Film Festivals
53rd Sydney Film Festival--Part 2
Ten Canoes: a dramatic exploration of ancient Aboriginal culture
By Richard Phillips, 19 July 2006
This is the second part of a series of articles on the 2006 Sydney Film Festival, held June 9-25. Thefirst part was posted July 17.
53rd Sydney Film Festival--Part 1
Not deep enough
By Richard Phillips, 17 July 2006
This is the first of a series of articles on the 2006 Sydney Film Festival, held June 9-25.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2006—Part 4
Other European and Asian films
By David Walsh, 26 May 2006
This is the fourth and final part of a series of articles on the 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival, held April 20-May 4. The first part was posted May 13, Part 2 May 19 and Part 3 May 22.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2006—Part 3
Political exposures and more ... or less
By Joanne Laurier, 22 May 2006
This is the third part of a series of articles on the 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival, held April 20-May 4. The first part was posted May 13 and Part 2 May 19.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2006—Part 2
Creditable works
By David Walsh, 19 May 2006
This is the second part of a series of articles on the 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival, held April 20-May 4. The first part was posted May 13.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2006—Part 1
Film and history
By David Walsh, 13 May 2006
This is the first part of a series of articles on the 2006 San Francisco International Film Festival, held April 20-May 4
56th Berlin Film Festival—Part 4
Back to Basics?: The Elementary Particles by Oskar Roehler
By Bernd Reinhardt, 18 March 2006
One of the four German films to feature in the main competition selection at this year’s Berlinale was The Elementary Particles by Oskar Roehler. The film is inspired by the 1998 novel of the same title by prominent French author Michel Houellebecq.
56th Berlin Film Festival—Part 3
The work of theatre director Robert Wilson and other documentary films
By Stefan Steinberg, 11 March 2006
“I do theatre, I do not do meanings”—exchange between Robert Wilson and film director Katharina Otto-Bernstein.
56th Berlin Film Festival—Part 2
Crossing the “red line”: Iranian films and censorship
By Stefan Steinberg, 4 March 2006
This year’s Berlinale saw a selection of Iranian films taking up a wide range of issues and demonstrating some of the strengths and weaknesses of Iranian cinema. Along with It’s Winter by Rafi Pitts and Offside by Jafar Panahi in the competition selection, Men At Work by Mani Haghighi, Another Morning by Nasser Refaie and Gradually by Maziar Miri were also featured.
56th Berlin Film Festival—Part1
Further stirrings
By Stefan Steinberg, 1 March 2006
A trend noticeable at last year’s Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale) in embryonic form, the attempt by some filmmakers in a few countries to probe and penetrate the surface of current social and political life and make their reflections the basis for cinematic work, continued at the 56th edition of the festival this year. This tendency towards a certain polarisation in film clearly reflects a polarisation taking place in society as a whole.
Film festivals in Cottbus and Neubrandenburg
Part 2—Feature films
By Stefan Steinberg, 3 December 2005
This is the second article on recent film festivals in Cottbus and Neubrandenburg, which focus on new works produced ineastern Europe. The first article was posted December 1.
Film festivals in Cottbus and Neubrandenburg
Realism and nostalgia
Part 1—Documentary films
By Stefan Steinberg, 1 December 2005
The western European and North American media, for obvious reasons, hardly ever treat current conditions in eastern Europe. Thus, film festivals featuring east European film offer a rare opportunity to assess social, ideological and artistic trends in many of the former Soviet bloc countries.
Vancouver International Film Festival 2005—Part 3
Strengths and weaknesses of Asian cinema
By David Walsh, 1 November 2005
This is the third and final article in a series on the recent Vancouver International Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival 2005—Part 2
Working class life and other problems
By David Walsh, 24 October 2005
This is the second in a series of articles on the recent Vancouver International Film Festival
Vancouver International Film Festival 2005—Part 1
Iraq and American life
By David Walsh, 19 October 2005
This is the first in a series of articles on the recent Vancouver International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival 2005-Part 5
The wars inside and out
By Joanne Laurier, 11 October 2005
This is the fifth and final of a series of articles devoted to the recent Toronto film festival.
