th jubilee in 2019,” says Festival Director Dieter Kosslick.

Dieter Kosslick has appointed a new team to run Panorama - headed by Paz Lázaro. Together with Michael Stütz and Andreas Struck she will curate the Panorama programme.

All three have worked alongside Wieland Speck for years. Paz Lázaro became programme manager of Panorama in 2006. Michael Stütz, to date responsible for programme coordination, will – in addition to coordinating the Teddy Award – now contribute to shaping the section as programme manager and curator. Andreas Struck, programme advisor at Panorama as of 2006, will now be responsible - alongside his curatorial tasks - for editorial work and communicating the Panorama programme.

 

German Director Tom Tykwer to Head Up the Jury for the 2018 Berlinale

Tom Tykwer       © Joachim Gern

German director, screenwriter, film composer, and producer Tom Tykwer will serve as jury president of the 68th Berlin International Film Festival. “Tom Tykwer is one of the highest-profile German directors and has established himself on the international stage as a great filmmaker. His outstanding talent and innovative trademark have been on display in a variety of film genres. We have gained a superb jury president in ...

 

Berlinale Classics 2018 Presents Das alte Gesetz (The Ancient Law) by E.A. Dupont – World Premiere of the Digitally Restored Ver

As part of the Berlinale Classics programme, the 68th Berlin International Film Festival will be presenting Ewald André Dupont's silent Das alte Gesetz (The Ancient Law, Germany, 1923) as a special screening with live music. The film, digitally restored under the auspices of the Deutsche Kinemathek, and accompanied by new music by French composer Philippe Schoeller, will have its world premiere on February 16, 2018 in the Friedrichstadt-Palast.   Das alte Gesetz (The Ancient ...

 

 

Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs to Open the 68th Berlinale, his 4th time with a film in Berlin

  The 68th Berlin International Film Festival will open at the Berlinale Palast on February 15, 2018 with the world premiere of Wes Anderson’s animated film Isle of Dogs. Anderson has previously presented three films in the Berlinale Competition: The Royal Tenenbaums (2002), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2005), and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) which opened the 64th Berlin International Film Festival and won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize. “I’m most delighte...

 

 

Berlinale Talents 2018 Is Sharing Secrets

Berlinale Talents 2018 delves into the hidden worlds of film. With the theme “Secrets”, the 16th edition of the Berlinale’s networking platform focuses on the messages behind cinematic stories and images, and on unexplored paths into the film business. 250 international Talents and over 100 experts, mentors and Berlinale guests reveal their secrets of success and address the increasingly urgent social and political issues of how we share, disclose and protect knowled...

 

Retrospective 2018 – “Weimar Cinema Revisited”

The Retrospective of the 68th Berlin International Film Festival will focus on the great variety of cinema in the Weimar era. Some one hundred years ago, at the end of World War I and the dawn of the Weimar Republic, one of the most productive and influential phases in German filmmaking began unfolding, a creative era that went on to shape international perception of the country’s film culture, even to the present day. For “Weimar Cinema Revisited”, the festival will ...

 

 

Berlinale World Cinema Fund: Latest Funding Recommendations

At the 27th jury session of the World Cinema Fund (WCF), the juries recommended contributing to the funding of 10 film projects. Six films from Chile, Argentina, Vietnam, Brazil and Paraguay have been nominated for production funding. In the additional WCF Europe funding programme, the jury has recommended funding the production of a project from Morocco. In the special programme WCF Africa, they have recommended funding a Sudanese project. Two films have received recommendations for...

 

Improvements at the 2018 European Film Market:

EFM expands the programme in 2018 “DocSalon” is the new meeting point for the documentary film trade   The European Film Market (EFM), hosting more than 9,000 participants annually and serving as the focal point of the film trade during the Berlinale, is improving its attractions for producers.   The “EFM Producers Hub” - an initiative tailored to the needs of producers at the EFM and providing producers with free consultations on financing and distribu...

 

All serial formats at the Berlinale to be presented at Zoo Palast in 2018

The Berlinale Special Seriesprogramme, highly successful since its introduction three years ago, will run under the new name Berlinale Series and move to the new venue Zoo Palast for the 2018 festival. In 2015 the Berlinale was the first A-festival worldwide to create an individual special programme for series within the official programme. In doing so, the Berlin International Film Festival started a new trend and gave the high-quality serial narrative format a prominent platf...

