ORGANISERS of the Zimbabwe International Film Festival have said this year’s edition of the fiesta — to be held in collaboration with the International Image Film Festival (IIFF) — will put the spotlight on African films and filmmakers. BY PRECIOUS CHIDA Running under the themes The Business of Film (ZIFF) and of Women, By Women, for the People (IIFF), the film fete will run from August 26 to September 2 in Kensington and Mufakose. ZIFF executive director, Nigel Munyati, last week said Zimbabwe’s film industry was enjoying growth, hence their decision to focus on local films. “Given the rate at…
Author: World Cinema Reports' Editors
Les Femmes Underground International is a film festival centered on the subversive, unique, and innovative. LeFUFF showcases artists from all walks of life creating work that redefines the manner in which women are represented in mainstream cinema. For the fest’s second year, it moves from Los Angeles to San Diego, and things kick off at 2:00 PM PT on September 2nd in the Digital Gym Media Arts Center and wrap up around 10:00 PM PT. About LeFUFF 2017: We invite you to join us as we premiere our Second Annual Festival at the Digital Gym Cinema in San Diego, where…
Jerry Lewis died on Sunday at the age of 91, leaving behind at least one big mystery: the fate of The Day the Clown Cried, an unreleased 1972 Holocaust film that Lewis directed and starred in. It tells the story of a fictional German clown, Helmut Doork, who is sent to a Nazi concentration camp as a political prisoner and ends up entertaining Jewish children at an adjoining death camp. In the film’s climax, Helmut distracts the children with jokes and pratfalls as he leads them to the gas chambers, ultimately joining them inside. You will be only partially relieved…
Set in a futuristic society, in a period close to ours, a devastating climate change has threatened to destroy all life on Earth and global corporations now rule the earth, controlling agricultural cultivation. The safe elite cities are protected from migrant invaders by magnetically shielded walls. For no apparent reason, a genetic crisis breaks out that hits all plantations. Professor of genetics, Erol Erin (Jean-Marc Barr), is set to investigate the reasons for the outbreak and aims to track down Cemil Akman (Ermin Bravo), another geneticist formerly employed by the same company, who wrote a theory on the Genetic Chaos…
Oliver Stone has been announced as the head of the jury at the 22nd Busan International Film Festival. The Academy Award-winning director will lead four jurors for the New Currents, a competitive section in Asia’s largest film festival, that introduces the works of up-and-coming Asian directors. Joining Stone on the jury will be world-famous director Bahman Ghobadi (No One Knows About Persian Cats) from Iran, renowned French cinematographer Agnès Godard (Bright Sunshine In), a multi-artist and an ideological father of the New Philippine Cinema Lav Diaz (The Woman Who Left), and Jang Sun-woo (A Petal, Lies), a leader of New…
Chemmeen, the 1965 Malayalam-language movie needs no introduction to any Keralite. This movie-adaptation of Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai’s eponymous novel is a Malayalam cinema classic that weaves the story of the tragic romance between Karuthamma (the daughter of a Dalit Hindu) and Pareekkutty (a Muslim trader), set in a tiny fishing village in coastal Kerala. An article in The Hindu, published on Chemmeen’s 50th anniversary in 2015, describes the eternal and ethereal beauty of this jewel in Malayalam cinema’s crown. An excerpt: “Set against the vast expanse of the sea, the narrative of Chemmeen offered immense visual possibilities, which the cinematographer…
Iranian feature movie ‘Under the Smoky Roof’, directed by Pouran Derakhshandeh, will go on screen at 10 cities in Germany. Pouran Derakhshandeh’s Under the Smoky Roof, starring Farhad Aslani and Merila Zarei, is based on the social and emotional dilemma of divorce in Iranian culture. The movie will be screened in 10 cities of Frankfurt, Bonn, Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Cologne, Darmstadt, Gibson, Karlsruhe, and Varnheim in Germany as well as in Kinopolis cinema chains. Under the Smoky Roof is about Shirin who has problems with her husband and child and is searching for a way to communicate with them and…
Director Ali Nuri-Oskui’s acclaimed animated movie “Release from Heaven” is among the highlights of the lineup. “Twenty-One Days Later” by Mohammadreza Kheradmandan, “The Skater” by Fereidun Najafi, “Ferrari” by Alireza Davudnejad and “Subdued” by Hamid Nematollah are also among the films. https://youtu.be/C-ONjV4pF0E Also included are “The Home” by Asghar Yusefinejad, “No Date, No Signature” by Vahid Jalilvand, “The Villa Tenants” by Monir Qeidi and “Yeva” by Anahid Abad. Earlier in July, Iran’s Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) also submitted Mohammad-Ali Talebi’s “The End of Dreams” to the APSA. In 2016, “Starless Dreams” by Iranian filmmaker…
Jerry Lewis, the comedian and filmmaker who was adored by many, disdained by others, but unquestionably a defining figure of American entertainment in the 20th century, died on Sunday morning at his home in Las Vegas. He was 91. His death was confirmed by his publicist, Candi Cazau. Mr. Lewis knew success in movies, on television, in nightclubs, on the Broadway stage and in the university lecture hall. His career had its ups and downs, but when it was at its zenith there were few stars any bigger. And he got there remarkably quickly. https://youtu.be/p4H3_GaXtBg Barely out of his teens,…
The annual Toronto International Film Festival has added acclaimed Chinese director Feng Xiaogang’s Youth to its roster, ahead of next month’s opening. Feng’s latest film ‘Youth’ will be one of the ten international films to premiere globally at the festival. ‘Youth’ tells the story of a group of adolescents in an army art troupe in the 1970s to 80s and their coming-of-age. It will be screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, while its release date for China has been set for October 1. Feng is considered one of China’s most influential and commercially…