Why is it that films like Dolores Fonzi’s wondrous directorial venture always remind us about the forgotten history, and how condemned we remain as a human race to repeat our mistakes in the future if we don’t come to terms with our past?
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A still from ‘Cotton Queen’ by Suzannah Mirghani, which will screen in Critics’ Week in Venice
Doha Film Institute Venice-bound films include the stunning 'Cotton Queen' by Suzannah Mirghani and Kaouther Ben Hania's Competition title 'The Voice of Hind Rajab'
Other titles supported by the respected Qatari cinematic organization include Jihan K’s personal doc on the disappearance of her father during the Qaddafi regime, Cyril Aris’ ‘A Sad and Beautiful World’ starring Mounia Akl, which will be screening in the Official Selection and Giornate degli Autori lineups, respectively, along with Sofia Alaoui’s sci-fi fable ‘Tarfaya’ which participates in the Venice Production Bridge.
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A still of Karla Murthy with her father, courtesy of the filmmaker
A very personal review: 'The Gas Station Attendant' premieres at Sheffield Doc Fest
Back when I was growing up in the US, there was a saying: “Everybody loves a winner” a phrase derived possibly from the 1967 song. Nowadays, from social media to the movies, and through everything in between, we’ve come to love the “losers” much much more. In her personal documentary, award winning filmmaker Karla Murthy talks about one such person. Someone very very close to her — her dad.
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Anthony Mackie is Sam Wilson, the new Captain America, in ‘Captain America: Brave New World’
Why 'Captain America: Brave New World' got me into Marvel films. Wholeheartedly
With a dissent in popular opinion and critics seemingly agreeing this is one of the weakest installment of the franchise, I’m here to throw the tables upside down and explain why I love Anthony Mackie in the tight-fitting costume of the world-saving superhero, but also how I got into the film way more than I should have.
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Wildlife filmmaker Ashwika Kapur's 'Catapults to Cameras' nominated for prestigious award at Jackson Wild
Roundglass Sustain, a non-profit foundation which commissioned this film, is the only conservation platform in India that collaborates with partners such as photographers, filmmakers and NGO’s to create stories that impact change and behavior.
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'Taking Venice' review: An art caper documentary that feels like a thriller
When the US wanted to use art to conquer the world, they enlisted the help of an up-and-coming American artist, a Jewish Italian art dealer and a woman with political connections. The result was a victory like no other, the story told in a wondrous documentary which is releasing this weekend in NYC, with LA and other cities to follow.
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Nazrin Choudhury's short 'Red White and Blue' is an Oscar-nominated must-watch
And I’ll tell you why.
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Sasha as a young boy in a moment from ‘Rewind’
In 'Rewind' Sasha Joseph Neulinger attempts to put the puzzle of his life back together
We can all go back to a moment in our childhood or young adult life when we realized the world was a difficult and ugly place. Some of us discovered it when we were let down by our first love, or when a parent showed his true colors by raising his/her hands to us or maybe when a friend betrayed us and our secret.
For Sasha Joseph Neulinger that moment came on early and painfully strong.
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Johannes Naber throws us a 'Curveball' and hits the perfect shot with his haunting film
Where were you in 1997? Well, that was more than 20 years ago, some may have just been born, others living their day-to-day life and chances are you can’t remember that year at all. I know I can’t. And yet that was the beginning of the end of the Arab world as we know it, and the start of the diplomatic chaos we find ourselves in these days, throughout the globe.
In his latest film ‘Curveball’, Johannes Naber does what he does best, tell a story inspired by the headlines yet in a narrative and human way. With humor and great insight thrown in.
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Why aren't we talking about Iraq? And revisiting Beth Murphy's prophetic 'The List'
Back in 2012, I watched and wrote about ‘The List’ a haunting documentary by American filmmaker Beth Murphy. It premiered at Tribeca and immediately became a symbol of the country I called home at the time. President Bush Senior had fought Iraq on the fields of Kuwait, while Bush Junior invaded the country vouching to get back at Saddam Hussein for, and I quote the then President, “this is the guy who tried to kill my father.”
Ever since then, it’s been an unmentionable subject, Iraq. In US news,
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Redefining the Hero: Laura Poitras’ ‘Risk’ and the True Julian Assange
We’ve been tricked by popular cinema, comic books and TV into believing that heroes are mighty and great — lacking all fear and devoid of any fault. It’s easier to write a hero as an all-around perfect man. But in real life, heroes are those who defy their greatest fears to accomplish something which goes beyond anything they could ever have imagined. Real-life heroes don’t lack fear, rather they act in spite of this paralyzing instinct. And their faults usually outnumber their merits, just as they do with any of us, if we get down to the nitty gritty tally of it all.
In fact, I believe that oftentimes, heroes end up being heroes despite their best intentions.
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'The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975' : The Revolution Will Be Documented
I think the reason I love cinema so much is that, as a medium, it possesses the most potential for uniting the world. While we watch a DVD of a French film at home, sit in a theater being washed over by the images of an Italian B & W classic, or surreptitiously check out the recent download of a Bollywood movie on our iPad, we are undeniably transported to other lands, other eras and, most importantly, other ways of looking at things. But while the promise is there every time we choose a title, few films achieve the grand objective of forever changing our mind and enriching our world permanently.
Swedish filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson’s documentary 'The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975' is one of those once-in-a-lifetime films which seamlessly reaches the full cinematic goal of changing its viewers’ world for good.
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