 

Berlinale World Cinema Fund: New Funding Nominations

Berlinale World Cinema Fund: New Funding Nominations - artistically, structurally and geographically diverse   At the 26th jury session of the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (WCF), the juries recommended contributing to the funding of 13 film projects. Five film projects from Bangladesh, Palestine, Brazil, Afghanistan and Uruguay were nominated for production funding. In the additional WCF Europe funding programme, four projects from Tunisia, Brazil, Argentina and Egypt were no...

 

Focus on Canada at coming EFM 2018

from left to right: Michel Pradier (Director Project Financing, Telefilm Canada), Marielle Poupelin (Director International Promotion, Telefilm Canada), EFM President Beki Probst, Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick and EFM Director Matthijs Wouter Knol at the signing of the contract © Loïc Thébaud In 2018, Canada will be the next “Country in Focus” at the European Film Market (EFM) of the Berlin International Film Festival. The EFM’s “Country in Foc...

 

 

2017 Full Berlinale Coverage with dailies

...

 

Focus on Canada at coming EFM 2018

Anna Karenina-Istoriya Vronskogo, Review: ‘Vronsky’s story’ does no justice to Tolstoy

“If the world could write by itself, it would write like Tolstoy"—Russian author Isaak Babel.

Not being an authority on Leo Tolstoy’s writings of over 100 years ago, I cannot give my views on this rather sweeping statement. But after seeing the latest interpretation of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina in Russian/dubbed and sub-titled in English, a mini-TV series turned into a major segment of the epic novel, I can say with some conviction that Karen Shakhnazarov does not write like Tolstoy.

Told in flashback, with sound often coming on early while leading to a cut, Anna Karenina-Istoriya Vronskogo (Vronsky’s Story) becomes difficult to keep pace with, although most of the shots have a vintage technique, appropriately so. We go back from 1904, the Russian-Japanese War, Manchuria where is located a Russian military hospital, on the retreat stations, in a half-destroyed Chinese village. A major Japanese attack is imminent. The head of the hospital Sergei Karenin learns that the wounded officer Count Vronsky is the person who had a torrid affair with late mother Anna Karenina (Karenina means wife of Karenin, in Russian). This part about the Russo-Japanese war seems to have been inserted in place of the Serbian/Slavic/Ottoman war, combining a propaganda booklet, During the Japanese War, and the literary cycle Stories about the Japanese War, by Vikenty Veresaev.

Vronsky has grown extremely fond of ChuSheng (which means born in spring, in Mandarin), a Chinese girl caught in the horror of war. Karenin, who was an eight year-old boy living with his parents when the affair happened, comes to Vronsky and asks him the question which has been tormenting him all his life: what made his mother cross the line? After some hesitation, Vronsky agrees to tell the story of his tragic love for Anna Karenina, observing that people remember only what they choose to remember. Immersed in the past, Vronsky begins to reassess the story of thirty years ago, and finally comes to realise, that for many years, he has been in the grip of the bygone events.

Leo Tolstoy, Tolstoy also spelled Tolstoi, whose full name in Russian would be Lev Nikolayevich, Graf (count) Tolstoy was born in1828 and died in 1910. Two marathon novels define his work: War and Peace (1865–69) and Anna Karenina (1875–77). His doctrine of peaceful resistance had an important influence on Mahatma Gandhi. In the book, Anna first appears as the faithful wife of the stiff, unromantic, but otherwise decent government minister. But Anna, who imagines herself the heroine of a romantic novel, allows herself to fall in love with an officer, Aleksei Vronsky. Schooling herself to see only the worst in her husband, she eventually leaves him and her son to live with Vronsky. Throughout the novel, Tolstoy indicates that the romantic idea of love, which most people identify with love itself, is entirely incompatible with the superior kind of love, the intimate love of good families. As the novel progresses, Anna, who suffers pangs of conscience for abandoning her husband and child, develops a habit of lying to herself until she reaches a state of near madness and total separation from reality. She at last commits suicide by throwing herself under a train. A fitting end to a ‘fallen’ woman. The most defining line in the novel is, "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."       

Directed by Karen Shakhnazarov (Ward No. 6, White Tiger, The Assassin of the Tsar), also the co-writer, this venture is nowhere near a classic. Confining itself to Vronsky’s point of view, Anna Karenina of 2017 is nebulous and prosaic, full of vague postulations, faulty sub-titling and breakneck dubbing, only occasionally relieved by soft, soothing music by Yuriy Poteenko. There is an overdose of despondency and impending tragedy throughout the film, part of which must be attributed to Tolstoy’s all-pervading amoral, and even immoral, ambience.

