There were a lot of themes at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival and some resonated deeply with me, as the world tries to wade through the perils of certainty — those who think they always know better.
Read More"It starts with cinema": Amos Gitai on his upcoming play in Paris and La Biennale Architettura project
Amos Gitai has never been far from our thoughts, or out of cinematic radars, with a film premiering almost every year at major film festivals like Venice and Cannes -- now he's bringing his tryptic of films about a house in Jerusalem to the stage in Paris and to La Biennale Architettura 2023.
Read MorePeace-building, great discoveries, tigers and temple cats among highlights of 2024 Berlinale
With the Competition titles still to be announced, the Berlin Film Festival is already showing some great bridge building colors, as well as panache, good taste and humor. And a film that starts out being about cats, but turns into so much more...
Read MoreThe Venice Diaries: The mixtape of Venezia 75 is an homage to creativity's soundtrack
This year's Venice Film Festival seemed to carry a special soundtrack, like a mixtape of our collective thoughts and hopes and wishes. For a future where we are finally able to learn from our past and stop thinking that our opinions count individually. For a world where we will discover, finally, a middle ground in shades of grey, instead of living everything in either black or white.
Here is my Venezia 75 Mixtape.
Read MoreThe Cannes Diaries: A Cowboy, the Courage to Dream Peace and a Fairy Tale
Thierry Frémaux is a cinema potentate. And that’s a great thing!
While most people at the top usually usurp their power for personal gain, the director of the Festival de Cannes uses his inimitable influence for the good of cinema. It’s a vision which may eventually — if filmmakers have their way — change the world. Thanks to ones like Amos Gitai, Chloé Zhao and Bong Joon-ho to cite a few whose latest oeuvres I’ve watched these past 24 hours — change the world for the better.
On a personal note, watching Frémaux’s elegant and welcoming presence at the top of the red carpet staircase before each of the official screenings has been a breath of style air, in a world that’s increasingly forgetting the power of modesty and class.
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