An interview with Shonali Bose, director of Amu
By David Walsh, 6 October 2005
David Walsh spoke to Shonali Bose, the director of Amu, and her husband, Bedabrata Pain, the film’s producer, in Toronto. The film centers on the riots in Delhi in 1984, organized by the highest levels of the Indian state, that led to the deaths of thousands of Sikhs.
Toronto International Film Festival 2005—Part 4
Art and the social element
By David Walsh, 6 October 2005
This is the fourth of a series of articles devoted to the recent Toronto film festival.
Toronto International Film Festival 2005—Part 3
Scars of war
By Joanne Laurier, 3 October 2005
This is the third of a series of articles devoted to the recent Toronto film festival.
An interview with Rakhshan Bani-Etemad, co-director of Gilaneh
3 October 2005
Joanne Laurier and David Walsh spoke to Rakhshan Bani-Etemad in Toronto
Toronto International Film Festival 2005—Part 2
Valuable films from France
By David Walsh, 28 September 2005
This is the second of a series of articles devoted to the recent Toronto film festival.
Toronto International Film Festival 2005—Part 1
World cinema and the world’s problems
By David Walsh, 23 September 2005
This is the first of a series of articles devoted to the recent Toronto film festival.
52nd Sydney Film Festival
Some valuable dramatisations of social life
By Richard Phillips and Ismet Redzovic, 1 August 2005
This is the final article on the 52nd Sydney Film Festival. Parts one, two, three, four, five and six were published on July 7, 12, 13, 21, 25 and 27 respectively.
52nd Sydney Film Festival
The struggle against superstition in a West African village
Moolaadé, written and directed by Ousmane Sembène
By Mile Klindo, 27 July 2005
This is the sixth in a series of articles on the 52nd Sydney Film Festival. Parts one, two, three, four and five were published on July 7, 12, 13, 21 and 25 respectively.
52nd Sydney Film Festival
Yugoslav filmmaker at an impasse
Life is a Miracle (Zivot Je Cudo), directed and co-written by Emir Kusturica
By Ismet Redzovic, 25 July 2005
This is the fifth in a series of articles on the 52nd Sydney Film Festival. Parts one, two, three and four were published on July 7, 12, 13 and 21, respectively.
52nd Sydney Film Festival
Some interesting documentaries
By Richard Phillips, 21 July 2005
This is the fourth in a series of articles on the 52nd Sydney Film Festival.
52nd Sydney Film Festival
“A return from a different kind of investment”
Amma Asante, A Way of Life writer and director, speaks with WSWS
By Richard Phillips, 13 July 2005
A Way of Life, a confronting first feature about poverty and racism in South Wales by writer-director Amma Asante, has won a series of British film awards, including a BAFTA prize for the most promising newcomer, since its release last year. Asante, a former child actress on British television, spoke with the World Socialist Web Site about the movie when she attended the recent Sydney Film Festival.
52nd Sydney Film Festival
Reality confronted, with passion and humanity
By Richard Phillips, 12 July 2005
This is the second in a series of articles on the 52nd Sydney Film Festival. Part One was published on July 7.
52nd Sydney Film Festival
A generally disappointing selection
By Richard Phillips, 7 July 2005
This is the first in a series of articles on the Sydney Film Festival, held over the period June 10-25, 2005.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2005—Part 3
There is no shortage of subjects
By David Walsh, 14 May 2005
This is the third in a series of articles about the recent San Francisco film festival, held April 21-May 5
San Francisco International Film Festival 2005—Part 2
Problems with history
By David Walsh, 12 May 2005
This is the second in a series of articles about the recent San Francisco film festival, held April 21-May 5
San Francisco International Film Festival 2005—Part 1
What should be encouraged
By David Walsh, 10 May 2005
This is the first in a series of articles about the recent San Francisco film festival, held April 21-May 5
The 55th Berlin Film Festival—Part 4
Aesthetic choices: Aleksandr Sokurov’s The Sun
By Stefan Steinberg, 11 March 2005
This is the fourth in a series of articles written in response to the recent 55th Berlinale—the Berlin film festival—February 10-20.