Karen Shakhnazarov, one of several descendants of the famous Melik-Shahnazarian princely family from Nagorno-Karabakh that ruled Nagorno-Karabakh's province of Varanda in medieval and modern times, has been able to capture the period well, with elaborate sets and exquisite costumes. His characters look their parts, but never rise above their personae. It is possible that Tolstoy wrote his characters as illogical, irrational, loquacious and yet full of emptiness. However, divested from the literary work, all this conversation-confrontation leads nowhere. Some scenes do impress, like the horse-race, the opera and the galloping horse-cart. Bogged down in a chronicle of verbal exchanges and posturing, editor Irina Kozhemyakina is able to instil some pace, albeit occasionally, with technical juxtaposition.

Vronsky is Max Matveev (Happy New Year, Mom!, Weekend, Love Does Not Love, Fort Ross: In Search of Adventure) though the tale does not remain fixated on him. Elizaveta Boyarskaya (Admiral, The Irony of Fate 2 , Vy ne ostavite menya, Soviet Park) is the legendary Anna, Vitaliy Kishchenko (Cosmonautics Belyy tigr, Target) is cast as Karenin and

Kirill Grebenshchikov has worked mainly in TV. They all act out their parts with Boyarskaya (who also speaks English and German in real life), often going over the top. The girl playing the Chinese war victim is cute, though we do wonder how Vronsky is able to talk to her fluently in Chinese. It would be unfair to make any further assessment, considering the triple platform audio-visual experience: Russian, English dubbing and English sub-titling.

There is Even at 98 minutes, Anna Karenina: Vronsky’s story fails to hold interest.

P.S.: With two lead characters named Sergei causing confusion no end, wouldn't it have been right to change one name, especially as the son already has another nickname?

Rating: * ½

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aU4F0k2cSkc

Follow our India correspondant,Siraj Syed, reporting from Goa at The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Asia’s oldest and India’s biggest film festival.

Since its inception in 1952, IFFI has aimed to nurture and inspire Indian cinema and introduce it to the world outside as well as the many audiences that coexist in this vast and diverse country.

The glorious state of Goa has hosted this esteemed festival since 2004, through the Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG), the nodal agency appointed by the Government.
Although the festival itself is organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Government of India, it is done in collaboration with the State Government of Goa and the Indian Film Industry. IFFI is also recognized by the International Federation of Film Producer’s Association (FIAPP).

IFFI helps in contributing to the understanding and appreciation of film cultures of different nations through the diversity displayed within its film selection. As each year IFFI brings with it the latest critically acclaimed films, brilliant masterclasses and workshops by renowned personalities, and visits from several celebrities in the film industry, both national and international.http://iffigoa.org/about/

IFFI Goa 2017, XVIII: 55 years of Bondage

IFFI Goa 2017, XVIII: 55 years of Bondage A thousand eyebrows were raised at the inclusion of a James Bond package in the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Goa 2017. This was a first retrospect/tribute dedicated to a fictional character, the British MI6 spy who first appeared on screen in 1962. It was hotly debated whether the idea had any merit, considering retrospectives were hitherto confined to directors and countries. As many as nine Bond capers were screened, and at the cost ...

 

05.12.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

Shashi Kapoor gone? What a huge loss!

Shashi Kapoor gone? What a huge loss! Nine years ago, the Pune International Film Festival honoured Shashi Kapoor with a Life-time Achievement Award. He had already suffered a stroke and could only mumble, yet his presence lit up the auditorium. I felt privileged to have contributed his profile to the official brochure of the festival, but a tear ran down my cheek as he was given the award. As the news of his passing away came in an hour ago, I felt deeply distraught. We had worked together i...

 

04.12.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, XVII: Films and ratings

IFFI Goa 2017, XVII: Films and ratings For the first time in many years, I decided not to write while the festival was on, and catch-up on as many films as possible. Of course, I did attend two Open Forums and two dinners, but that was about all that kept me away from watching movies. That, and my inability to wake-up early enough to catch the morning screenings. Here’s a brief description of the films I managed to catch, and their ratings on a scale of 0-*****. A few were insufferable...

 

03.12.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, XVI: Self regulation is very important for documentary film-makers

*In quoting me, the word creditability has been used. 'Credibility' is the correct word.  *The clubbing of Films Division in the same quote is out of context as FD does not post news on social media. *Mike Pandey's Green Oscar winning film is titled Shores of Silence, not Whale Shark Hunting, as the report says. Incidentally, Mike Pandey is the President of the Indian Documentary Producers' Association and a former Chairman of the IFFI Steering Committee. (This writer t...

