Two films play at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam that will make you yearn to a visit to an island. Any island…
Read MoreA still from ‘Liborio’ by Nino Martínez Sosa
When the acting bug hits you: 'The Cemil Show' by Baris Sarhan world premieres in Rotterdam
In ‘The Cemil Show’ the film’s namesake leading character, played to perfection by Ozan Celik whom you may remember from ‘Sivas’ in 2015, is someone much like my friend and me — bad at acting, but still desperate to make it.
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Dr. Martin Luther King in Sam Pollard’s ‘MLK/FBI’. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films Release
'MLK/FBI' by Sam Pollard: The perfect film to watch in these turbulent times
In a new, stunning archival documentary by Sam Pollard titled ‘MLK/FBI’ the charismatic figure of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is shown against the backdrop of just that America — which we believed long forgotten but which we’ve witnessed first hand in the past four years, while governed by a man with ideas of grandeur.
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Jamal Khashoggi, right, with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman
'The Dissident' by Bryan Fogel: Everything you need to know on the murder of a journalist. Or is it?
On October 2nd, 2018 Saudi journalist and Washington Post opinion blogger Jamal Khashoggi entered the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey never to exit it again. What happened inside could have remained a mystery except that the Turkish authorities had put into place an intricate and advanced system of surveillance on the Saudis and Khashoggi’s demise was captured in vivid sounds for all to hear. In a new documentary titled ‘The Dissident’ Oscar-winning filmmaker Bryan Fogel examines the life and death of Khashoggi.
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A still from ‘The Translator’ directed by Anas Khalaf and Rana Kazkaz
The Uncertainty of Everything: 'The Translator' by Rana Kazkaz and Anas Khalaf at Tallinn Black Nights
While there have been loads of documentaries about Syria and its place in the Arab Spring revolutions of 2011, no narrative film has even come close to the way ‘The Translator’ tells the story. A complete story that goes as far back as the first Syrian revolts in 1980 under Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez which resulted in the Hama massacre in 1982. The filmmakers telling this spellbinding story are husband and wife team Anas Khalaf and Rana Kazkaz, both multi-hyphenated nationalities but at the center of it all, Syrian. Because let’s face it, there are currently many more Syrian living spread out around the world than in Syria itself.
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Nicolas and Aurelien hold little Louise in a still from ‘Ghosts of the République’ by Jonathon Narducci
Love and marriage, plus fatherhood: 'Ghosts of the République' explores a same-sex couple's trials to have a baby
A couple, a love affair, a wedding day and then the desire to have a child together. It’s everyone’s dream, yet if the couple we are part of isn’t the norm in this world, there will be obstacles ahead. Love is difficult enough if you’re straight, so if the couple happens to be gay, the challenges multiply by the thousands.
In the upcoming 'Ghosts of the République’ a wonderful documentary which will begin streaming on November 17th, we watch the love affair of French couple Nicolas and Aurelien unfolding.
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A still from ‘I Am Greta’ courtesy of Hulu
'I Am Greta' by Nathan Grossman on Hulu: When watching a documentary can change your world
Thanks to filmmaker Nathan Grossman and an upcoming Hulu documentary which will premiere in North America on November 13th, I was pleasantly surprised. Within ‘I Am Greta’ I discovered a complex young woman filled with strong ideals and the right vulnerability to drive those principles home — make them seem like we all should get on board of the sustainability train to save our beloved planet. Pardon the pun.
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Oliver Laxe's 'Fire Will Come': A slow burn igniting a deep flame which smolders for days
The Spanish born, French-educated Oliver Laxe, who made the much beloved 2016 award winning ‘Mimosas’ as well as ‘You Are All Captains’ in 2010, has a way with slow and steady. ‘Fire Will Come’ is no exception.
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Photo by David Lee ©, courtesy of HBO and used with permission
David Byrne for President! And why everyone should watch 'American Utopia' directed by Spike Lee on HBO
We live in unimaginable times. And yet there were many who were able to foresee this future, this current new world, long before it happened. Among them, singer/songwriter/artist and all around renaissance man David Byrne, and the American national treasure that is Spike Lee.