The 55th Berlin Film Festival—Part 3
An increasingly complex portrayal of German anti-fascism
By Bernd Reinhardt, 5 March 2005
This is the third in a series of articles written in response to the recent 55th Berlinale—the Berlin film festival—February 10-20.
The 55th Berlin Film Festival—Part 2
Four films on Africa and the Middle East
By Stefan Steinberg, 28 February 2005
This is the second in a series of articles written in response to the recent 55th Berlinale—the Berlin film festival—February 10-20
The 55th Berlin Film Festival—Part 1
Social life and history intrude
By Stefan Steinberg and Bernd Reinhardt, 23 February 2005
This is the first in a series of articles written in response to the recent 55th Berlinale—the Berlin film festival—February 10-20
Vancouver International Film Festival 2004—Part 3
No answers yet to new problems
By David Walsh, 26 October 2004
This is the third and final in a series of articles about the recent Vancouver film festival. Part 2 was posted October 21.
Vancouver International Film Festival 2004—Part 2
Once again, avoiding the more difficult problems
By David Walsh, 21 October 2004
This is the second in a series of articles about the recent Vancouver film festival. Part One was posted October 15.
Vancouver International Film Festival 2004—Part 1
Asian films and Asian life
By David Walsh, 15 October 2004
The Vancouver film festival, taking place in a city perched on the Pacific Ocean, makes something of a specialty of screening East Asian films. That is all to the good. Every glimpse provided North American audiences into the lives, problems and thinking of peoples around the world, including their artistic circles, is a blow against provincialism and narrowness. It could probably be demonstrated by careful research that the exposure of young people in particular of a given city to international cinema has a generally civilizing and humanizing effect. How could it not?
Toronto International Film Festival 2004—Part 5
Limited range
By Joanne Laurier, 12 October 2004
This is the fifth and final in a series of articles devoted to the recent Toronto film festival. Part Four was posted October 7.
Toronto International Film Festival 2004: Part four
Some things are difficult, but they need to be done
By David Walsh, 7 October 2004
This is the fourth in a series of articles devoted to the recent Toronto film festival. Part three was posted October 2.
Toronto International Film Festival 2004-Part 3
Orphaned by history
By Joanne Laurier, 2 October 2004
This is the third in a series of articles devoted to the recent Toronto film festival.
Toronto International Film Festival 2004
Interview with Bahman Ghobadi, director of Turtles Can Fly
By David Walsh, 2 October 2004
At the recent Toronto film festival, David Walsh spoke to Bahman Ghobadi through an interpreter.
Toronto International Film Festival 2004
Interview with Jia Zhang-ke, director of The World
By David Walsh, 29 September 2004
David Walsh spoke to Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke in Toronto through an interpreter.
Toronto International Film Festival 2004—Part 2
The problem of producing great works ... and today’s best works
By David Walsh, 29 September 2004
This is the second of a series of articles devoted to the recent Toronto film festival.
Toronto International Film Festival 2004-Part 1
A certain polarization
By David Walsh, 25 September 2004
This is the first of a series of articles devoted to the recent Toronto film festival.
Interview with Reuben Irving of Gorilla Cinema
By Harvey Thompson, 17 August 2004
Reuben Irving, along with Eleni Christopoulou, has been responsible for the works exhibited at Showcomotion 2004. These are a small part of the work of Gorilla Cinema with various schools throughout the Sheffield, England, region. Last year Gorilla Cinema worked with children at Abbeydale Grange Secondary school to help produce the documentary film 2be.
Showcomotion 2004: children’s and young people’s film festival—Part 2
By Harvey Thompson, 17 August 2004
This is the conclusion of a two-part review. Part 1 was posted August 16.
Showcomotion 2004: children’s and young people’s film festival--Part 1
By Harvey Thompson, 16 August 2004
This is the first of a two-part review
51st Sydney Film Festival—Part 4
The human cost of fratricidal war
Witnesses directed by Vinko Bresan
By Ismet Redzovic, 27 July 2004
Witnesses (Svjedoci), directed by the Croatian director Vinko Bresan and based on co-scriptwriter Jurica Pavicic’s novel Plaster Sheep (Ovce od gipsa), is a brave and intelligently made film, but not without weaknesses. This is Bresan’s third feature and a change in direction for the 40-year-old director. His first two features—How the War Began on My Island (Kako je poceo rat na mom otoku [1996]) and Marshall Tito’s Spirit (Marsal [2002])—were comedies of a sort.