 

01.12.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, XV: UnSeen Durga and the Nude that nobody saw

IFFI Goa 2017, XV: UnSeen Durga and the Nude that nobody saw Among the many controversies and shake-ups that IFFI Goa 2107, one concerns the exclusion of two Indian films from the Indian Panorama. S*** Durga (name altered under instructions from the Central Board of Film Certification) and Nude. Durga was made by a Keralite director in Kerala while Nude is a Marathi film. The former uses Durga only as an allegory and there is no reference to the deity, while the latter is a docu-feature on th...

 

05.12.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, XIV: Open Forum: 'Social media an enabler, not competitor for documentary filmmaking'

IFFI Goa 2017, XIV: Open Forum: 'Social media an enabler, not competitor for documentary filmmaking' Panellists, however, added a caveat that the authenticity of videos needs to be verified as they have the potential to create social unrest. 27 Nov 2017 12:57 IST The Open Forum organised by IDPA (Independent* Documentary Producers' Association) on Sunday, 26 November, was the topic, 'Crowding the social media: Is documentary only source of genuine information?'  &nb...

 

01.12.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, XIII: Open Forum-Film personalities rue abuse of technology

IFFI Goa 2017, XIII: Open Forum-Film personalities rue abuse of technology 26 Nov 2017 06:59 IST By Blessy Chettiar The Indian Documentary Producers’ Association organised its first Open Forum this year at the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Panaji, Goa. The topic — Are actors losing control due to changing technologies? — was passionately debated by French filmmaker Pierre Assouline, former senior producer of Doordarshan Syam GK, Odia film Khyanikaa...

 

01.12.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, XII: Winners’ List, and a few regrets

IFFI Goa 2017, XII: Winners’ List, and a few regrets It was an evening of regret. At the closing ceremony of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), which concluded in Panaji, Goa on November 28, six films/directors made it to the top, of which I had seen only 30% of one, the only one to win two prizes. Why I did not see the others, and why only 30% of a particular one will be explained below. But first, the LIST. Films  (In absentia) 1. Morocco-born French Directo...

 

01.12.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, XI: International Competition to feature 3 Indian entries and 12 country premieres

IFFI Goa 2017, XI: International Competition to feature 3 Indian entries and 12 country premieres Village Rockstars, the mouse that roared, the sleeper that rocked the Mumbai Film Festival and the International Children’s Film Festival of India, a few weeks ago is one of the entries selected for the International Competition section of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa, November 20-28. Iran’s A Man of Integrity, winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes th...

 

19.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, X: Big names, big awards

IFFI Goa 2017, X: Big names, big awards Two days before the curtain is opens on the International Film Festival of India (IFFI), the Press Information Bureau (PIB) has issued a release listing the highlights of the annual festival. Here’s lowdown: 195 films from over 82 countries will be shown, of which there will be 10 World Premierès, 10 Asian and International premierès and over 64 Indian premierès as part of the Official programme. It was also announced that w...

 

18.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

Bose Dead or Alive: Rajkummar Rao in thriller take on Indian freedom fighter

Bose Dead or Alive: Rajkummar Rao in thriller take on Indian freedom fighter If you were a patriot and freedom seeker in the British colonial India of the 1920s-1940s, you either believed in non-violent struggle, a movement led by ‘Mahatma’ Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or the increasingly violent approach of ‘Netaji’ Subhas Chandra Bose. Mahatma means great soul and Netaji translates as leader. Both belonged to the Congress party, but when Bose called for armed struggle,...

 

18.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

Tumhari Sulu, review: BALAN sing act

Tumhari Sulu, review: BALAN sing act An aspiring film-maker was driving back from work one night in Mumbai and caught a late night phone-in show on local FM radio. That’s all it took. His launch feature had been shelved and he needed another project to make the million dollar move, from ad and promo films to the big screen. The writer in him got cracking, working backwards, from the sexy female voice on the speaker to a peppy house-wife alter ego of the self same. The man’s name i...

 

17.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, IX: TV Sponsorship package still open

IFFI Goa 2017, IX: TV Sponsorship package still open National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) on its home page has listed the following Proposal as the No. 1 item under News. It invites proposals for sponsorship of TV coverage of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa, November 2017. Event Details:              • Ground Event: IFFI at Panjim Goa from 20thto 28th November 2017.    ...

 

15.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, VIII: Message of Sunit Tandon, Festival Director

IFFI Goa 2017, VIII: Message of Sunit Tandon, Festival Director In the run-up to the International Film Festival of India, Panaji, Goa, November 20-28, I continue to monitor the news and developments. Here’s one link I found: http://iffigoa.org/indian-cinema-catalogue-2017/ At the bottom is a button called Download. When you click on it, you get: Sorry! Page not Found Back To Home However, on the second link, found right next to the above link, http://iffigoa.org/international-cin...

