(Black Tea by Abderrahmane Sissako © Olivier Marceny / Cinéfrance Studios / Archipel 35 / Dune Vision)
By M.R. D’Amico
Even before its world premiere at Berlinale 2024, Black Tea had generated strong interest among major international distributors, a promising start for the film’s journey into the global market. Mauritanian director Abderrahmane Sissako, after the amazing success of his first Oscar-nominated film Timbuktu in 2014, embarks here...
(Thinley Lhamo from Shambhala by Min Bahadur Bham, © Aditya Basnet / Shooney Films)
By M.R. D’Amico
It is the first Nepalese film to be in competition at Berlinale and one of the best surprises of the festival. In a Nepalese Himalayan village a young beautiful woman, Pema, starts her adult life with a polyandrous marriage to Tashi and his two younger brothe...
(A still of Thinley Lhamo from Shambhala by Min Bahadur Bham, © Aditya Basnet / Shooney Films)
By Lindsay R. ''Lulu'' Bellinger
Shambhala is a glorious exploration of womanhood, being true to one's self and determination. Thinley Lhamo's riveting and subtle portrayal of Pema is so gentle yet strong. I would not be at all disappointed if she won the Silver Bear for best leading performance. Pema becomes the wife of Tashi and his two ...
ATTEND THE EUROPEAN FILM MARKET WITH SUMMERHILL!
Check out some exciting films from Summerhill at the European Film Market! We will be at Marriott, Stand #139, with Monique White. We look forward to meeting with you!
Be sure to check out our website at www.summerhillfilms.com to see all our available films. We look forward to working with you throughout the rest of 2023 and beyond! If you're interested in any of these titles, feel free t...
Summer Hill Films LLC, a U.S. distributor and international sales and licensing company, has announced the DVD and VOD release of a suspenseful thriller, Gunpoint through Wild Eye Releasing. Gunpoint tells the tale of a family that is put into a situation no one ever wants to be in; held hostage.
In this thriller, inspired by a true story from 2000, a wealthy family that lives in a small high-end apartment is taken hostage. The invader psychologically tries to break David, the head of the...
Baywatch beauty DONNA D’ERRICO stars and her daughter
FRANKIE JEAN-SIXX makes her acting debut in
ESCAPE FROM AREA 51
making its first market appearance at Virtual EFM Berlin
Completed and ready for delivery. Contact me to view the entire feature online.
When a teen group of conspiracy theorists tries to raid the infamous military base Area 51 in Nevada, no one gets in but someone gets out. Sheera, a sexy alien warrior (Donna D’Errico - Playboy, Baywatch), uses...
(Mawusi Tulani, Agyei Augusto, © Hélène Louvart/Dezenove Som e Imagens)
Written by Victor Santana
In the act of telling a story, the process of narrative can influence and change how one relates and deals with the happenings in time. A great narrative has the power to overcome the circumstances of time and bridge the gap of space between the moment when someone is listening or telling a story and the timeless realm where a story is taking place.
...
(Argyris Pandazaras, Georgis Grigorakis © Lindsay R. Bellinger)
by Lindsay R. Bellinger
"I saw a poster in the train station here (Berlin) about the environmental crisis being the next Berlin Wall. And I think that this is what the film is about." ~ Georgis Grigorakis
The Greek film Digger from director Georgis Grigorakis won the Art Cinema Award on Saturday, the 29th of February, which was awarded by the International Confederation of Arthouse Cinemas (CICAE) j...
(Lana Rockwell © Mélanie Akoka)
Premiered in Berlin, shaped like Sundance. The first paces of ‘Sweet Thing’ feel as they are taken from Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Kid’. By iris-in, iris-out, long shot cuts into close- ups, the director Alexander Rockwell conveys a really fresh and intimate nostalgia beyond what you’d see in the usual Black & White indie flick. Van Morrison and Billie Holiday lyrics provey emotional LP magic to this soothing...
(Annie Heger, Eidin Jalali, Edson Cordeiro, Banafshe Hourmazdi, Faraz Shariat, TEDDY winners © Lindsay R. Bellinger)
by LINDSAY R. BELLINGER
German singer/actress/moderator Annie Heger as host of the TEDDY Awards was an inspired choice! On the evening of February 28, 2020 she brought the right amount of energy to the Volksbühne, maybe even more than some members of the audience. I was a little surprised that the older male German couple...
(Nico Rockwell & Lana Rockwell, © Lasse Tolbøll)
Antonio Castello:
Sweet Thing was a pleasure to the eyes; the genius mix of black and white and color 16mm films was very well done and goes according with our times. A story is only a good story when is well told and this movie finds a visual unique way to narrate the story using basic techniques, a low budget, and the love of his family and friends.
