Haifa 2004

"Schizo" (Shiza) by Guka Omarova.

For the first time, FIPRESCI participated in this Israeli festival with a jury. Our jurors saw first films in different sections and awarded the Critics Prize to Schizo (Shiza) by the young Kazakh filmmaker Guka Omarova. Details

Innocent and Not Innocent. Chris Fujiwara on Schizo. "Beneath the deceptively familiar trappings of a gritty study in post-Soviet degradation, Guka Omarova's tough, elegant, and witty film details the almost invisible process by which a fatherless boy equips himself for fatherhood."
Somewhere in China. Ulrich von Thüna on Jingzhe. "In telling an apparently simple story, director Wang Quan'an succeeds in giving a complex picture of Chinese rural society. The presence of the beautiful and moving actress Yu Nan is one of the strengths of the film."
Film in Female Hands. Branka Sömen on Films Created by Women and/or About Women. "The festival featured many films in which women play an important role, either as memorable film characters or inspired authors."
Tulse Luper goes to Haifa. Yehuda Stav on Peter Greenaway's Haifa entrance. "Center stage stood the controversial director Peter Greenaway, dividing the massive audience that came to see him present his avant-garde project The Tulse Luper Suitcases."
Fellini Forever! Phillip Bergson on the retrospective. "An unquestioned highlight was the mini-retrospective devoted to Federico Fellini. Also shown at the festival was the 52-minute documentary by Mario Sesti entitled The Last Ending, a fascinating companion-piece to Fellini's timeless oeuvre. For once, a film about the making of a film functions as a useful piece of cinematic archaeology."

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