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Conferences, readings, discussions
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Jonathan Rosenbaum
on Richard Linklater's
"Me and Orson Welles"
Klaus Eder on
new trends
in Russian cinema
Francisco Ferreira
on the Albanian film
"Mao Tse Tung"
Lisa Nesselson on
"The Exchange"
(Clint Eastwood)
Joao Antunes on
"Delta"
(Kornél Mundruczó)
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| festival
reports |
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Donostia-San Sebastian. What better way for the magnificent Basque city to launch its candidacy to European Cultural Capital in 2016 than to host a rich and colourful 56th edition of its renowned film festival, dazzling with stars (from Meryl Streep to Woody Allen), high-profile competition and fabulous retrospectives (Monicelli, Terence Davies) ? |
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Perm. The festival, named after Robert Flaherty, one of the pioneers of the documentary cinema, is focused on documentaries. The retrospectives showed the films of Boris Karadzhev devoted to his 60th anniversary and an archive program "100 Years of Russian Cinema". |
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Venice. The two main sections, the Competition and Horizons, could hold the interest, even if not all news coming from the Lido had been enthusiastic. Two masters were honored: Ermanno Olmi and Manoel de Oliveira. Our jurors write on the altogether rich program. |
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Locarno. A traditional showcase for young and new cinema, with the attraction of the Piazza, every night a vivid meeting point of cine fans. Young Mexican filmmaker Enrique Rivero's debut Parque via won the "Golden Leopard" and the FIPRESCI Prize. |
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Motovun. Hosted in the small medieval town of Motovun, in the Croatian Istria, the festival shows films that don't usually surface in the national distribution circuit. A retrospective was dedicated to "100 Years of Russian Cinema". |
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Karlovy Vary. Programming director Eva Zaraolová has met the challenge of creating an interesting competition between Cannes in spring and Venice in autumn, by finding overlooked gems, many from former Eastern Bloc countries. |
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Moscow. While the international competition needs to be improved, sidebars offered an overview on the best films of the season, homages dedicated to Im Kwon-taek and István Szabó, and an attractive series on "Socialist Avant-Gardism". |
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Sochi. The "Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival", Russia's most important national festival, presented an interesting overview on the recent production of the country. Klaus Eder writes on new trends in Russian cinema. |
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Grand Prix 2008 |
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Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" Wins FIPRESCI Grand Prix. The choice was unmistakable among the 242 members of FIPRESCI who sent in their votes from all over the world: Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood was voted Best Film of the Year. The US filmmaker received the award at the closing ceremony of the San Sebastian Festival in September, which hosts the Grand Prix since its creation in 1999. Norman Wilner and Jorge Morales review the film
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Toronto 2008 |
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Toronto. The festival is widely considered to be the most important high-profile film festival in North America. Our jury members review a wide range of films, from Richard Linklater's Me and Orson Welles (Jonathan Rosenbaum) and Disgrace by Australian Steve Jacobs (Pablo Scholz) to Greek films (Elie Castiel), films telling stories of women (Ranjita Biswas), Stephen Belber's Management (Kim Linekin) and coming-of-age films (Nick Roddick). |
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