Hend Rostom and Youssef Chahine as Qenawi in "Cairo Station"
By Alex Deleon
Youssef Chahine (1926-2008) was the leading Egyptian film director all through the second half of Twentieth Century active in the industry from 1950 until his death. He was the only Egyptian filmmaker to achieve international recognition with films at Cannes, Berlin, Venice, and Moscow and received a lifetime achievement award at Cannes in 1997. He wrote most of his own ...
Romanian director Adina Pintilie first came to the international film scene with her first short documentaries Don’t Get Me Wrong (2007) and Oxigen (2010); her recent breakout award-winning feature documentary TouchMe Not (2018) won the Golden Bear & Best First Feature at the 2018 Berlin International Film Festival. The film was awarded by a renowned jury that included TIME Magazine's film critic Stephanie Zacharek and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.
T...
By Alex Deleon
Tais-toi et sois belle ~ Shut up and look pretty, viewed on Awards night at Kino Arsenal 1. Not to be confused with a 1958 French feature film of the same name, which, in fact had me confused enough not to check up on what I was about to see and therefore stumble into a siege of boredom.
In this talking heads documentary made by French actress Delphine Seyrig, famous actresses talk about their roles in the male dominated movie industry, and the implicit requirem...
(Asalif Tewold,© Mo Scarpelli)
By LINDSAY R. BELLINGER
Anbessa is the epitome of a "fly-on-the-wall" cinematic experience. Italian-American director/cinematographer/camerawoman/writer Mo Scarpelli, whose producer Caitlin Mae Burke points out, "she was totally alone for most of the film," first visited Ethiopia about 10 years ago when she was working with an NGO focusing on clean water. Her love of Ethiopia as a count...
By Alex Deleon
A City Hunts for a Murderer, and a Forum film hunts for meaning.
"M, A City Hunts a Murderer" ~ Viewed at ZOO Palast, 2,
Based on the classic Fritz Lang classic of 1931, "M" with Peter Lorre.
Two TV Installments. In this avatar the tale of a child molester and killer hated by all, pursued by both the police and the Underworld, is transposed to current day Vienna in the middle of a colorful snowy winter, and much is made of the sticky ongoing ...
Actor, director, producer and editor Cameron Nugent began his entertainment career as a child with lead roles in TV series Round the Twist, Ratbag Hero and award winning The Big Wish, for which he received an AFI Nomination. He later appeared in Australian feature films Snowy, Dusty II, The Merchant of Fairness and Blackrock with Heath Ledger. As a young adult, he performed in television programs Neighbours, Blue Heelers, Stingers and Halifax.
After studying at Deakin University, Cameron star...
The 69th Berlin International Film Festival has come to a successful conclusion. On February 17 — “Berlinale Publikumstag” — movie-goers flocked to cinemas a last time to experience the highlights from the different sections of this year’s festival. With 335.000 tickets sold and its wide-ranging programme, the Berlinale was again a smash with audiences and culminated magnificently in the Award Ceremony at the Berlinale Palast on February 16.
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Presents
DRAGGED ACROSS CONCRETE
Starring: Mel Gibson (Braveheart, Hacksaw Ridge), Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers, The Break-up), Tory Kittles (“Sons of Anarchy,” “True Detective”), Michael Jai White (“Black Dynamite,” Tyson), Jennifer Carpenter (“Dexter,” “Limitless”), Laurie Holden (“The Walking Dead,” True Detective”), Fred Melamed (A Serious Man, Lady Dynamite), with Thomas Kr...
Scott Free and Black Bear Pictures announced today that principal photography on Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s (BLACKFISH, MEGAN LEAVEY) THE FRIEND, starring Jason Segel (FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, THIS IS 40, THE END OF THE TOUR), Dakota Johnson (FIFTY SHADES OF GREY TRILOGY, A BIGGER SPLASH, SUSPIRIA) and Academy Award-winner Casey Affleck (MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, OLD MAN & THE GUN, upcoming LIGHT OF MY LIFE) has begun on location in Fairhope, Ala...
(Zorica Nusheva, Suad Begovski © sistersandbrothermitevski)
By LINDSAY R. BELLINGER
Macedonia isn't usually a country that comes to mind when the discussion turns to cinema, at least in more modern times. The Manaki brothers shot their first film, The Weavers, in 1905, so they were clearly cinema pioneers in the region. Instead, the political landscape and international disputes with Greece over the country's name ofte...