51st Sydney Film Festival—Part 3
Some Australian documentaries: plenty of room for improvement
By Richard Phillips, 26 July 2004
The rise in popularity of feature-length documentaries over the last few years is an important political phenomenon. In the past, non-fiction films rarely gained cinema release, with screenings largely restricted to festivals or specialised arts events. All this changed with Michael Moore’s Bowling for Columbine in 2002 and even more dramatically with Fahrenheit 9/11, which has already earned over $US100 million in the US, where it is screening in more than 2,000 American cinemas, and breaking ticket-sale records for documentaries in every country it has been shown.
51st Sydney Film Festival--Part 2
A timely and disturbing drama
Blind Flight, written and directed by John Furse
By Richard Phillips, 13 July 2004
Blind Flight, written and directed by John Furse, is a compassionate and at times disturbing depiction of the illegal detention of Irish teacher Brian Keenan (played by Ian Hart) and English journalist John McCarthy (Linus Roache) by Islamic fundamentalists in Lebanon in 1986.
51st Sydney Film Festival
“The democratic potential for independent filmmaking already exists”
An interview with John Furse, writer and director of Blind Flight
By Richard Phillips, 13 July 2004
Director and scriptwriter John Furse has worked in British television for more than two decades. An accomplished scriptwriter and documentary filmmaker, his recent screenplays include Hellbentand Conversations with an Executioner. He has also produced or directed documentaries such as Living on the Edge, The Time of Our Lives, Helen Bamber—On The Trail of Tortureand Looks That Kill. He spoke with the World Socialist Web Site during the Sydney Film Festival.
51st Sydney Film Festival--Part 1
Some positive signals
By Richard Phillips, 6 July 2004
This is the first in a series of articles on the 51st Sydney Film Festival, held June 11-26, 2004.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2004—Part 4
Viola Liuzzo: martyr in the struggle for social equality
“She wanted equal rights for everyone,no matter what the cost!”
By Joanne Laurier, 7 June 2004
This is the fourth and final part in a series of articles on the 2004 San Francisco International Film Festival, held April 15-29.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2004
Interview with Mary Liuzzo Lilleboe, daughter of Viola Liuzzo
By Joanne Laurier, 7 June 2004
Mary Liuzzo Lilleboe, the daughter of murdered civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo, made the following comments to Joanne Laurier of the WSWS in a telephone interview from her home in Oregon.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2004
Interview with Paola di Florio, director of Home of the Brave
By Joanne Laurier, 7 June 2004
Director Paola di Florio spoke with Joanne Laurier of the WSWS about her documentary film on the murdered civil rights activist, Viola Liuzzo
San Francisco International Film Festival 2004—Part 3
Several new filmmakers, but ongoing problems
By David Walsh, 2 June 2004
This is the third in a series of articles on the 2004 San Francisco International Film Festival, held April 15-29.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2004—Part 2
For greater complexity, more uncovering
By David Walsh, 27 May 2004
This is the second in a series of articles on the 2004 San Francisco International Film Festival, held April 15-29.
Buenos Aires 6th International Festival of Independent Cinema
Interview with Clark Lee Walker, director of Levelland
By David Walsh, 13 May 2004
DW: It’s a film that gives a glimpse of what life in the US is really like.
Buenos Aires 6th International Festival of Independent Cinema
Interview with Ana Poliak, director of Palapalos
By David Walsh, 13 May 2004
David Walsh: Why did you begin with the physical exam?
Buenos Aires 6th International Festival of Independent Cinema—Part 3
Looking beyond one’s nose
By David Walsh, 13 May 2004
This is the third and final article of a series on the 6th Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, held from April 14 to 25. There are two accompanying interviews, with directors Ana Poliak (Parapalos) and Clark Lee Walker (Levelland).
