Respectful of the ongoing Gaza tragedy and in tune with the mood of the Region in general, the Jordanian film festival still managed to celebrate its theme for this edition — “Our Stories, Our Narratives”.
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A still from ‘Salted Skins’ by Nicolas Fattouh, courtesy of the DFI
The Cannes Diaries: Doha Dreaming with multiple DFI projects in the Cannes Official line up & Spring 2024 upcoming grants
It’s all in a week’s work for the Doha Film Institute, the greatest cinematic organization in the MENA region.
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Bijoy Jain, photo © Bêka & Lemoine
Watching 'The Sense of Tuning' by Bêka & Lemoine at MK2 Bibliothèque in Paris
Coinciding with an ongoing exhibition at the Fondation Cartier featuring the film’s subject, Indian architect Bijoy Jain, the event was a splendid way for me to reconnect with my love of Bombay — Mumbai.
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Tribeca Enterprises' WE ARE ONE forms collaboration with world class festivals to screen films on YouTube
Born out of the ashes of 9/11, one of the most catastrophic events NYC ever experienced, the annual Tribeca Film Festival is something very near and dear to my heart.
So, when they announced yesterday WE ARE ONE A Global Film Festival, joining forces with the likes of the Festival de Cannes, Venice, Berlinale, Toronto, Tokyo and San Sebastian (for the full list read here) I was over the moon.
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Julianne Moore in ‘The Staggering Girl’ by Luca Guadagnino
The Cannes 2019 Diaries: Films that broke my heart and Luca Guadagnino's Valentino project
There has been a certain je ne sais quoi in the air here in Cannes, and I wasn’t able to quite put my finger on it. It bothered me, someone always good at defining a moment, person or place, that I couldn’t put that feeling into words. Then I attended the press conference for Luca Guadagnino’s ‘The Staggering Girl’ and I had a ‘EUREKA!” moment. So bear with me for a moment while I get to that…
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Leading up to Cannes, here are the line-ups for Directors' Fortnight and Critics' Week
I know, most critics go to the Festival de Cannes looking forward to the Competition titles and maybe will grant themselves the joy of viewing the Un Certain Regard selection. But I’ll admit I’m more of a sidebar person, and while I will view a few great titles in the main lineups, my craves lay more in the Quinzaine (Directors’ Fortnight) and Semaine de la Critique.
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Judy in a still from Roberto Minervini's 'What You Gonna Do When the World's On Fire?'
The Venice Diaries: Roberto Minervini's 'What You Gonna Do When the World's On Fire?'
Of all the films we watched at this year's Venice Film Festival Roberto Minervini's was the most important.
For two very specific reasons. One, it's a documentary, and while many narrative films did explain my own personal struggle as a modern woman in today's world, those fictional stories can be dismissed by their critics as simply made up. 'What You Gonna Do When the World's On Fire?' cannot, since it's real life, it's in your face and it's downright true.
Point number two follows closely my first point, in that while watching the press preview of Minervini's film, which premiered in Competition at the festival, I saw more of my colleagues shift in their seat and -- after what appeared like much inner debate and a prolonged anxiety -- leave the theater than ever before. The answer is not a reflection on the quality of 'What You Gonna Do...' which is visually stunning, features a terrific soundtrack and makes its two hours duration fly by in what seemed like fifteen minutes.
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