(© Léa Crespi/Pasco/Prune Nourry Studio)
By LINDSAY R. BELLINGER
New York-based French artist Prune Nourry reveals a great deal in her documentary feature debut Serendipity, which made its world premiere in the Panorama Dokumente section of Berlinale 2019. She does not shy away from exposing herself to the camera, her battle with breast cancer in and out of the hospital. For those familiar with her artwork and performance art, this will not be...
(© Boris Laewen / 2018 bombero int./Warner Bros. Ent.)
By LINDSAY R. BELLINGER
Honestly speaking, I had heard negative reviews from many journalists before heading into the extra press screening for Der goldene Handschuh (The Golden Glove). The first two press screenings at Cinemaxx Potsdamer Platz were already to the max 20 minutes before the screening even started. I've never seen that happen before. There were so many of us standing there, a b...
SYNOPSIS
Deep in northwestern China, surrounded by cotton fields and desert, lies the Uyghur village that Isa calls home. When he is not at school or working on his parents‘ farmyard, he spends carefree days with his friends – until the outside world starts forcing him to say one goodbye after another. With Isa’s mother‘s illness placing an increasing burden on the family, his father considers putting her in a care home, far away from the vi...
My friend Kirill Razlogov from Moscow film Ferestival took me with his colleague Nina Kochelyaeva from Sotchi International Film Festival and Awards 'SIFFA) Awards to the Spirit of Fire International Film Festival Brunch. Carlo Chatrian from Berlinale and other dignitaries were in attendance for the lovely reception with an amazing multi talented local performer demonstrating the talent and culture from Khanti-Mansiisk in West Siberia.
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Ritesh Batra is an Indian filmmaker based in NYC. He rose to fame with his feature film The Lunchbox, which premiered in Cannes in 2013.
His new film, Photograph, premiered at this year’s Berlinale Special programme is a unique love story of a photographer in Mumbai and a girl he meets on the streets while looking for his next customer. From different backgrounds and each carrying their own baggage, the two strangers embark on a bittersweet journey.
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Bridging the Dragon together with the European Film Market have hosted for the fifth consecutive year the Sino-European Production Seminar with the aim to give European producers a thorough understanding of the Chinese film industry. This intensive full-day event took place 13 February 2019 at the EFM Producers Hub of the Gropius Bau in Berlin.
It consisted of a series of panel discussions in the morning and a practical roundtable workshop in the afternoon. During the w...
300 Photos published on facebook I 34 videos published on youtube I Complete coverage with dailies I
FILM REVIEWS
AMAZING GRACE, A Long Delayed Aretha Franklin Film surfaces at Berlin '69
What she said: The Art of Pauline Kael review
Leakage | Nasht by Suzan Iravanian (Forum): Berlinale Review
The Golden Glove by Fatih Akin: Berlinale Review
Sampled reviews of Jessica Forever
A City Hunts for a Murderer, and a Forum film hunts for me...
(Nora Fingscheidt, Helena Zengel and Albrecht Schuch with their Silver Bear for System Crasher, © Antonio Castello 2019)
By LINDSAY R. BELLINGER
The man with the golden camera. I first noticed photographer Antonio Castello during a press conference, due to his old-timey looking camera with a golden vintage lens. He captured over two thousand photos over the course of the massive eleven-day film festival. Looking through his snaps of festival director Di...
JESSICA FOREVER a film by Caroline Poggi & Jonathan Vinel
A blonde-haired boy crashes through the glazed wall of a suburban house and falls to the floor, unconscious. A militia of young men carries him away. They are led by a young woman, a blue-eyed, futuristic Jeanne d’Arc. They exit just as a swarm of threatening drones invades the room. A voice-over informs us that the state has deemed these boys to be violent orphans and social outcasts and the authorities are now huntin...
"It is given with warmth, I know it." Agnès Varda received one of the Berlinale Cameras this year. We've collected the highlights of Wednesday's ceremony for you.
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Next to our Official Juries, every year a number of Independent Juries award prizes to our festival's entries. Here's our highlights of yesterday's press conference with the winners of the Independent Juries.
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Cinema making can change ways of thinking! Charlotte Rampling was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear for her exceptional artistic career within the international film world. Here's our roundup of the ceremony.
Video highlights from her press conference.
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Foziye’s husband, an employee in the regional oil company, has vanished into thin air. Although her questions remain unanswered about his whereabouts, her faith prevails that he is still alive. During her visit at the local pension centre, she still replies “married” when her marital status is requested. Her life has metamorphosed into an arduous journey, considering her financial hardship and lack of work. Her mother incriminates her inertia, whilst her daughter ince...
Chatelin Bruno 