Buenos Aires 6th International Festival of Independent Cinema
Interview with Sam Green, co-director of The Weather Underground
By David Walsh, 7 May 2004
David Walsh spoke to Sam Green, co-director of the documentary on the Weather Underground, the US radical terrorist group in the 1970s, at the Buenos Aires film festival
Buenos Aires 6th International Festival of Independent Cinema—Part 2
Documentary films: the French role in counter-insurgency, American radicalism in the 1970s and other matters
By David Walsh, 7 May 2004
This is the second of a series of articles on the 6th Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, held from April 14-25.
6th Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema—Part 1
A possible experiment: to feel something more deeply for the world
By David Walsh, 5 May 2004
This is the first of a series of articles on the 6th Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, held from April 14-25.
San Francisco International Film Festival 2004—Part 1
Outrage in the Middle East
By Joanne Laurier, 20 April 2004
This is the first in a series of articles on the 2004 San Francisco International Film Festival, held April 15-29.
54th Berlin Film Festival—Part 4
German films at the Berlin Film Festival: Confused emotions
By Bernd Reinhardt, 18 March 2004
A German film by Fatih Akin won the “Golden Bear,” the top award at this year’s Berlin film festival. As with Akin’s previous films Short and Painless and Julie, this film deals with the lives of second- and third-generation Turkish migrants living in Germany.
54th Berlin Film Festival—Part 3
New films by Ken Loach, John Boorman and Hans Petter Moland
By Stefan Steinberg, 10 March 2004
Another prominent film director, with cinematic and political roots going back to the 1960s, had a new film at the 54th Berlin Film Festival. Drawing on the strengths of the British realist cinematic tradition of the late 1950s and 1960s, which saw talented dramatists and filmmakers turning their attention to burning social issues for film and television, Ken Loach gained an immediate reputation for stark and powerful studies of social milieus which had been largely ignored in postwar British cinema.
54th Berlin Film Festival—Part 2
The legacy of the 1960s: films by Fernando Solanas and Theo Angelopoulos
By Stefan Steinberg, 26 February 2004
Use this version to print| Send this link by email | Email the author
54th Berlin Film Festival—Part 1
Disentangling “dark and difficult” cinema
By Stefan Steinberg, 20 February 2004
Last year’s Berlin Film Festival took place as storm clouds gathered for an impending US-led invasion of Iraq. This year, in a somewhat sombre comment, festival director Dieter Koslick warned his audience on a number of occasions that many of the films featured at this year’s competition dealt with “dark” and “difficult” themes. If people wanted entertainment, he said, then they could always go to the cinema.
Two films at the Montreal World Film Festival
Komrades, directed by Steve Kokker, and Babi Yar, directed by Jeff Kanew
By Felix Kreisel, 1 November 2003
Komrades, directed by Steve Kokker, and Babi Yar, directed by Jeff Kanew, presented at the Montreal World Film Festival, August 27-September 7
Vancouver International Film Festival—Part 4
Groping their way toward power and wealth
By David Walsh, 30 October 2003
“History is the greatest of dialecticians.” - G. Plekhanov
Vancouver International Film Festival—Part 3
Art and the facts of daily life
By David Walsh, 24 October 2003
The state of the world concerns and disturbs many artists. So too does the state of art. And rightly so. The self-absorption, triviality and outright banality of so many films, for example, offends the more sensitive and intelligent directors and writers, those least devoted to celebrity and wealth, those attached by stronger threads to the general population and attuned to its interests and needs. In opposition to the false and unreal studio products, most of which seem hazardously distant from any recognizable existence, certain filmmakers set up the principle of “social facts” in the form of documentary filmmaking.
Vancouver International Film Festival—Part 2
Critical and intelligent voices, not squeezed lemons
By David Walsh, 20 October 2003
It surely must be taken as an encouraging sign that critical and intelligent voices are once again being heard in eastern Europe and the Balkans. And not from the “dissident” generation, for the most part as used up as squeezed lemons, which slavishly assisted in the imposition of “free market” conditions, with all their disastrous consequences. Already this year, we’ve seen The Cuckoo from Russia and My Town from Poland, neither a towering work, but which cast a generally empathetic look at human problems. Until recently, nearly all the films emerging from the region in the post-Stalinist era have been cynical, hopelessly demoralized or merely mercenary.