(Director/writer Alexandre Rockwell, © Ant...
(Thaia Perez, Agyei Augusto, Mawusi Tulani, © Hélène Louvart/Dezenove Som e Imagens)
By Lindsay R. Bellinger
Two Brazilians living in Berlin praised Competition film Todos os mortos (All The Dead Ones/All die Toten), a Brazilian-French co-production, at Berlinale 2020. Dimas Souza, living here for the past 17 years, and classically trained guitarist Victor Santana shared their impressions of Marco Dutra and Caetano Gotardo's film after its final scre...
(© Rithy Panh)
By Lindsay R. Bellinger
Cambodian Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rithy Panh presented his shocking documentary to the world at the Berlinale Palast with his filmmaking team by his side. His documentary Irradiés (Irradiated), which is a Cambodian/French co-production running in Competition at Berlinale, is not an easy watch and clearly it was too heavy and vivid for some of the audience members who left during the screening. For those of us who stayed, we were treated to...
(Lana Rockwell, Jabari Watkins, © Lasse Tolbøll)
by Lindsay R. Bellinger
New York indie filmmaking auteur Alexandre Rockwell returns to the 70th year of Berlinale with his new film Sweet Thing. His newest film is making its world premiere in the Generation Section of the film festival tomorrow at Urania, An der Urania 17, 10787 Berlin at 17:00. Sweet Thing is a wonderfully entertaining black & white film that centers on Billie and Nico, real life sister and b...
(Noel Comia Jr., Kim Chloie Oquendo, screenwriter/producer Valerie Martinez, © Lindsay Bellinger)
by Lindsay R. Bellinger
Filipino director Raya Martin, who participated in Berlinale Talents and screened his film La última película at Berlinale in 2014's Forum Expanded, has also taken part in Cannes Cinéfondation and screened at Cannes' Un Certain Regard in 2009. For the 70th Berlin International Film Festival Martin and screenwriter/...
(Kori Rae, Dan Scanlon, © Lindsay Bellinger)
by LINDSAY R. BELLINGER
Director Dan Scanlon and Producer Kori Rae were in high spirits after the press screening of the newest Pixar film Onward, starring the ever-so-talented vocal skills of Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Octavia Spencer, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Ali Wong, Tracey Ullman, Lena Waithe and John Ratzenberger (Cliff from Cheers & Hamm from the Toy Story films). The journalists were fed off of Scanlon and Rae's p...
(Michael Stütz, © Lindsay Bellinger)
by LINDSAY R. BELLINGER
The new head of the Panorama Section of Berlinale Michael Stütz welcomed the packed house to the opening of the Panorama and led us with a moment of silence for the victims of the far-right extremist mass shooting that occurred in Hanau, Germany late Wednesday evening. Shortly thereafter Stütz introduced Argentinian director Clarisa Navis who presented the world premiere of her film Las Mil y U...
(Margaret Qualley, Sigourney Weaver, © Lindsay Bellinger)
by LINDSAY R. BELLINGER
Canadian filmmaker Philippe Falardeau's film My Salinger Year was the opening film of the 70th anniversary edition of the Berlin International Film Festival and the Red Carpet was ablaze. Margaret Qualley and Sigourney Weaver took lots of time on the Red Carpet for photographers, fans and interviews. They took some time to chat a bit with one another as photographers were biding their ti...
(Oleg Sentsov, Akhtem Seitablaiev before the world premiere of Nomera, © Lindsay Bellinger)
by LINDSAY R. BELLINGER
Ukrainian filmmaker, activist and writer Oleg Sentsov was unjustly imprisoned in a Russian gulag for six years after being arrested by the Russian secret service in May 2014. His alleged terrorist activities led to a 20 year prison sentence but he was released in September 2019 in a prisoner swap. Over the course of these six years many people protested worldw...
(Joachim von Vietinghoff, Gisela Kayser, and Peter Lilienthal, © Lindsay Bellinger)
by LINDSAY R. BELLINGER
On the evening of the 27th of January, Peter Lilenthal presented his 1979 Berlinale Golden Bear winning film David to a full house at Willy Brandt Haus in Berlin. The line stretched around the corner, comprised mostly of an older audience, in order to secure a spot to watch Lilenthal's extraordinary film that explores the origin of prejudice and ...
(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 not in 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 often tend to be the focus of conve...
(© 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 much of a shock b...
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.
...
(© 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 bit stunned and sur...
(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...
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