 

15.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, VII: Pablo César’s film on Tagore to close IFFI 2017

IFFI Goa 2017, VII: Pablo César’s film on Tagore to close IFFI 2017  Head of the Indian Panorama Selection Jury, eminent director of raved films like Kahaani, Sujoy Ghosh, did not like the turn the selection saga was taking, and has decided to disassociate himself with this decision. The gesture is merely symbolic, as the selection process has long been completed and the festival screenings of Panorama Films will begin on 21st November, less than seven days from now. No...

 

14.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, VI: Sexy Durga and Nude--two films you will not see

IFFI Goa 2017, VI: Sexy Durga and Nude--two films you will not see Since the first screening as a work in progress film in the NFDC Film Bazaar, held in Goa, 2016, Sexy Durga (Malayalam) received good reviews from the viewers. Also talked about ever since it was launched was the Marathi film, Nude. Both were selected by the selections juries to be shown at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) Goa 2017, which begins in a week from now. Both have since been removed from the list, an...

 

13.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, V: Majidi’s Made in India ‘Beyond the Clouds’ is opening film

IFFI Goa 2017, V: Majidi’s Made in India ‘Beyond the Clouds’ is opening film Oscar-nominated Iranian director Majid Majidi (Children of Heaven, The Colour of Paradise) a favourite among Indian cine-buffs, will show his Made in India film at the 48th. International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Goa. It will be the opening film, also marking its Indian première, on 20 November. Malavika Mohanan stars in the film, which marks the debut of Ishaan Khatter. This was confir...

 

13.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, IV: No Director, no Jt. Director, but the Indian film lists are out

IFFI Goa 2017, IV: No Director, no Jt. Director, but the Indian film lists are out Press Information Bureau (PIB), Mumbai, is largely invested with managing the media at International Film Festival of India (IFFI). Their home page has the following address: http://pibmumbai.gov.in/# On this home page, you are greeted with a pop up about the government’s cleanliness drive. Click on the cross at the top right hand corner there, and the pop-up closes. Now you are led to a site whose addr...

 

12.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, III: Three organisations, two lists and we are still clueless

IFFI Goa 2017, III: Three organisations, two lists and we are still clueless Attempts at getting any current information about the organising or the content of the 48th International Film Festival of India (IFFI), 20-28 November, 2017, Panaji, Goa, have met with no success. In this context, the confirmation of my accreditation (and I hope that of many others qualifying journalists, critics and photographers who had applied) has been received by email, a month after applying. That said, here i...

 

10.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

My Little Pony-The Movie, review: Rainbow in her pony tail

My Little Pony-The Movie, review: Rainbow in her pony tail Featuring the universe of the 1986 debut, My Little Pony: The Movie, the 2017 franchise, takes us back to the good old world of traditional animation, which is a rarity in the days of VFX, CGI and Motion Capture. A veritable feast of colours and dream architecture keep you enchanted and entranced for 99 minutes, and it matters little that the series is a spin-off from Equestrian Girls, a Hasbro Toys venture, targeted at, who else? You...

 

10.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

A Bad Moms Christmas, review: Santa is a stripper

A Bad Moms Christmas, review: Santa is a stripper They don’t bother giving any back-stories, and none are needed in this sequel to the 2016 outing. Christmas and Bad Mom specialists (Bad Dads is coming) Jon Lucas and Scott Moore team-up once again to debrief what Christmas and happiness is all about, and span it across three generations of American families. A Bad Moms Christmas peppers its script with a dozen stereo-types, and then proceeds to revel in ripping them apart, in the most i...

 

08.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, II: The Countdown has begun, but who is counting?

IFFI Goa 2017, II: The Countdown has begun, but who is counting? Hitherto, the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) was organised by the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), Central Government of India (all in New Delhi), in collaboration with various other Ministry units. The media relations were handled solely by the Press Information Bureau (PIB). When the annual event moved to Goa and set base there, a special body was created by the ...

 

07.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog

IFFI Goa 2017, I: Delegate Registrations and Committees

IFFI Goa 2017, I: Delegate Registrations and Committees International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2017 will be held in Panaji Goa, from the 20th to the 28th November. It has been held annually in the tourist haven since 2005. Registrations are open till November 10, on https://my.iffigoa.org/ IFFI’s has grown from 23 participating countries in 1952, to 100 countries in 2017. Three main committees spearhead the organisation of the effectively nine day event: The Preview (selection) C...

 

07.11.2017 | Siraj Syed's blog