International Reports
« Previous Entries Next Entries »59th Berlin International Film Festival – Berlinale 2009
Sunday, March 29th, 2009Asked whether the Berlinale has fostered an image as a “political” film festival, Christoph Schlingensief, the German jury member at the 59th Berlin International Film Festival (5-15 February 2009), blurted out: “A competition entry here scarcely stands a chance otherwise.” Schlingensief, a highly motivated political filmmaker in his own right, hit the nail right on […]
40th Hungarian Film Week – Budapest 2009
Sunday, March 29th, 2009Hardly a coincidence – just days before the opening of the 40th Hungarian Film Week in Budapest (27 January to 3 February 2009), the Hungarian Parliament voted to amend its film law and bring it in line with European Union regulations. Previously, the Hungarian film law had offered hefty tax rebates to international film productions. […]
5th Dubai International Film Festival 2008
Friday, January 9th, 2009DUBAI- Those who did not have the pleasure of attending the 5th Dubai International Film Festival (December 11-18 2008), may be surprised to learn that the Vegas of the East has put together one of the most fascinating and politically relevant festivals on the crowded annual calendar. Forget Hollywood romcoms, with its mandate to bridge […]
Musikstadt Berlin 2008
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008For musicians and music-lovers Berlin is truly a mecca. The city has three operas on the Spree. No, four – I almost forgot the Neuköllner Oper! Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle, and Kent Nagano are splendid attractions. Here, the Berliner Philharmonic and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester Berlin celebrate world-wide triumphs. Also, the Konzerthaus Berlin on […]
Elem Klimov – memorial book 2008
Wednesday, December 31st, 2008Even if your mastery of the Russian language is only so-so, don’t miss Elem Klimov, a memorial book edited by Raisa Fomina, Andrei Plakhov, German Klimov and Mariana Murzina. Asked once what Elem Klimov (1933-2003) was like, I likened him to a “Herman Melville hero” – genuine, complex, profound. He was an intellectual, yet a […]
57th Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival 2008
Saturday, December 13th, 2008The oldest German film festival on record – launched in 1952, when Walter Thalmon-Gross decided to expand his Mannheim-Ludwigshafen Film Club into an international event – the 57th International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg (IFFMH) (6-16 November 2008) straddles two cities in the populous Rhein-Neckar Triangle, both with university crowds to draw upon to assure an enthusiastic […]
First-ever Khakas film premieres in Abakan Russia 2008
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008Ada Chiri (Land of Our Fathers) , the first-ever film from the Khakas ethnic group, premiered on December 1 in the city of Abakan (pop. 162,000) in the internal Russian republic of Khakasia, located in southern central Siberia. Ada Chiri is a production of the new production company Khakasfilm, with the support of the local […]
Films in Post-Taliban Afghanistan – An Overview 2008
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008When the giant Buddhas on the Silk Road at Bamyan were destroyed by radical Taliban clerics in March of 2001 in accordance with a strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, even the Afghan populace was stunned by the disrespect for their own cultural heritage. For in July of 1999 the leading Sharia cleric, Mullah Mohammed […]
KINO! 2008 – German Films at MoMA New York
Saturday, November 29th, 2008Each autumn, for the past 29 years, the Museum of Modern Art – together with the Goethe Institute New York, the German Consulate General, and German Films – presents an annual slate of new noteworthy films from emerging and established German filmmakers. This year’s opening film at KINO! 2008 (5-13 November 2008) was Doris Dörrie’s […]
10th CINEMANILA International Film Festival 2008
Friday, November 21st, 2008DEKADA – celebrating a decade of CINEMANILA International Film Festival. The Philippines of Southeast Asia are an archipelago of 7107 islands with around 91 million inhabitants. Its capital, Manila, is located on the island of Luzon and with 15 million citizens is one of the world’s largest and most densely populated cities. From 16 to […]
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