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Ali Suliman plays Mustafa, a father separated from his family by a wall, in Ameen Nayfeh’s ‘200 Meters’
Love in the time of occupation: Ameen Nayfeh's stunning '200 Meters' starring Ali Suliman in Venice
A father, his family, a wall. It’s a theme, an image we think of often these days, particularly when speaking of certain American policies and our current US President. But where is another part of the world where such a policy has been tried and tested, and of course, failed miserably on a human scale? Palestine, or Israel if you wish to call it with its post-1948 name. A land belonging to many and claimed by some.
In Ameen Nayfeh’s quiet masterpiece ‘200 Meters’, which premiered as part of the Giornate degli Autori lineup in Venice this year, Palestinian superstar Ali Suliman plays Mustafa, a loving husband and doting father.
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The Families for Freedom bus in London — a still from ‘Ayouni’
'Ayouni' by Yasmin Fedda: Freedom is a double decker to Damascus
“Whenever you throw stones into the sea, it sends ripples through me.” — Dunya Mikhail
Bookended at its beginning and end by the stunning stanza from the esteemed Iraqi-American poet quoted above, the documentary ‘Ayouni’ proves both a heartbreaker and a dream maker of a film. Now let me explain.
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Mostofa Sarwar Farooki's 'No Bed of Roses': Why this film brought me solace during this crisis
When I spent time in Paris with the late Richard Lormand, a film publicist whose passion for world cinema was a constant inspiration to those who knew him, he spoke often about “Farooki” and his 2017 film ‘No Bed of Roses’. Richard had represented the Bangladeshi filmmaker’s previous work in festivals and was really saddened that his latest wasn’t featured in Venice. It starred Irrfan Khan, whom we both adored and had seen in Locarno the year before. Whenever Richard spoke of a film, it turned into something magical and I could not rest until I had watched it.
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Shince and Fernando in a still from ‘This Is Not Cricket’ by Jacopo de Bertoldi
Jacopo de Bertoldi's 'This Is Not Cricket': What a "little story of the ordinary everyday" can teach us of our world
I found my love for cricket within an Italian filmmaker’s documentary that has little to do with the game and much more with humanity’s place within it. Well, the film is called ‘This Is Not Cricket’ after all, and the filmmaker is wonderfully fresh voice in documentary, Jacopo de Bertoldi. A man with whom every conversation turns into an explanation of life.
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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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The title shot of Zeina Sfeir’s film
Living in Times of Coronavirus screens on Daraj: Dispatches from Lebanon on lockdown
The five filmmakers featured in this omnibus of shorts, featuring life in the ghost town and home shelters of Beirut, are the brightest of the new wave of directors from Lebanon.
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Josef Hader as Stefan Zweig
Peace Is for the Brave: Maria Schrader’s Stunning Austrian Entry to the Oscars ‘Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe’
Long before signing on to direct ‘Unorthodox’ on Netflix, Maria Schrader made another beautiful film about a Jewish figure, Stefan Zweig. I interviewed her in 2016 as she was nominated to represent Austria as the country’s Academy Award’s entry. I wanted to revisit that interview and my love for her work. The interview and my own thoughts about the film are as current today as they could ever be. Just read on.
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The Greatest Beauty: Discovering the true Benedetta Barzini in 'The Disappearance of My Mother'
In a world where most of us compete to be noticed, Benedetta Barzini wants to disappear. But before the former model, slash journalist, slash women’s rights activist goes quietly into that horizon rowing her wooden boat, or climbing through the woods backpack in tow, her son Beniamino Barrese wants to film her for all to see. And to remember her always. Or, as he says off camera at the start of his stunning documentary ‘The Disappearance of My Mother’ — “I was not ready to let her go.”
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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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She put a spell on me: Najwa Najjar's bewitching 'Between Heaven and Earth'
One of my favorite films in Berlin this year is not in Competition. Actually it’s not even in any of the sidebars. You’ll find Najwa Najjar’s stunning, heartwarming latest feature at the Berlinale’s European Film Market, with a screening on the 22nd of February, at 9.30 in the Simon Bolivar Saal.
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"This is not a portrait": Lynne Sachs' must watch 'Film About a Father Who' screens in NYC
To me, Lynne Sachs’ ‘Film About a Father Who’ is simply a masterpiece. And quite clearly, Sachs is someone whose own issues with her father have turned her into a phenomenal woman — full of creativity and courage.
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