Author: CWB News Department

CWB News Department, collects and republishes most important news and stories about International and Independent cinema, by noting the original source of the articles

Tehran Times: Iranian cinematography director Morteza Pursamadi died on Saturday while working on a project. He was 70. The artist was in the midst of filming “Angelic Sin” directed by Hamed Anqa when he began experiencing symptoms consistent with a stroke, leading to his hospitalization and eventual passing on Saturday morning, Honaronline reported on Sunday. Pursamadi was the cinematography director of several cinema and television projects such as “Gilaneh” by Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, “Tambourine” by Parisa Bakhtavar, “Hush! Girls Don’t Scream” by Puran Derakhshandeh as well as the TV series “Zero Degree Orbit” by Hassan Fat’hi. He was also one of…

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We’ve already shared some news in our favourite non-acting Oscar category. The most exciting thing at the moment is the Danish finalists which include a film called either Promised Land or Bastard (depending on where its playing). Elisa tells us that its going to be a major contender and could even bag Mads Mikkelsen the Best Actor win in Venice. Other recent Oscar updates for this category involved submissions from Estonia, South Korea and Uruguay and a finalist list from Netherlands, and news from Switzerland, Chile, and Tajikstan. We now have 13 submissions. The charts have been updated. The latest exciting news is the finalist lists from two important…

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The Italian writer-director Saverio Constanzo has offered the Venice film festival some unpretentious calorific fun with this enjoyable film: a tasty, showbizzy crowd-pleaser and romantic melodrama with a vivid streak of surreal absurdity in the tradition of Federico Fellini’s The White Sheik or Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo. It is the tale of an unconventionally beautiful duckling who becomes more of a swan than the glamorous people she idolises; her dreams come true – or sort of true – in 1950s Rome in the heyday of the giant Cinecittà film studio. There are seductive performances from Lily James as the…

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Based on French journalist Florence Aubenas’s bestselling non-fiction book, The Night Cleaner, in which she investigated the rising disparity and disconnect within French society through her experiences in the port city of Caen, Between Two Worlds casts Juliette Binoche in the role of a famed author named Marianne, who goes undercover as a professional cleaner to explore the exploitation of the working class in Northern France. She starts out cleaning homes and offices while making friends with other cleaners, most especially Chrystèle (Hélène Lambert), a single mother who opens up her life to Marianne and gives her real insight into the role that…

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This year’s Woodstock Film Festival comes at a pivotal moment. From the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes to a global reckoning with equity and accessibility, the film community is in a self-examining mood. Accordingly, the 2023 Woodstock Film Festival’s programming seeks to deepen our engagement with these thorny conversations. The festival runs September 27 to October 1. However, Meira Blaustein, co-founder and executive and artistic director of the festival, emphasizes: “We are very much a 365 organization.” Through year-round programming, it creates opportunities for members of underrepresented groups, including an artist-in-residency program and a youth filmmaking workshop. The festival will screen about 120…

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Jeymes Samuel’s sophomore feature The Book of Clarence, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, and The Boy and the Heron by Hayao Miyazaki are among the titles that have been announced within the full lineup of the British Film Institute’s (BFI) 67th London Film Festival. Scroll down for the full list. The Book of Clarence, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, LaKeith Stanfield, and David Oyelowo will screen at London as a World Premiere. Running October 4-15, LFF will feature 29 World Premieres (14 features, two series, and 13 shorts), seven International Premieres (six features and one short), and 30 European Premieres (22 features, one series, and seven shorts).…

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This year’s Telluride Film Festival will be missing its beloved co-founder, Tom Luddy, who died this year. Thus, the 2023 festival is dedicated to Luddy (1943-2023), as well as co-founders Bill Pence (1940-2022), James Card (1915-2000), and Stella Pence. Executive Director Julie Huntsinger, whose role expanded in the years since she joined the festival as managing director in 2007, is running the show solo for the first time. Per usual, the 50th anniversary TFF edition covers a range of over eighty feature films, new features, shorts, and classic programs representing twenty-nine countries, along with filmmaker tributes, conversations, seminars, and student programs. Huntsinger is carrying on the…

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Through martial arts cinema Fighting Spirit Film Festival aims to entertain and inspire people, promote martial arts culture, and support those who have chosen it as a career. The Festival is back in London this year with a two day action packed program, including films, two free seminars, demonstrations, and more. FEATURE FILMS LINE UP: LAYERS OF LIES Ramin Sohrab | 2022 | Finnish, Persian, English | Cert 18 | 90 mins For the team at Fighting Spirit it is always an exciting time to see short film makers making the transition into shooting feature films. ‘Layer of Lies’ is the debut…

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The fourth edition of the Amman International Film Festival (AIFF) was held from 15 to 23 August, highlighting Jordan’s and the wider region’s filmmaking endeavors through a cinematic extravaganza that celebrated diversity, artistic expression, and intercultural dialogue. AIFF brought together filmmakers, cinephiles, and industry professionals to explore the artistic medium. With an impressive program of 56 narrative features, documentaries, and short films from 19 countries, Jordan presented a mosaic of perspectives and narratives. Eleven films made their Arab world debut, while five had their world premiere. The AIFF saw films from Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt secure several awards.…

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Few have had a film debut quite like Anaita Wali Zada in Fremont. The independent movie that debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival follows the extremely mundane goings-on of its protagonist, Donya, an Afghan refugee living in Fremont, Calif. Just five months before agreeing to be in the film, Zada, who had never acted before, had fled Afghanistan when the Taliban returned to power. While the role was not written for Zada, her life and that of the lead character share a lot in common. In fact, the only thing weirder than “coming to America and starring in an…

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