Vancouver International Film Festival—Part 1
Toward a painstaking analysis of what actually is
By David Walsh, 16 October 2003
The recent 22nd Vancouver International Film Festival screened some 325 films from more than 50 countries. The festival is the largest showcase of Canadian films in the world and presents the greatest number of East Asian films outside Asia. Nearly 70 documentaries were shown this year.
Toronto International Film Festival 2003—Part 5
Seven films, genuinely concerned with humanity or not
By Joanne Laurier, 26 September 2003
This is the final part in a series of articles on the recent Toronto film festival (September 4-13).
Interview with Babak Payami, director of Silence Between Two Thoughts
By David Walsh, 24 September 2003
The WSWS spoke to Babak Payami, director of Silence Between Two Thoughts, at the Toronto film festival.
Toronto International Film Festival 2003—Part 4
How does the artist portray historical tragedy?
By David Walsh, 24 September 2003
Several films at the recent Toronto film festival treated, directly or indirectly, the ongoing tragedy in Afghanistan, Osama (directed by Afghan filmmaker Siddiq Barmak), At Five in the Afternoon (directed by Samira Makhmalbaf, from Iran) and Silence Between Two Thoughts (directed by Babak Payami, also Iranian). The first two were shot in Afghanistan, the third a few miles from its border in eastern Iran.
Toronto International Film Festival 2003—Part 3
Intimate moments, genuine protest
By Joanne Laurier, 22 September 2003
Directed by Sarah Gavron, screenplay by Rosemary Kay
An interview with Tom Zubrycki, director of Molly & Mobarak
22 September 2003
Tom Zubrycki, director of Molly & Mobarak, was interviewed at the Toronto film festival.
Toronto International Film Festival 2003—Part 2
Reproductions of life
By David Walsh, 19 September 2003
A certain type of intellectual snob or skeptic is taken aback at the thought that art might—or might be expected to—provide objective knowledge of human relationships and social life. Artistic effort, according to such people, ought to be reserved for the consideration of “higher”—or often “lower”—things (the supposedly “darker,” “primal” stuff of life). The physical state in which millions of people live, as well as their moral and mental condition, is of little interest to our snob or skeptic. “It’s all Eros and Thanatos,” he or she mutters, “Eros and Thanatos.”
An interview with Jafar Panahi, director of Crimson Gold
By David Walsh, 17 September 2003
Jafar Panahi, Iranian director of Crimson Gold, was interviewed at the Toronto film festival by David Walsh.
Toronto International Film Festival 2003—Part 1
Encouraging signs
By David Walsh, 17 September 2003
This is the first in a series of articles on the recent Toronto film festival (September 4-13).
Sydney Film Festival—Part 4
Courageous and thoughtful cinema
Titicut Follies directed by Frederick Wiseman andThe Spirit of the Beehive directed by Victor Erice
By Richard Phillips, 8 September 2003
This is the fourth and final article on the Sydney Film Festival.
Showcomotion 2003: Children and young peoples’ film festival screens more than 100 films
Part Two
By Harvey Thompson, 23 August 2003
Wallah Be (Kald mig bare Aksel), directed by Pia Bovi, 78 minutes, Denmark; Whale Rider, directed by Niki Caro, 104 minutes, New Zealand; The Boy who wanted to be a Bear (Drengen Der Ville Gore Det Umlige, directed by Jannik Hastrup, 75 minutes, Denmark/France
Showcomotion 2003: Children and young peoples’ film festival screens more than 100 films
By Harvey Thompson, 22 August 2003
2Be, directed by Eleni Christopoulou, 30 minutes, UK; Science Fiction, directed by Danny Deprez, 93 minutes, Belgium/The Netherlands; Does God Play Football?, directed by Mike Walker, 10 minutes, UK
Sydney Film Festival—Part 3
Two perceptive Indian films
By Richard Phillips, 7 August 2003
This year’s festival included recent works by Aparna Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Mani Ratman and Buddhadeb Dasgupta, some of India’s more intelligent and humane filmmakers. Consistently rejecting the escapist themes championed by Bollywood, the dominant sector of the Indian film industry, these directors have seriously attempted to examine different aspects of local social and political life.
