Festivals & Events
Festivals & Events
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Evolution of a Filipino Filmmaker: Lav Diaz’s From What Is Before
Although Lav Diaz’s artistry is formidable, the first thing anyone ever mentions about his films is their prodigious length: the longest, 2004’s Evolution of a Filipino Family, clocks in at eleven and a half hours. Waggish aficionados refer to last year’s Norte, the End of History as his short — it’s just over four hours long. Apart from the attendant notoriety, this renders Diaz’s films extremely rare. With the exception of Norte, which was picked up for distribution in the US, UK and France, the only chance of seeing his work is at festivals and special screenings. Whenever one of […]
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First Impressions: The 2014 Locarno Film Festival
A spinning vortex of yellow leopards could be a metaphor for the feverish mixture of exhaustion and exhilaration experienced at the Locarno Film Festival. The image was a large collage of the festival’s mascot produced by the proprietor of my B&B, which he showed to me one sleep-deprived morning, on my way to a 9 am press screening at the Kursaal Cinema. Speaking of altered states, there’s been a persistent sense of déjà vu at the festival — which is actually a good thing. Seven days into the ten-day celebration, it’s clear that the 67th edition continues its tradition as […]
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The 52nd New York Film Festival Main Slate is Here
Here we have the just announced line-up for the main slate of the 52nd New York Film Festival. It’s probably safe to expect some additional titles to be added later on, but the 30 titles below are already no joke, covering a broad swath of some of the most-discussed titles from this year’s festival circuit. Titles and descriptions are from Lincoln Center’s press release, which can be read in full here, with links to any previous coverage of the films as applicable in the title. Gone Girl (Opening Night – World Premiere, previously announced) David Fincher, USA, 2014, DCP, 150m […]
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Camden International Film Festival Announces Commissioning Partnership with Al Jazeera Digital Platform
The Camden International Film Festival announced today a partnership with AJ+, the new digital platform from Al Jazeera Media Network. Submissions are now open for a competition that will bring five independent filmmakers to the festival to pitch short doc projects to filmmakers and industry leaders. AJ+ will then commission up to five projects, providing them with $10,000 budgets. From the press release: All selected filmmakers will be provided with an All Access pass to CIFF (September 25-28, 2014) and a stipend to support both travel and accommodations during the festival. This opportunity is for stories driven by strong characters, […]
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Kumiko, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, Warpaint Highlight Sundance Next Festival
It’s rare that I can recommend nearly every program at a film festival, but that’s the case with this weekend’s Sundance Next Festival in Los Angeles. With events taking place tonight at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery and then this weekend at the theater at the Ace Hotel, the Next Festival is intimate, very cool and with a strong multidisciplinary bent. Alongside several artistic feature highlights from this year’s Sundance Film Festival are shorts, panels and bands, making each program something of an event. Check out the complete line-up at the festival’s site, and here are a few picks of mine: […]
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A Place to Find a Standing Ovation: The Fantasia International Film Festival
Perhaps the most salient feature of the Fantasia International Film Festival’s three-week schedule is its total aversion to mornings. In the interest of efficiency, most festivals promptly begin screenings, panels or press conferences at 9 or 10am each day; at Fantasia things get started around quarter past three. Official and unofficial festival after-parties, meanwhile — premiere celebrations, industry events, cocktail breaks, impromptu gatherings for drinks — customarily extend until dawn (or later), with many attendees migrating after last call from pubs to after-hours bars and diners willing to serve up flights of “special tea” (after-hours booze). Everything about Fantasia — […]
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Arthouse Summer: T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival
The T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival takes place in the middle of summer, when the city of Wroclaw (pronounced Vrot-Slav) is pretty warm. Poland generally has a moderate climate, but the administrative seat of the Polish Silesia — the largest city in the western part of the country and Polska’s fourth largest overall — is pretty steamy. One could walk from the Scandic or Monopol hotels — two of the venues in which the festival put up its many guests — and have sweat dot the parts of your shirt that fit snuggly against your skin. It’s a long-contested […]
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Liliana Greenfield-Sanders Talks the Wassaic Project’s 2014 Summer Film Festival
Now in its seventh year, the multidisciplinary Wassaic Project’s Summer Festival — whose 2014 edition opens today — offers an intimate screening experience where independent films by emerging filmmakers mix with art, music, dance and the great outdoors. It’s probably the only festival where films are projected in a Cattle Auction Ring, a fact doubly surprising given the festival’s location just two hours from New York on Metro North’s Harlem Line. The Wassaic Project is a non-profit that has as its mission the creation of “genuine and intimate context for art making and strengthening local community by increasing social and […]
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The Death of Mr. Tarelkin: Edward Snowden on the Multi-Media Russian Stage
Volunteers welcome you into the theater, guiding you towards your allotted place. The lights are going off slowly. As you sit down on your chair, you look ahead at the stage. It’s unlike any other stage. I was at the Culture Center ZIL in Moscow, attending a performance of The Death of Mr. Tarelkin, staged by the Manege/MediaArtLab Open School, Ballet Moscow Theatre and the International Centre for Dance and Performance TsEKh. This was a sidebar event at the 36th Moscow International Film Festival (June 19 – 28), described on the website as “a performance where Russian classics, contemporary dance, […]
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Air Raid Sirens and Israeli Bombs: The Jerusalem International Film Festival
Noa Regev, the new director of the Jerusalem International Film Festival, had a difficult task for her first edition. Walking a fine line between continuing with the film screenings while acknowledging “the situation,” as it is called here, wasn’t easy but she handled it with grace and intelligence. “The situation”: Israel is bombing Gaza to smithereens while sirens wail over Israel, warning of Hamas rocket fire. The vast majority of the rockets cause little to no damage; the same, however, cannot be said of the Israeli bombs. So, with this as a background, many of the films showing at the […]