Sydney Film Festival
Blind Shaft director speaks about filmmaking in China
Part 2
By John Chan, 18 July 2003
One of the more impressive contemporary works screened at this year’s festival was Blind Shaft, a first-time feature written and directed by 34-year-old Chinese director Li Yang. The film has won awards at the Berlin, Buenos Aires and Hong Kong international film festivals.
Sydney Film Festival—Part 1
Classic films a festival highlight
By Richard Phillips, 7 July 2003
This is the first of a series of articles on the recently concluded Sydney Film Festival.
San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 3
A growing seriousness
By David Walsh, 26 May 2003
This is the third and final part of a series on the recent San Francisco International Film Festival. Parts one and two were posted on May 21 and May 23.
San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 2
“But there is a great deal more to say”
By Joanne Laurier, 23 May 2003
This is the second of three articles on the recent San Francisco International Film Festival. The third article will be posted next week.
San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 1
A modest proposal: a cinema of ideas
By David Walsh, 21 May 2003
This is the first of three articles on the recent San Francisco International Film Festival. The second article will be posted later this week.
Buenos Aires 5th International Festival of Independent Cinema—Part 4
An Argentine tragedy
By David Walsh, 15 May 2003
Flores de septiembre (Flowers of September), directed by Pablo Osores, Roberto Testa and Nicolás Wainszelbaum, examines the tragic fate of a number of students at the Carlos Pellegrini secondary school in Buenos Aires in the late 1970s. The young people, involved with the Montoneros guerrilla movement, were abducted and murdered by the military dictatorship during the so-called “dirty war.”
An interview with Nicolás Wainszelbaum and Roberto Testa, directors of Flowers of September
By David Walsh, 15 May 2003
David Walsh: I just want to say that it’s a very strong film, a very moving film. Why did you choose to make this particular work?
Buenos Aires 5th International Festival of Independent Cinema-Part 3
Structures of evasion
By David Walsh, 13 May 2003
Marxist criticism insists, against other viewpoints, that some degree of historical perspective is not only necessary for the analysis of art works, but also for their creation. The artist needs to have serious thoughts on how a given society or community arrived at its present social and psychic condition in order to make sense of critical phenomena, large and small. Every relationship, even the most intimate, bears upon it the impress of this more general history.
Buenos Aires 5th International Festival of Independent Cinema—Part 2
Films on the Middle East, texture in cinema and certain elusive figures
By David Walsh, 9 May 2003
As a source of knowledge current feature filmmaking leaves a great deal to be desired. If one wants to learn something important about the world, unhappily, this is not the first place to turn. Genuine knowledge (including knowledge of subjective processes), that is, and not simply the contents of numerous essentially empty, self-important and often celebrated heads. This goes for so-called “art” and “independent” cinema too. In fact, empty-headedness and self-importance find some of their most perfected expressions in this realm.
Buenos Aires 5th International Festival of Independent Cinema—Part 1
The two paths
By David Walsh, 7 May 2003
The most recent Buenos Aires independent film festival opened as US forces continued their brutal assault on Iraq, shooting down protesters in Mosul and calmly presiding over the destruction of the country’s cultural heritage. Not since the 1940s had the world seen such an act of naked aggression.For its part Buenos Aires bears witness to the depth of the Argentine and world economic crisis, with more than a quarter of the nation’s population now out of work and well over half living below the poverty line. The city is measurably dirtier, poorer and gloomier than one year ago.
53rd Berlin Film Festival—Part 2
Additional Berlinale competition films
By Stefan Steinberg, 11 March 2003
This is the second in a series of articles on the recent 53rd Berlin Film Festival. Part 1 was published on March 7.
53rd Berlin Film Festival—Part 1
Varied responses to the state of the world
By Stefan Steinberg, 7 March 2003
Directly or indirectly, the social and political events of the last two years, culminating in the preparations for a US-led war against Iraq, left their mark on this year’s 53rd Berlin Film Festival.
12th Cottbus Festival of East European Cinema
Part 2: Two ways of depicting war
By Stefan Steinberg, 16 November 2002
This is the second and final article on the recent 12th Cottbus Festival of East European Cinema.
Follow the WSWS